Good morning y’all, I’ve been in Leipzig for one week, and I already have a lot to share. I was pleasantly surprised that Leipzig wasn’t too far from Berlin, only a 1 hour trip on Germany’s ICE-Bahn (Intercity Express train). What was not pleasant about that trip was trying to lug a suitcase the size of a third grader around- you would think the hardest part would be walking with it to and from the train station, or trying to fit it on the tram to your apartment, but apparently the hardest part is just trying to get it on and off the ICE-Bahn, as it was both rather heavy and somehow wider than the aisles in the train. Which brings me to my first point- however much you think you need for a month of studying abroad, you need much less.
The main thing taking up space in my suitcase was cleaning supplies, as both me and my mom were concerned that the apartment that InterDaF (the German as a foreign language institute of the University of Leipzig) had provided us with would be rather dirty, and I didn’t want to have to buy cleaning supplies in Germany. It turns out, we didn’t need to worry on either of those counts- the provided apartment was gorgeous, even if it was on the fifth floor of a walk-up apartment building, and the landlord had provided both cleaning supplies and cooking supplies (which I was very excited about). Honestly, about half of the stuff I had packed in my suitcase was made redundant, so make sure to travel light in order to avoid my woes.
Now what I considered the biggest culture shock (aside from the lack of AC of course), was the laundry situation. We did have a provided washing machine (albeit a rather small model), but instead of a dryer, we had a drying rack. Now we had already been briefed on this ‘quirk’ (I know this is a very typical situation for most of the world, but let me have my moment) of German culture even before we had left the United States, but it was very strange for me, who had to adjust to being able to have my clothes completely dry in an hour to having to wait a whole day for my clothes to be only slightly wet. I’m still getting used to it, but my greatest advice is to do small loads of laundry at a time (I switched from one load a week to two a week), and make sure to keep the windows open as you dry your clothes, as it will help a bit.
The second biggest culture shock was the accessibility of public transport. My apartment was situated right outside a tram stop that was a 30 minute ride to classes, or an even shorter ride to the city center. That being said, there were so many tram lines that I accidentally took the wrong one a few times. Thankfully, only one of those times happened when I was trying to get to class, and I still got there relatively on time. During the school year, the only form of public transit that I regularly use is the Broad Street Line, so I was more than a little overwhelmed by the great variety of different tram lines. Honestly, my only advice here is to get an interactive map (preferably one that works without internet), mark down your nearest tram stations for any locations you may visit (apartment, classes, etc.), and then look up which tram lines will take you there in the shortest amount of time before you have to get anywhere in a time-sensitive manner.
I’m still exploring the city and getting used to classes, so make sure to keep an eye out for my next post, where I’ll discuss those! That’s all from me for this week! Learn more about studying abroad during the summer!
