This summer was everything that a man can only crave for. The dreams were coming true one by one and I couldn't believe whether it was a fairy-tale I was living in or I was just dreaming. This summer I've spent in Germany and now it's officially the best summer of my entire life!
I've wanted to learn Deutsch since I was in primary school but we started to learn English, so I thought, 'I'm gonna learn it someday anyway'. And so I did!
I booked the course in Goethe Institut in February but I actually went to Germany in August. I didn't tell anyone (except for my parents) about this trip and I was super excited about it for all 6 months that I'd kept it as a secret.
I chose Goethe Institut in Mannheim for only one reason - it is close to Frankfurt-am-Main and there are direct flights from Samara to Frankfurt-am-Main. I know the reason is not that clever and thoughtful but it was the only criterion that was important for me then as it was actually my first ever trip somewhere on my own.
It was a four hour trip that wasn't really nice as I was feeling sick all the way from the beginning till the end. Usually, I feel alright on the plane but this time, I guess, I was too excited that made me want to throw up haha. But when we were landing and I saw the beautiful landscape out of the window, I kind of calmed myself down.
I must say that Frankfurt airport is huge! It was a ten minutes bus ride to the airport. At the airport some people helped me to buy the train ticket to Mannheim. I didn't know how ICE trains work and my first experience wasn't that pleasing. The train was late for 15 minutes and when it finally arrived people began running towards the doors. I was trying to figure out which door is mean for the economy-class passengers but the time I got inside I realized that it was the business-class door. I was asking people which direction should I go to to get into the economy class. Then I saw a long queue of people that wasn't even moving and half of them were standing in the business class. So I didn't have any other choice as to sit in the business class. Not bad, I thought. The only thing I cared about was that I might have been kicked out of the train. But hopefully, I wasn't. After twenty-five minutes, I arrived at Hauptbahnhof Mannheims.
My next 'mission' was to take 3 traim and get to Goethe Institut. But the problem was that I didn't know which direction to take and how to buy a ticket. So, I asked a girl standing next to me and it turned out that she spoke neither English nor German, so I asked her whether she knows French and she said that she spent 2 years studying in France so she kind of forgot how to speak German. So, it turned out that the first person I talked to in Germany I spoke French with. How crazy is that?! I used French for the first time in a real life situation. The girl advised me to go to the Information Schalter because she didn't know herself how to get the ticket.
Meanwhile at Goethe Institut I was given a list where there were numbers of classrooms that I was to visit before I would be taken to my accommodation. I must honestly say that the organization of the arrival day wasn't that welcoming and properly done. I wasn't given clear instructions so I had to ask them each time I had to clear something out. (Like it was pretty much all the time during the first day!) I was placed in B1.1 group that was a big surprise to me as I thought I didn't know anything in German. The teacher was really nice, encouraging me to keep on talking as much as I can.
When all the classroom visits were done, we had to wait for an hour to be taken to our apartments although we were said we'd be picked up in a few minutes. But I don't really like to complain about stuff but this thing pissed me off. Mostly, it was the only thing that I didn't like about Goethe Institut in Mannheim.
I lived in Hans-Sachs-Ring 5 which is a 6 stored building, there are ten rooms on each floor. The shower and the toilet are shared by five rooms and there is a room with a TV-set, a table, a couch and a microwave.
I was pleased with my room. There was a private kitchenette in it and a bed was just so comfy that one could hardly make me get up in the morning and leave my precious bed.
This is how the room looked like.
This is the view out of the window.
The rest of my first day I spent going to the supermarket and cooking. As I was super tired from the flight and stuff I went to bed at 9 p.m. which is unusual to me.
That was my first day in Germany. Let us call it Part 1 of ... (I haven't decided yet how many there are to come but we'll see).
Love, Christina M.
