Reflections six months in

My first day in Germany (in Gottingen)

So, this time six months ago I arrived at Frankfurt airport in Germany to start my big OE and my first trip to Europe. I've since visited nine different countries, stayed in both the major cities and the quant countryside, had a billion new experiences and caught up with many friends. Looking back, I have done so much and been so many places that it feels like much longer than just six months, but in other ways it seems to have flown by!

I've learnt a lot. I thought that taking my first big break from study or intellectually-challenging work would mean my brain would kind of stagnate, but spending so much time visiting museums and historical stuff and talking to people from different countries has taught me so much. In NZ we study things like different architectural periods from books, but here you can see everything and I think it makes it easier to understand. It's like, at school I learnt all these separate pieces of knowledge, different parts of history and culture, and now that I'm seeing the bigger picture they are all falling into place together.

Eating typical food in Bern, Switzerland

I can now really appreciate how New Zealand, being an island, has a totally different world view to Europeans. Here, borders normally aren't regulated, and you can cross in a train or car or boat or even on a bike and not even realise that you've crossed. This gives people here a totally different viewpoint, I don't think you'd find anyone here who has never left their country like many New Zealanders, to the point where they are really blasé about international travel because they jump across borders just to buy cheaper groceries or petrol. It also means that they understand their neighbouring countries really well and most people can speak the basics in the other languages. A lot have even studied or done a short exchange in another country, it seems like people over here just understand the world a little bit better, whereas so many New Zealanders don't travel futher than the Gold Coast for a week on the beach, don't speak another language, and know next to nothing about our neighbouring Pacific Island countries. It's funny that six months ago, going to Germany was a really big deal, something that I spent so long dreaming about, saving for and planning. When I went to Germany last week I packed at the last minute and only just remembered to check I had my passport and paperwork, and then on Monday I woke up in Germany and caught the train back here in time for work. International travel has become kind of routine for me!

Celebrating my birthday with friends in Spain

I have the most amazing friends. I can't say that enough, you guys have welcomed me into your homes and gone to such effort to give me a glimpse of your lives and countries, and you and your families have really made this trip a success. Visiting you has shown me the very different backgrounds we all come from, and made me really appreciate the fact that we overcame these differences to be good friends. There are still some AFS students needing short and long term host families in New Zealand if you want to meet one of these awesome people yourselves!

Me and Hauke with a chunk of Berlin Wall

On the other hand, I've also learnt that not everyone is as friendly as New Zealanders are. I've had quite a few conversations with people who've gone to NZ and had really amazing experiences of welcome, help and generosity, and those conversations have really highlighted how different it is over here. People are much more reserved and you really have to make a huge effort to befriend them, rather than being welcomed with open arms. I can only think of two occasions when someone noticed how completely lost I was and tried to help me out, once in Germany and once in France, but both times made a huge difference to my day and I'd encourage anyone anywhere in the world who notices someone with a map in their hand or a confused look on their face while staring at the train information screen, to go up and ask if they need help.

Me up the Eiffel Tower

The little things really do count. Sure, stuff like going up the Eiffel Tower was awesome, but things like riding a public bicycle home after a night out and getting to point out all of the different license plates and going to the supermarket here really put a smile on my face. For this reason, I am so glad that I have been staying with the locals most of the way around, I've seen a totally different side of things. I remember talking to an Aussie in Paris who had visited all of the major cities, but had no idea about the education systems in the different countries, or Christmas celebrations, or whether or not recycling was a big deal there, and it made me happy to have not just done the tourist thing in various hostels. Also, it's normally the little things that remind me of the enormity of this whole trip. It is only now beginning to hit home that I am doing something amazing, not because of the cool monuments I've seen, but because I am living here and experiencing the small stuff. Most people head over to Europe and check out the Berlin Wall, not so many actually live here and learn the random stuff like what it takes to get a drivers license in Germany!

Me in Wurzburg, Germany

Finally, I've surprized myself. In the beginning, I surprized myself by at first not being as independent as I thought I was. I'd done the whole 'live in a foreign country without knowing the language' thing as a fifteen year old in Costa Rica, and so I thought being older and wiser would make traveling around here a breeze. Not so, I really struggled and relied heavily on Hauke my first month. Now I'm the opposite, I've got my independence mojo back and I am surprized at how I've coped with the isolation nannying here. I'm also surprized at how calm I've become about my lack of a solid plan. I was the kid that always knew what I was doing with my life, before I threw the five-year plan out the window and came over here. I planned my first three months here more than most backpackers would, and then the new me has coped with my plan of working in Spain falling apart and me ending up doing something completely different. While I now know that I am moving to Luxembourg, I still don't know what I am going to be doing two weeks from now between here and moving there, and I don't know where I will spend Christmas this year, or where I will be living this time next year, or even when I will return to New Zealand. This is definitely a new Claire!

So, all in all its been a pretty amazing six months and I've learnt more and changed more than I thought I would have, and I am looking forward to whatever the next six months bring me!