Student Blues

When we first arrived in Memphis, Whitney Jacks (president of the German Club) and other American students  picked us up at the airport and gave us a very warm welcome. They drove us to our dorms and went to have dinner with us at “Tracks”, a typical American Bar and Restaurant near Campus. All the German exchange students live on Carpenter Complex, the most expensive but also the nicest and safest place to stay at on Campus. Each house contains twelve apartments, where three to four people stay in. In contrast to Wilder Tower, another dorm on Campus, every student has an own room. There is a kitchen, two bathrooms and a living room in the apartments.  But in order to live in Carpenter Complex, you have to buy everything from scratch: Bed sheets and pillows, clothes hangers, toilet paper, pans, pots, plates, trashcans…just EVERYTHING. That’s the reason why we slept on plain mattress covered with cloths and towels the very first night we stayed here. Thank god the study abroad office organized a huge bus to take us to Wal-Mart the day after we arrived. I think I spent almost $450 on my first trip to the shopping center, which, by the way, is a cultural experience itself.

Due to the shopping flash on one side, and the contrasting feeling of the jetlag on the other side, I bought all the decoration items for my room in the color blue. I only realized back home that I must have been in some kind of bad depression while I put everything blue I could find in my huge Wal-Mart buggy. But now I kind of got used to it and really enjoy staying in the blue hell that I decorated. But the main reasons why I enjoy living here so much are my roommates. Lindsey is a 19-year-old freshman from Ripley, Tennessee, whereas Lorraine (21) is originally from Kenya and a sophomore with a Nursing major. We get along really well and staying with them is like staying with old friends. One of my first weekends in Memphis I spent at Lorraine’s house and had a BBQ with her family, and even Lindsey’s mom asked me to stay in Memphis longer, so she can have two daughters to take care of.

                                                        

                                      


Speaking of my first days in Memphis there is one huge part that needs to be mentioned: The German Club. From the very first day the students in the German Club took care of us. Everyone has his or her own buddy, that helped us organize the first few weeks, took us to the shops, invited us to parties, and explained all the American habits that occurred strange to us in the first place. Due to these efforts, the Germans were pushed gently in their first college experiences, such as beer pong, house parties, and sorority and fraternity events. Without them, organizing life 7000 kilometers away from home would have been so much harder and less fun. I am really glad we had the opportunity to meet these guys and become friends with them. 

                                      

My first American friend

Edward and I finally got used to each other. I’ve stayed in the apartment of Carpenter Complex on the University of Memphis since two months now and I think the little squirrel finally accepted my four months- presence in the room right next of his personal tree. It took quite a while to get to know to each other. Edward- don’t think I got inspired by the Twilight- Series here, I’m pretty sure that’s always been his name- was very curious in the first place, about the strange girl that is talking with this weird accent he has never heard before. He spent hours sitting on my windowsill, gnawing on his hazelnut, and watching me with excitement while I told him, who I am and where I come from.

I said that I am a 21-year-old German who flew all the way from Frankfurt to America to study Communication and Journalism at the University of Memphis. In Fall Semester 2009 I want to experience the college life with everything that is considered to be typically American: The University, the culture, the food, the environment, the music, the youth and everything else that is part of being an American college student.

When I finished my speech I figured that Edward isn’t really much a talker. But I could tell by the speed of his gnawing jaw that he wants to know everything about my experiences and especially about the cultural differences between Germany and America.

Well then, there is a lot to say. First of all I gave him some basic information that he definitely seemed to lack, eventually he has never seen anything else besides the tree he is living at and as never done anything else but finding, eating and hiding his beloved nuts. So this is what I told him: Germany is a country in Europe. It is neither the capital of Europe nor a part of Ireland. Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands surround the country. Although the Netherlands is a neighboring country, we don’t speak Dutch in Germany, we speak German (it was quite hard for him to figure THAT out!) Despite all of Edward’s argumentation, I am pretty sure that Frankfurt is not the Capital of Germany and has never been so. Instead, Berlin is Germany’s capital. By the way: there is no gigantic wall that separates eastern from western Germany and Hitler is neither alive nor my friend. Most of the German girls don’t wear “Dirndels” every day and beer is not the only thing we drink back home. He was quite impressed, that we have dishwashers, washing mashines and microwaves and that we shower every single day. 

I guess it takes quite a bit to explain Edward how I see the American World through European eyes. Give that little friend of mine a voice if there is anything you want to know about how I experience America or Germany. I’d be more than happy to tell him and tell you about it afterwards.