DATE: 05/13/26
MOOD: Jetlagged
SONG: Damaged by Danity Kane
I don't know when I'll be able to upload this because the flat I'm staying in has no internet buttttt oh my god I just had the longest day.
I don't know why I'm here. Honestly the whole trip I was like "why… did I sign up to do this. I don't want to be here it just seemed like the "correct" way to do things. I applied for all kinds of internships how did I get this one." I can't say that though or I'll look ungrateful. The plane flight was ten hours- a toddler shrieked the entire flight so I got no sleep. Then I spent the ENTIRE DAY transferring from various trains and busses. The guy sitting diagonally from me on one of the busses was VERY OBVIOUSLY touching himself through his pants the whole time and was trying (badly) to play it off as adjusting his pants. The ride was like half an hour long too.
When we were waiting for one of the trains, I went to get coffee with someone from my cohort. She walked up and ordered an ice coffee, and he said "we don't have that." She said "oh, is the sign wrong?" and pointed at it and he shook his head. Then she was like "Oh I get it." and turned to leave. I left too- turns out some people don't like americans here! I thought it would be better than France at least, ugh. She mentioned it to our guide like it was a funny story and he was like "haha yeah germans suck."
One positive I will say is that my entire cohort (there are six of us) seems very competent! I've traveled to different countries with a few different groups (middleschoolers, highschoolers, neuroscience undergrads, university choir)- and compared to them, this group was incredibly on the ball. The weirdest part was probably the fact that no one complained ever. I've been in groups where they complain constantly and it gets tired really fast, so I was glad, but this has been the roughest arrival I've experienced by far and no one seemed phased. Maybe they're just more experienced than me?? Anyways, I've made small talk with most of them and everyone seems very nice.
I guess I'm also on the younger side in the group? Most of them are graduate students and I just got my bachelors lol.
I finally made it to my flat after 25 consecutive hours of being awake- the room is better than I expected, but weird in other ways. I have one roommate, she seems fine- I think she's a international grad student researcher? She was not that into volunteering info on herself- I introduced myself and after an awkward pause I had to ask her for her name. She did however offer to let me use her shampoo and body wash which I am in direeee need of since the next two days are holidays and all the stores will be closed. Maybe I just caught her off guard because it was like 2 AM lollllll. I slept through whenever she arrived back here. Also, we have separate rooms which is super nice! We share a bathroom (with a freaky european shower, no tub, and a suspicious amount of mold.) and a kitchen with one table, one chair,n and a tiny cupboard fridge like hotels have. There is also a stove, but I'm not super into cooking so we'll see how my budget works out.
But yeah, the trip was hell, the crowded trains were hell, and I'm stinky as hell. I'm gonna wait to shower because my roommate is sleeping, but I figure I can get away with it around nine or ten AM.
Today was rough. Every other trip I've had usually they hire a bus to get everyone around and I can just sleep. I just checked online, and a uber from frankfurt to my apartment would've cost 320 euros!! So I get why we took the crazy roundabout public transit, but jesus, it took all day…
I'm hoping once I've had more sleep, food, and a shower, I'll feel more excited about being here. The plants are cool at least- the area I grew up in was heavily colonized by germans so they brought a lot of their plants with them, and I can recognize them! I loveee identifying plants hehe.
I miss my friends… its super weird to go from my graduation, with all of my loved ones congratulating me and seeing my friends every day to just… middle of some fuckoff city that’s annoyed by americans, with a group of strangers. Working on my website makes me feel more like myself though- a lot of the usual markers of things "I" do isn't really possible, so I gotta hold on to my hobbies. I'm SO GLAD I packed my jaxburger plushie- I didn't pack anything else to decorate my room, but he adds some life to it and doubles as a pillow. I need to get a sketchbook asap so I can decorate the walls too- I did the math, and I'll be here 75 more days.
I will give the city this, I like their elevation. It's only 200 feet more than Seattle. My old university had a stupid high elevation and it always took me a couple weeks of feeling lethargic to get used to the low oxygen levels. It's also much more humid, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how hot it gets in the summer…
I definitely made the right call with my denim jacket and hoodie. I saw sooooo many people with hoodies, and a few with denim jackets. If I keep my mouth shut, I can kinda pass as a local. (Though I think that’s less important here than in say France- lots of university students and researchers are from different countries, and we don't have enough money to be worth scamming like tourists lol.)
Ugh, I should probably get started on prepping for tomorrow, we are meeting at a train station so I need to figure out tickets and my phones sim card. And get my PC an internet connection!! I WILL die if I can only use the internet on my phone.