Vor der Reise

Das Abenteuer

I've never really considered myself much of an adventurer. I'm not much for camping trips or water-skiing or roller coasters or riding bikes in bike lanes alongside traffic or bowling without bumpers, generally, anything risky. However, in considering what the next several weeks hold for my fellow Commodores and me, I've realized that the journey we're about to undertake is much riskier--and, no, I'm not talking about the transportation or logistics.

As a linguaphile, you see, I've found my ways to explore the rich world of language, all whilst remaining pretty comfortable. It's really easy to sit behind a computer screen or at a desk and look up words, "hazard" translations, and relatively passively absorb another linguistic system, or even absent-mindedly churn it out. But as I sat on Facebook some weeks ago trying to find myself a German Brieffreund(in), or pen-pal, it struck me that this summer's trip to Berlin--which will also take me to Weimar, Halle/Saale, and neighboring Poland--will take me far out of my comfort zone, will stretch me in ways I can't imagine right now. For some people, it's sky-diving that gets the adrenaline pumping, but for me it's the thought of being immersed in another language and another culture, without Google Translate or dict.cc or Frau Reed or Olli to rely on, the thought of being a little scared and helpless and unable to say everything I want to say because I'm just not that advanced yet. While the Berliners I meet may not be as happy about it, I think it'll be fun to have to really struggle through every simple verbal exchange, because every simple verbal exchange will be an opportunity to be creative. If I fail to be creative in my circumlocution, my roundabout use of language due to insufficient vocabulary, then I will fail to communicate. It'll be overwhelming and frustrating, but for once I know it'll be truly challenging in every way--not to mention humbling.

And so, with bags packed and Handwörterbuch (pocket-dictionary) at the ready, I wish everyone a Gute Nacht (and to my mom, Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!). It's finally just a mere fourteen hours before my friend Matthew and I depart for the Great Beyond of Europe. So, after what will undoubtedly be a restless night of sleep, a weary yet exciting day-and-a-half of travel, and a disorienting arrival to Berlin...Tschüss for now, and I shall post an update as soon as life permits. Thanks for reading!

Gruß

 -Monika   =)