Europe Through My Lens

I started writing this on my first full day in Tübingen and Good Friday, which meant most things in Germany were closed. While I had prepared for things to be closed Friday, Sunday, and Monday due to the Easter Holidays, this is a cultural difference between the United States and Germany. Good Friday is mostly ignored where I am from, and it’s just another day. I hadn’t planned to do much on my first full day, but someone who is also in Tübingen from my home college invited me to go out. I don’t typically go out because I don’t drink, but I’m trying to do things outside of my comfort zone. I met up with the person from my home college, and even though I didn’t drink, I had so much fun just chatting and getting to know her. Side note, we did not know each other before learning we were the only two from our school going to Tübingen.

It’s been almost a week since I left my home in the US and drove to the nearby Jetport to start my journey to Germany. I’d love to say that everything has been completely smooth and that everything went exactly as I had predicted, but that would be a lie. The last six days have been filled with new experiences and things I have never had to deal with before. This was my first time traveling completely alone. My travel here was a long 24 hours (approx.) of traveling, between leaving my home at 10 am EST (Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday, April 1st, and not getting to my accommodations in Tübingen, Germany, until approximately 3 pm German time on Thursday, April 2nd. The travel time was longer than I had predicted it would be, but there were weather delays, leaving us taxed on the tarmac for roughly 2 hours.

Confronting Concerns

I had two biggest concerns when coming to Germany; the first is learning how to use public transportation, and the second is figuring out how to set up the internet. Learning how to use public transportation and setting up my internet are my goals for my first week here. Where I’m from doesn’t have public transportation like Germany or the urban parts of the United States. Where I’m from, if you don’t have a car or someone else who can consistently provide transportation, you are stuck at home. So I was a little nervous when I had to take a bus from the Stuttgart airport to the bus stop 10 minutes from my accommodations. Fortunately, I joined the buddy program offered through my host university. The buddy that I got partnered up with was extremely helpful with answering all my questions about using the bus and helping me get the keys for my room.

During the last 6 days, but especially today, April 7th, I have been forcing myself to take the buses more, even when walking seems fine. I have gotten a bit more comfortable with buses; it helps that Google Maps or Apple Maps tells you when the buses are scheduled and the routes. I have also downloaded an app called Moovit, which tells me the bus schedules and routes near me.

Figuring out the internet was a little more complicated than learning buses. However, today, I was out with another exchange student, and she had a friend who had already set up theirs. So together we both bought the internet router they had recommended. As soon as I got home, I worked on setting it up. Back home, my dad took care of the internet, so that was another new experience and thing I had to learn along the way. Fortunately, I can say I have successfully set up my internet. I have no clue how fast the internet is, but so far, so good.

Exploring Tübingen

Over the last two days, I developed a slight cold, which mostly kept me confined to my room until today, April 7th. Although, I went on a brief hike on Monday, but since then, today is the first day that I have explored and gotten things done. The hike I went on was a guided hike with signs, written completely in German, about dinosaurs and geological facts for the area.

Here are some pictures from my hike:

This sign right here is what all the signs along the hike looked like ^

This is what the sign labeled “Vom Sand der Flüsse zum Sandstein,” above, was talking about. It looked way cooler in person, but a photo taken with a phone can only show so many details. ^

Today was my biggest day for productivity and travel. I had meetings to pick up my Student ID and also register with the city of Tübingen. To register with the city, I had to bring my passport and a document called “Wohnungsgeberbestätigung,” which simply means “landlord confirmation” and shows that you have a place of residency in the city. After I got registered with the city, I met up with my assigned buddies (one is a full-time student, and another is an exchange student from Canada) through the university, and we explored the city. I took so many pictures while I was out today, so here are some of them:

This photo of the Neckar River was taken on what’s called “Neckarbrücke”, aka Neckar Bridge. This is what many people have seen when they look up Tübingen. Going to the Neckar Bridge and seeing the houses was something I wanted to do today, so I’m so glad that I was able to see it. It was very crowded on the bridge, but I’m definitely going to go back to spend time in the park that is next to the Neckar River and bring my camera along, so I can take photography.

These last two were taken in the “Schloss” (castle). Apparently, some classes are held in the castle, but I won’t have any classes there.

Tomorrow is the first day of orientation, but classes don’t start until April 13th. I’m so excited for what’s to come. The motto for this trip, which I keep reminding myself of, is that I need to do things while afraid. Some of the things that you are the most afraid of are the most worthwhile and make the best memories. It has only been roughly 6 days, and I’ve already made friends and seen so many gorgeous things. I’m going to try to keep this blog up to date and updated regularly, but we will see. At the bare minimum, there will be a post weekly since I love writing and taking photographs.