Nicki Wealand, Moving the Cities: Germany Fall 2023
Interacting with the German locals was a lot easier than I thought it would be, since most locals were able to speak English very well and could easily answer questions about transportation and food. All the locals I interacted with when trying to figure out how to use the regional and long-distance trains were helpful, with a few people even asking if I needed help because I was very confused trying to read the maps. The locals that I talked to in the stores and restaurants were also very helpful and gave me good advice on what to ger or how to get to my next destination. The only time the German locals seemed to get annoyed was when I was in a bike lane, which I soon figured out existed everywhere in Germany and avoided as best I could for the remainder of the trip.
I also made friends with some of the students from my host country, as well as a few of the students that came to the program from other countries. My small group for the week consisted of three German students from two different universities, a Chilean student, and I. The two German girls in my group were locals to the area and were able to take our group around to small cafes and restaurants that they liked and recommended. In addition, they were able to help me translate the food labels of some of my snacks to make sure they were gluten free. The other two group members and I ended up hanging out together a lot to eat lunch in the cafeteria and walk back to the hostel that we stayed in. The third German student and I talked a lot about the differences in our governments and their sustainability practices, as we were the two in our group that focused on the economics and government policy side of our pitch. Since we worked together a lot and were both undergraduate environmental engineering students, the two of us ended up becoming friends pretty quickly. We talked about music, the artists that he listens to that I know, and then gave me some recommendations and invited me to go to a local concert in Münster with him that I unfortunately wasn’t able to go to since I was going to a soccer game. Since the trip I’ve stayed in touch with my group (shown in the picture) which has been very cool for me as I’ve never had friends that lived in other countries before.
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