At age 24, the travel bug was instilled in me. I’ve never had the chance to travel alone, even around the United States. Back in 2013, I traveled to Germany and it was one of the best life-changing experiences! I feel lucky and thankful to have the chance to experience that.
Getting there, I signed up for an internship in Germany and lived there for over 3 months. Before leaving, I did worry a little. I worried if I overpacked or didn’t pack enough if I had enough funds to last me the 3 months I was there, and how will I be able to get internet access and a data plan on my phone. I was going to miss my family, boyfriend, and friends, but I was excited to experience something new and travel!
When I got to Germany, it was a little bit frightening not knowing the German language, but the people there were friendly and most spoke English. I learned a few basics like “entschuldigung,” “guten Morgen,” “auf Wiedersehen,” “danke schön,” “Wo ist die Toilette?” “Bitte,” and a fun one to say was “tschüss!” I also had roommates during my internship and some of them were veterans of the program, so they knew their way around when traveling.
I learned a lot about traveling on my own and getting out of my comfort zone. I met new people, learned how to work the transportation system, learning to navigate the cities. and being independent. Learning how buses and subway systems work, but once you get, it gets easier and comes in handy. My roommate suggested getting a Eurail pass and I thought it was well worth the money because I was able to visit other countries.
In my future posts, I’ll talk more about the other countries I visited during my stay in Germany.
What was your first experience like traveling to a new country? Is there someplace you’ve been meaning to visit?
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