(no subject)
I mostly wanted to call attention to the comment ang left on my last post, because it made me laugh.
but since i'm here, i'll guess i'll update a bit.
I've never been really good at this blogging thing, but I feel like I'll regret not having some sort of account of my travels abroad if don't document it at least a little. so here it goes.
Things in Dresden have really been shaping up nicely the past couple of days. As most of you who read this know, I had quite the rough Friday here. Dresden is entirely different from München. It's been really difficult for me to have to, once again, leave friends and a place I really enjoy, to come to a new place. The first two days or so in Dresden were actually not that bad. Being an international student, i have this laundry list of things I have to do (i.e. register with the city, enroll, get health insurance, get a bank account, etc etc) and i spent most of Wednesday and Thursday taking care of those things, and since they kept me busy, i didnt really think a ton about being homesick. But then Thursday night things took a turn for the worse. I could feel the startings of a bladder infection all afternoon and by night, i was in so much pain. I knew from experience that i needed to get antibiotics, and i needed a doctor to do that. But the catch is, my german health insurance wasnt goign to start its coverage until the 1 of oktober. So i knew i needed to go to the doctor, but at the same time i knew i couldnt because i didnt have insurance, and basically, i was freaking. After many frantic phone calls and my german roomates dealing with a sobbing, frantic me, it was decided that id go to the doctor in the morning and my german roomate thomas would come with me. With a course of action in place, i felt much much better.
So the next morning we go to the doctor and we had some luck. They let me use my roomates insurance and it only cost me 10E, which was wonderful since i had taken 500E out of my account just in case. and it only took about 3 minutes, so we went to the apotheke, got my drugs and went home. I went back to sleep for a couple of hours and when i woke up, things once again took a turn for the worse. I basically cried for 6 hours straight. My poor roomates didnt know what to do with me and i think i called or emailed everyone i know telling them i want to come home. I have never felt that alone in my life, to be honest. I had nothing to do and all i could think about was how much i missed having friends, missed home, just missed EVERYTHING. and i was scared about the language thing and was worried i didnt know enough or didnt understand enough to be here. It was frightening to me (and still is a little) to have to rely so much only on myself. The idea of being in this limbo for more than a couple of hours was unbearable. If someone had given me a plane ticket to come on friday, i would've taken it in a heartbeat.
but over the next couple of days, things were better. I was still a bit fragile but i started feeling optimistic. My roomates were very supportive and helpful and let me use their internet when i needed, and hung out with me to keep me company. Then on Tuesday, i had an orientation of sorts and things started getting really great. I got my matriculation number, which meant i could have the internet now. Normally, you have to fill in this form, put it in a box, and wait a week until you get sent this piece of paper in the mail with your IP address and other important internet things. One of my roomates told me that at this point of the year, it sometimes takes 2 weeks! So of course i was pleased when i came home, waving my Student ID in the air as a flag of victory to my roomate Katherina, and she tells me that one of our other roomates, Manu, had said something about maybe being able to get me the internet sooner because he knew one of the admins. So i went to his room and we walked down to the admins place and they had an entirely confusing, fast german conversation and we turned around in left. apparently the guy just told manu that if he knew the IP address to his room, then he could figure mine out, and we did. He set up my computer and let me borrow his connection cord and BOOM! internet! its wonderful to be able to talk to my friends and family again. its weird how much i rely on the internet and when i dont have it, how difficult things are.
and today was especially good. It was a bit stressful at first though. I had an international student orientation which only stressed me out more than helped me. My friends that ive made seemed so much more prepared than i was and i started stressing out about what classes to take and how many i should take and i started feeling really anxious and overwhelmed. But afterwards, i left, went to the supermarket, and came home and my friend nick, who was here last year, gave me some really good advice about classes and now i'm looking at taking some classes that i'm really looking forward to. i like having things to look forward to. Then i hung out with my german roomate Thomas and we talked a lot in German, which is a big step for me because while i can understand most of whats said to me and in my head, i can think of things to respond, when it comes to the point where i'm supposed to say something, my mind goes blank. For some reason, this only happens when im speaking with native german speakers. So to talk to him in german and have him understand was probably the best thing so far today. One of my biggest fears is not being able to have someone understand when im tryin gto communicate. i dont know why, but it just does. And then i cooked a proper meal of chicken and roast potatoes and it was really delicious. Also, my brazilian boy from münchen called me to tell me that he FINALLY bought his train ticket to come visit me next weekend and i am beyond thrilled.i spare you and i wont gush here, but i will say that he's pppreeeeettty great. :)
and now i'm sitting in my room, avoiding doing laundry, and finishing off a bag of gummi bears, and i feel very content.
and that's really all i ask for here. to be content. and at this moment, i am.
but since i'm here, i'll guess i'll update a bit.
