I'm here!

I am here! I am officially living in Germany! Well...at least in a hotel for now.

Remind me next time I move abroad to pack ridiculously light.

Even though I really can't carry all my luggage myself, I thought I packed light(-ish) this time - but who knew that the airline weighed the carry-on baggage too?? Of course it was overweight, so there I stood in the middle of the check-in terminal, packing and repacking all my luggage, stuffing a bag to send home with Mom and Dad because it simply won't fit, and realizing "this is just too impossible to bring everything overseas with this limited space!" Oh well. I now have my oboe but no music, and only about half of the host gifts I bought, until it can be shipped over. Other than a slight delay due to weather, the trip was fine - my luggage was not lost, there were no waiting lines, I got a taxi and went straight to the hotel (and the taxi driver told me I speak German well :-)).

I had some time to kill before I could check in, so I wandered around the city - it's beautiful! Very modern, but it feels so much older than American cities do (gee, wonder why!). It's very green, and the skies are blue, and the weather is wonderful (it's about 25 degrees cooler here than Atlanta!)...

I also went in some shops just to look around, including a few drug stores and grocery stores. I don't really know why, but I was surprised to see so many American products on their shelves - Dove, Nivea, Olay, Garnier, Loreal, Mabeline, etc. Then again, Frankfurt is a notably Americanized city - we'll see what it's like when I get to Dresden.

Understandably I'm quite tired, after arriving here at about 8:00 this morning. Quality sleep time will be spent in my hotel:
That's all for now - internet access is spotty the first couple days, but I'm here and alive and all is well!

T-48 Hours...

Holy cow...the reality is sinking in.

Things that have been hard:
Moving out of my apartment. Leaving Athens for the last time. Leaving Raleigh for the last time. Saying final goodbyes. Not getting the opportunities to say final goodbyes. Knowing that life is continuing just fine without me, whether I'm involved or not. Missing my sister's high school graduation, Jonathan's wedding, and all my friends' graduation from college, and the opportunity to spend one more year with them. Knowing that once I step off that plane, I'm completely on my own and don't know a single person in the country. Sorting through boxes to find what I want to pack. Prioritizing what is important enough to justify packing in limited suitcases to bring with me, versus what I should buy there. Figuring out how to negotiate Euros and American Dollars through bank accounts and credit cards. Not knowing enough about the culture to know what to expect when I get there or how to appropriately handle myself. Having to answer "I don't know" when people ask me questions. Not having other people to sympathize and to hear "oh yeah I know what you're going through," because my situation is unique, and not being able to help others understand how this feels. Being scared out of my mind because I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.

On the flip side:
If nothing else, I have hotels/housing/dorms established, I'm enrolled in the university, I have plane tickets, I have a host family waiting for me once I arrive in Dresden. That's the most important part, and whatever else I forget can be taken care of there.

Scared as I may be, I am thrilled to have this experience and this opportunity. My anxiety at this point is because of the unknown, and I know once I get settled there I will be fine. I'm blazing my own path and having to be incredibly independent, and nothing else in life will seem as intimidating as what I'm about to do. The pre-trip emotion is fear -- but very soon I know it will be nothing but excitement.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! For the next year, I will be using this website to stay in touch with friends and family back home in the USA and recount my journey as I head to Germany for a year.

What am I doing? I won a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study at the Technische Universitat Dresden in Dresden, Germany for the next school year. I leave August 29 and will spend the month of September in Frankfurt, where I will be taking an intensive language course at the Goethe Institut there. Come October, I head to Dresden and will beg in my studies as a music history major (who dabbles in the education department as well). I am taking a year off from school at UGA, where I will return next fall to finish my degree.

Through this website, I will periodically post pictures and stories about my time abroad, what I'm doing, and how I am working with Rotary to fulfill my scholarship duties. Feel free to contact me (robinschaps@gmail.com), and I'll post later with more specifics on that!