{"id":1853,"date":"2023-10-12T18:07:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T18:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=1853"},"modified":"2023-10-12T18:09:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T18:09:15","slug":"blog-2-first-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/2023\/10\/12\/blog-2-first-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog 2: first impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

My arrival in Germany was chaotic but fun to say the least. When I arrived in Frankfurt, I was immediately confused. Thankfully, I already made a friend on the plane, or else I would\u2019ve been lost. I expected the entry process\/passport check to be thorough and that they\u2019d ask me questions, but the passport controller just stamped my passport and said, \u201ck, bye\u201d. After rushing from passport control to catch my next flight to Hamburg, my new friend and I had no idea we had to catch a bus in the airport to drive to the next terminals. So after running through the airport about 3 times, we finally got the courage to ask where to go. Finally I got to my gate 5 minutes before boarding to start my new adventure in Germany.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the biggest culture shocks for me so far is that stores are closed on Sundays. Sometimes I want to buy something, but then I remember that everything is closed. So, you really have to plan ahead and buy food on other days of the week or else you\u2019ll be pretty hungry on Sunday. Another thing that\u2019s different is that dryers for clothes aren\u2019t very common!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The separation from my friends, family and familiar ways of life has revealed a lot about myself. Everybody told me I would get homesick, but I\u2019m actually not homesick at all (I do miss Chipotle burritos and Chic-Fil-A though). Being here has showed me that I\u2019m actually more independent than I thought. But making friends definitely helps me to not become homesick, so if you study abroad, don\u2019t be afraid to talk to people!<\/span><\/p>\n

Right now I\u2019m in Greece, then I have to fly back to Gie\u00dfen because school starts the next morning. Being able to country-hop isn\u2019t exactly possible in the US, especially this close to the start of school. By my next blog, I\u2019ll already be busy in school and can write about my daily routine here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0One thing that surprised me is that under the town I often visit (my boyfriends house in northern germany!), there\u2019s a whole system of bunkers from WW2. Unfortunately, someone covered the entrance with rocks, so I can\u2019t get in. But the cool thing about Germany is that almost everywhere you go, there\u2019s bits of history laying around, whether it be a castle or something from the war.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

bunker<\/a><\/p>\n

grotte<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My arrival in Germany was chaotic but fun to say the least. When I arrived in Frankfurt, I was immediately confused. Thankfully, I already made a friend on the plane, or else I would\u2019ve been lost. I expected the entry process\/passport check to be thorough and that they\u2019d ask me questions, but the passport controller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16,14],"class_list":["post-1853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-atuglobal","tag-arkansastechuniversity","tag-politicalscience","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1853"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1861,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions\/1861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}