I've never been really good at this blogging thing, but I feel like I'll regret not having some sort of account of my travels abroad if don't document it at least a little. so here it goes.
Things in Dresden have really been shaping up nicely the past couple of days. As most of you who read this know, I had quite the rough Friday here. Dresden is entirely different from München. It's been really difficult for me to have to, once again, leave friends and a place I really enjoy, to come to a new place. The first two days or so in Dresden were actually not that bad. Being an international student, i have this laundry list of things I have to do (i.e. register with the city, enroll, get health insurance, get a bank account, etc etc) and i spent most of Wednesday and Thursday taking care of those things, and since they kept me busy, i didnt really think a ton about being homesick. But then Thursday night things took a turn for the worse. I could feel the startings of a bladder infection all afternoon and by night, i was in so much pain. I knew from experience that i needed to get antibiotics, and i needed a doctor to do that. But the catch is, my german health insurance wasnt goign to start its coverage until the 1 of oktober. So i knew i needed to go to the doctor, but at the same time i knew i couldnt because i didnt have insurance, and basically, i was freaking. After many frantic phone calls and my german roomates dealing with a sobbing, frantic me, it was decided that id go to the doctor in the morning and my german roomate thomas would come with me. With a course of action in place, i felt much much better.
So the next morning we go to the doctor and we had some luck. They let me use my roomates insurance and it only cost me 10E, which was wonderful since i had taken 500E out of my account just in case. and it only took about 3 minutes, so we went to the apotheke, got my drugs and went home. I went back to sleep for a couple of hours and when i woke up, things once again took a turn for the worse. I basically cried for 6 hours straight. My poor roomates didnt know what to do with me and i think i called or emailed everyone i know telling them i want to come home. I have never felt that alone in my life, to be honest. I had nothing to do and all i could think about was how much i missed having friends, missed home, just missed EVERYTHING. and i was scared about the language thing and was worried i didnt know enough or didnt understand enough to be here. It was frightening to me (and still is a little) to have to rely so much only on myself. The idea of being in this limbo for more than a couple of hours was unbearable. If someone had given me a plane ticket to come on friday, i would've taken it in a heartbeat.
but over the next couple of days, things were better. I was still a bit fragile but i started feeling optimistic. My roomates were very supportive and helpful and let me use their internet when i needed, and hung out with me to keep me company. Then on Tuesday, i had an orientation of sorts and things started getting really great. I got my matriculation number, which meant i could have the internet now. Normally, you have to fill in this form, put it in a box, and wait a week until you get sent this piece of paper in the mail with your IP address and other important internet things. One of my roomates told me that at this point of the year, it sometimes takes 2 weeks! So of course i was pleased when i came home, waving my Student ID in the air as a flag of victory to my roomate Katherina, and she tells me that one of our other roomates, Manu, had said something about maybe being able to get me the internet sooner because he knew one of the admins. So i went to his room and we walked down to the admins place and they had an entirely confusing, fast german conversation and we turned around in left. apparently the guy just told manu that if he knew the IP address to his room, then he could figure mine out, and we did. He set up my computer and let me borrow his connection cord and BOOM! internet! its wonderful to be able to talk to my friends and family again. its weird how much i rely on the internet and when i dont have it, how difficult things are.
and today was especially good. It was a bit stressful at first though. I had an international student orientation which only stressed me out more than helped me. My friends that ive made seemed so much more prepared than i was and i started stressing out about what classes to take and how many i should take and i started feeling really anxious and overwhelmed. But afterwards, i left, went to the supermarket, and came home and my friend nick, who was here last year, gave me some really good advice about classes and now i'm looking at taking some classes that i'm really looking forward to. i like having things to look forward to. Then i hung out with my german roomate Thomas and we talked a lot in German, which is a big step for me because while i can understand most of whats said to me and in my head, i can think of things to respond, when it comes to the point where i'm supposed to say something, my mind goes blank. For some reason, this only happens when im speaking with native german speakers. So to talk to him in german and have him understand was probably the best thing so far today. One of my biggest fears is not being able to have someone understand when im tryin gto communicate. i dont know why, but it just does. And then i cooked a proper meal of chicken and roast potatoes and it was really delicious. Also, my brazilian boy from münchen called me to tell me that he FINALLY bought his train ticket to come visit me next weekend and i am beyond thrilled.i spare you and i wont gush here, but i will say that he's pppreeeeettty great. :)
and now i'm sitting in my room, avoiding doing laundry, and finishing off a bag of gummi bears, and i feel very content.
and that's really all i ask for here. to be content. and at this moment, i am.