First Impressions

The Roller Coaster Ride

Arriving in the airport, exhausted, jet-lagged and knowing no-one my
thoughts were along the lines of "what have I got myself into?" People
would talk to me in public and I wouldn't understand (people seem to do
that more here than in Melbourne), when registering at the
Sprachlehrinstitut (SLI)I opted to be spoken to in English. A friendly
girl on the train tried talking to me in German but I had her change to
English - after which she seemed shocked to find out I'm majoring in
German major (well, almost). When I arrived at my residence there were
other people floating around but I failed to pluck up the courage to
talk to anyone - beyond "hallo" anyhow.
It was all too much, too different, too difficult.

Of course despite what the mind can convince you it was never going to
stay that way. Things started changing after a nap and a shower - that
helped a great deal to start with. I was told when registering that I
could go to the SLI office at 6 for drinks with the others doing the
language course. On arrival at the office I began introducing myself to
a group of people who were already waiting there. They turned out to be
mostly Americans.

An aside: It's interesting that people behave very differently in
different circumstances. Arriving at a place with little or no
connections, people make a great effort to make friends and get to know
other people and they will show their best side in order to do so. In
contrast, when people are in their comfort zones they tend to make
little effort with anyone - or thing - new and different, perhaps
because it's too much effort, perhaps even because they feel that new
things are a threat to their comfort zone. In this respect at least
there is something very positive about being out of your comfort zone.

Anyway, my point here is that making friends became very easy with
others who were facing the same situation. When we left for the pubs,
the people I had met split off from the main group and, as I had only
met these guys, I went with them. After the pub I took the tram back to
my residence, where the residents were partying. I joined them and spoke
60% English, 30% German and 10% Spanish with the other residents who
came from Germany, Spain and France. One of the Germans was departing
for Melbourne the next morning to visit a previous resident. He
suggested that when he returns he'd like to have a language exchange -
where I correct his English and he does the same with my German. I might
just take him up on the offer.

After about an hour spent at this party I was absolutely wrecked and hit
the sack hard.