Erfurt At Last

So let's see, Wednesday I left Bath to go back to London, after a few hours of book shopping and indulging in my biggest weakness (I now have several more books than I started with). Instead of making my way back to the hostel near St. Paul's, I booked a cheap hotel near the coach (aka bus) station, and after getting a sandwich and some apples for breakfast, I retreated to a corner with Jane Austen and Anne Elliot (Persuasion is just as good on a second read as the first), and spent my last night in slightly lonely relaxation.

Today I was up at 5 a.m. and in the airport by 8 a.m. Besides getting delayed, the flight was uneventful but for the complete apprehension I had in the realization of what new adventure I was about to enter. I had gotten comfortable to hearing English all about me, being able to call up a hotel and book a reservation without any problems, and to ask for help without that embarassing sign language. Even in the airport, almost instinctively, I started listening for German, straining my ears and brain to understand what was going on. And so while it still is a little foreign to me, it is certainly more familiar than I had originally expected. I do not feel overwhelmingly intimidated as I did when I first arrived exactly four weeks ago. Perhaps it is partly survival instinct, partly the result of four weeks of quick-and-dirty lessons in life, culture, and travel, or perhaps it is a good indication of better things to come.

Once in Germany, I took a bus to Leipzig, from there a train to Erfurt, and finally a tram to the university. I slightly rushed, because I wanted to catch the people in the International Office before they left for the day. I had chiefly one goal: to get my luggage out of their store room, so that I could enjoy my own music and have my computer back!! It is so sad that I have found myself this attached to my electronics, but it is fruitless to deny that it is any other way. They are at once my comfort objects, my easiest connection to home, and my portal to the rest of the world. Now, as a result, you can look forward to many, many pictures of my trip in the next few days...

In any case, I managed to catch them, and they gave me some tips on grocery shopping and other Wal-Mart-type shopping places for everything else. I imagine that part will be fun and intimidating at the same time, so luckily I am saving that for tomorrow and this weekend.

I am now settled in my room, which I will eventually share with another foreign exchange student, in an apartment with a total of six girls. Of the other four living here, only one is actually in residence at the moment. But Carolynn (proper spelling coming soon!) has proven to be not only welcoming, but also friendly, helpful, English-speaking, and every other trait that could possibly ease my transition. She went with me to get some groceries for the weekend, and was most eager to see my pictures of home and my family. So far, it appears that I am going to have a good living situation, and with people who are more than excited about sharing their space with an ignorant American.

So I am very glad that I decided to travel for a month beforehand. It makes any resting place, even one this far from home, a welcome sight. I do not feel the pangs of homesickness as acutely as I would have otherwise, and I am no longer a green traveler with a dazed look in her eyes. I have seen far more of the world and its people than I ever thought I could, and many of its tribulations are no longer major stumbling blocks, but only interesting curves in the road. To come straight to Erfurt would have been a significant culture shock and very difficult to recover from, if it had not been for these last four weeks. Upon my arrival here, it already felt so familiar, and my trip to the university was not as strenuous as the first time around. It was a relief to arrive, and to recognize where I was. It is still a little difficult to imagine the next five months here, but the short term so far shows itself to be very promising and welcoming.