Life as an international student is
a very strange thing. In this post, I’ll be tackling why being on a study
abroad semester in Germany isn’t the same thing as spending a semester studying
in Germany.
1. Work:
As just about everyone knows, but
doesn’t want to admit, your study abroad semester is not your most academically
focused one. I already covered some of this in my earlier post about being a
student in Germany, but it’s worth repeating: the system is different, and you
spend much less time studying. This can come as a relief if your last semester
back on campus was especially stressful, but for me, the fact that classes are
infrequent and homework almost non-existent is not very welcome.
Let’s get this straight: I don’t
like being buried in work. No human being does. But when I have classes every
weekday, and assignments due for most of them, I feel like I’m actually getting
something accomplished. When you rarely have class and never have work, you
start to really resent showing up at all. I can’t tell you how many times I
nearly skipped my Monday night lecture because I’d FORGOTTEN I HAD A CLASS AT
ALL. For the most part, we want to feel like we’re doing something worthwhile,
even if it means being slightly uncomfortable. Being penalized for skipping,
losing points for not doing assignments, having to awkwardly explain to the
professor why you didn’t read that chapter last night – sure, they suck, but
they make you feel like a student. You have responsibilities, and what you do
matters, at least to some extent. But if the education system doesn’t seem to
take your going to classes seriously, why should you? Feeling like a part-time
student when you’re actually full-time can be really defeating. Whether this is
a product of the German education system, or something from Europe as a whole,
I can’t say. But it’s certainly different.
2. Self-Sufficiency:
If you’re anything like me, you’ve
taken full advantage of your university’s dining service. I’m proud to say that
my home university has been deemed the best in the country. I eat in one dining
commons or another every meal of the day. It’s prepaid, tasty food, and most
importantly, I don’t have to prepare it myself.
Another nice luxury is large,
well-stocked laundry rooms in the same building where you live. Load up a
basket or bag, walk to the elevator or down the stairs, and voila! — choose
from any of the many washers and dryers available and come back when they
finish. It shouldn’t take too long.
On campus, you don’t have to clean
a kitchen or a bathroom. A custodial staff takes care of that. If something
breaks, call ResLife. Usually maintenance services are provided as part of your
university bill and when you submit a complaint, they fix whatever it is fairly
quickly.
If you can’t sense where I’m going
with this, this is a post about contrast. None of the lovely conveniences just
detailed exist here. German universities usually have a Mensa, open around
lunchtime, where you can get a cheap meal. But this is not a dining commons.
They’re open three hours a day on weekdays, and outside of that, you’re on your
own. Start buying your own groceries and learn how to cook. Or live on
sandwiches and cereal.
Laundry rooms are almost never in
the same building, they’re small, kinda grungy, and have far too few washers.
Dryers are not common in Germany. You should find a drying rack in your
apartment, or clotheslines in the basement. Washes take longer than you’d
expect, so set a timer.
You need to clean your own
apartment. There is a cleaning crew, but as the sign on my kitchen door
hilariously reads, “The cleaning staff will not clean the kitchen if it is
dirty!”. Interestingly, though they don’t clean much, you will be served a
notice if they believe your living areas have become “intolerable.” Do whatever
they tell you (and often they tell you nothing), or you’ll receive a bill in
the mail for the extra cleaning team they send in to fix the problem.
If something breaks, use the
convenient online portal. Send in a maintenance request, and ……. Nothing. It
seems the portal doesn’t work. Well alright, I’ll just go talk to the residence
director (Hausmeister) ̶ what?
They’re only available by phone or appointment TWO HOURS PER WEEK???? Yep. That’s
German customer service for you. Hospitality is not their strong suit.
So what is there to do? Well that’s
the thing about study abroad: you adapt. The conditions of living in German
university housing is probably pretty similar to most people’s first apartment
(Albeit, on the shittier side of first apartments, and with a really terrible
landlord. But I digress.). The situation is rife to learn some
self-sufficiency. I have to say I really feel like an adult. I take care of
groceries, I clean my kitchen, I receive mail. Do I miss the campus lifestyle?
YES. Get me back there right now. But I’m learning.
3. Social
Life (Parties and Trips)
As I’ve detailed in earlier posts,
the pace of life as an international student is much faster than back home.
There’s always something to do, and never a dull moment. This is a lot of the
appeal of studying abroad – it’s an adventure! And I’m sure when I go home, I’ll
miss that. But it can also be exhausting. Racing around Europe, drinking four
nights a week, keeping strange hours… It wears you out. Whether for better or
for worse, this is how being an international student often works. Everyone
wants to make the most out of their experience, and the pressure to experience
everything can be overwhelming.
But suppose you choose to ignore
that pressure. You say, “f--- it! I don’t need to take red-eye flights for 3
hour visits to Paris! I’ll find my own way to enjoy myself!” Good for you, you’re
making a stand for your principles and not giving in to peer pressure. I
applaud you. Now have fun going about that alone.
Because no one really knows each other,
everyone has a pretty high tolerance for group behavior. So if someone explains
that they really want to go to that party Thursday, and even a couple people
agree, it can be hard to say no. Sure, you went out Tuesday night and are still
recovering, but if you don’t make it to this thing Thursday, when will you see
your friends? They’ll be too tired and hungover to go out Friday, or maybe even
Saturday. So you bend. The same rules apply to going on trips. You might not be
up to it, but hey, you can always relax next weekend, right?
Parties and trips have a certain social
gravity to them here in Study Abroad Land, and it’s hard to escape their pull.
This is true back home too. But the difference here is you have one less leg to
stand on. Like a customer trying to buy a product from a monopoly, if you don’t
like the price, you can’t find a competing business to buy from. You’ve got to
work with what you’ve got.
This isn’t always a
bad thing. Sometimes it means getting out of your shell. Sometimes it means
traveling to a place you never thought you’d enjoy or meeting new people in a
new place doing new things. And that’s the contrast. Study Abroad is an
adventure. Sometimes too much of one, but always something different.
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