It’s amazing how different I feel now, compared to at the start. I remember how hard it was the first couple nights to fall asleep, thinking, “I am so far away from everything I know. Can I really do this for one year?” I was nervous the first couple mornings to go downstairs to my family for breakfast, worried they may not like me, that we would not get along, or that I would make some horrible mistake due to cultural differences.
Now, I really have started my own life here. I am confident in my basic routes around Augsburg and in how to the public transportation. I love having to be responsible for myself and doing things because I want to do them, not because there is a big popularity contest that I have to buy into. I am a foreigner, and this idea of no one knowing me is very empowering.
Yes, I do feel homesick now and then, but not in the sense that I want to return to Illinois. Rather, I miss the encouragement of my family and friends, but I know they are rootin’ for me from a few thousand miles away. I just hope they are feeling as good as I am; the happiness continues.
