First day in Tuebingen..finally seeing this beautiful view in person!

Guten Abend alle!  Ich bin letzte Woche in Tübingen angekommen und ich habe schon viel gelernt!  Translation: I arrived in Tubingen last week and I’ve already learned a lot!  I’m really loving it here so far, and I can’t wait until I meet more people and get to know the city better! A run-down of what’s happened since I’ve arrived:

The professor who oversees VU’s programs in Germany met me at the Stuttgart airport when I landed on Friday  and we took a bus to Tubingen.  His help getting to Tübingen was such a blessing since I was exhausted after three flights and wouldn’t have been able to find my dorm alone on my very first day.  After I got my dorm I met the Wohnheimtutorin (similar to an RA except without as much discipline power) for my building, and she is awesome!  She speaks English very well, and therefore is really patient with my learning German and helps with some vocab and tips for living in Tübingen.  Not many of my floor mates have moved in yet since classes in Germany normally don’t start until October.  Until then, more kitchen and bathroom space for me!

I spent most of my first week in Tübingen exploring and getting to know the city.  This past Saturday I met up with the students from Valpo’s program in Reutlingen for a soccer game, which I enjoyed a lot!  I loved mingling with “real Germans” in the stands and reconnecting with people from Valpo studying in Reutlingen.  After a day of being mostly by myself figuring out where to find/buy necessary things in Germany, relaxing and socializing at the game was a fun time (although I can’t say the same about learning the train system to Reutlingen and back).

On Sunday I attended a service at the Stiftskirche St. Georg, one of the more recognizable churches in the city.  The inside of the church was gorgeous (see for yourself).  I mentioned earlier that last summer I had an internship in Chile.  I remember the first church service I attended in Chile as well, and I know that I didn’t understand nearly as much of that service as the service in the Stiftskirche.  I didn’t have a lot of confidence with my German when I came to Germany, but each day I’m learning to look for opportunities to speak and to learn, and I know that I’m getting better each day!  Sounds cliché, but it’s completely true!

In my next blog post I’ll talk more about Deutsch-Kompakt, the intensive German language course that I’m enrolled in.  Class started on Monday, but I’m waiting to post about it until after the “arrival in Germany” post because I don’t want to minimize how much fun I’m having so far in the course and with the people I’ve met in it.  Since everyone is in the same situation (living in Germany for a semester/year, feeling a little iffy about German language skills), we’ve created a community of internationals that adds and extra, wonderful spark to life in Tübingen.  We’re taking a trip next week to Blaubeuren, a town near Ulm, so follow my future posts for more detail about the class and our Abenteuer (adventures)!

View from the window in my room! Love looking at this and drinking tea every morning!

Honestly, I still can hardly believe that I’ve really arrived in Germany to stay for a year.  After so much planning and worrying over the past year, being here feels like both a breath of fresh air and something intimidating that I’ve never experienced before.  Anyway, it’s been a fantastic past few days, and I’m excited to see what the rest of this year will bring!  Check back for more updates!

Peace.