Germanic Adventures Pt.II

Ever since I got here, I have been trying to soak everything in. Every little crack on the sidewalk, every leaf, every little detail, since I know I won't be back soon. It's a very weird feeling, being here. It's a sense of blending in, because everyone else is from somewhere else, and at the same time, it's impersonal. There are so many people here, who do you call a friend? But, you do make friends, in the faces of strangers you find a kindred soul, because they, too, are foreigners, and everybody is dying to tell you their story. It's a sense of being home and at the same time of being anonymous. It's sweet and delicious, it's frightening and exhilarating. It's peace among the chaos of people. And there is nowhere else I'd rather be. How can you be homesick for someplace you have never properly called home?

One of the many Charité buildings

Today I started the disaster medicine course. I went in there feeling a bit nervous, being a first day of school and all. But I was so happy to be there, because I had a second chance at having a student exchange experience. After being here in 2009, only for one semester, I left wanting more... one more day, one more week, one more semester. So now, I would have, even if only for two weeks, the experience I cherish the most, my most favorite thing to do in the world: meeting new people from different countries, exchanging experiences, new friendships, new places to stay if we ever travel to that particular corner of the world.

And I was not disappointed.

At first, not everybody would talk to me, since I got there a day late and nobody knew me. But then, slowly but surely everybody else was curious. And the most curious and daring of all was a group of lovely, charismatic italian girls. How easily did I feel at home, among these girls who come from a completely different background, but somehow, all the same. Maybe it's the mediterranean temperament as Mr.J likes to call it.

Got in there early because I was afraid of getting lost. 

Furthermore, being there the second day of the course and already behind, I was thrown into deep water and told to swim. I had no background and had to rely on others to help me out. Something I'm not always comfortable with, being the kind of person that likes to do everything by myself. I think I learned more about myself than Advanced Life Support.

Conversations were had, stories exchanged, cultures clashed with each other. It was amazing. And I can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow. That is, if I can get up in the morning! The jetlag, my anemia, me packing everything that I think I will need yet never use in my bag, my legs not being used to walking... well, you get the picture.

My colleagues: people who know more than I do.