As I said in my last post, finding things around the city in the beginning was quite hard. I came here with nothing but a suitcase of clothes and had to accommodate for an apartment. This would’ve been easy if I were back home and could ask most people on the street where to find various things that I needed, but it proved to be quite difficult not knowing the city particularly well. Luckily there is a supermarket right across the street and this seems to be the trend in Germany.
Tip #1: I can always find a supermarket close by, it could be because Germans shop to prepare food for each day rather than for each week like I typically do at home. I literally have three supermarkets on my street alone. So you won’t go more than five blocks usually without finding a supermarket. Also, the packaging of food is in smaller portions so that supports the daily shopping model.
Navigating throughout the market it reminded me a lot of the store we have in America ‘Aldi’ which I came to find is actually a German supermarket that made its way to America. The food is rather affordable but there is an odd culture difference when you visit a German Supermarket. First of all, plastic bags are abundant in America, which is not the case here. At most supermarkets you must pay per bag; this was something that I remembered from the store I visited back at home but here it is the norm and was quite different. There isn’t much of the same food that you would find in the U.S. they have their own style of food I would say. German’s heavily rely on sausage as a main meat product and there are so many different kinds it will make your head spin. I was completely confused when I started looking at the variety.
Tip #2: Sometimes it can be fun to try new foods even though you might not know what you’re buying. I have tried a couple new cheeses and meats while here and have found them to be really great. One thing that is very weird that I have never seen is that eggs are not in the fridge with milk and butter; they are in fact not refrigerated and can be found near bread. This can be very confusing when trying to bring your own assumptions from home when you are in new surroundings.
Later on, when I decided to go to the largest electronic store in Mannheim, Saturn, I bought a Coffee Machine to help save money on my coffee addiction. I came home to set the pot for the morning and found the contents to be a little off.
Tip #3: Always pay attention to what you are buying, sometimes in a different country it may look the same, but it isn’t.
It was no Coffee Machine, it was a water cooker. Ha! It had all of these compartments to make it look like you would insert the coffee and then brew, it even came with a teaspoon to pour in the coffee grounds, or so I thought. I had to return this to the store now; I could not go on without coffee. It was a little nerve racking to approach the information desk and to try to return something in a new country. I did not know the different policies they had nor the correct way to approach the situation. One thing that I found to be odd was they wrote me a return slip for the item at the information desk, asked me to go to the department of purchase, and then I would have to go to the checkout in order to receive my money. I have never seen a more complicated return! I am just glad that I was able to figure it out.

So this was my first time ever out of the United States of America, unless you count Mexico and according to some locals I’ve talked to, it doesn’t count. Since my arrival on the 18th of August, there has been a plethora of ridiculous and miraculous occurrences. I have a couple of tips for other students coming into Europe for the first time, which frankly I wish I knew before coming here. First of all, I have never flown alone, nor have I ever taken a flight for more than 3 hours. This was a huge difference comparatively. If you have never taken a long flight before, just to prepare you, it will not be comfortable, the food is merely okay and hopefully you can sleep long enough to catch up with the time difference. But after the flight I decided that I would attempt to purchase a train ticket to Mannheim. Luckily I found a Travelex currency exchange in the Frankfurt airport and on a whim chose to exchange some money so I wouldn’t have to use my card to pay for a ticket. Little did I know that the tickets are normally purchased using a kiosk and can only accept European credit cards with the built in chip or an exact dollar amount of Euros. Luckily I had exchanged money and could purchase a ticket.
Tip #1: Bring European currency. Most places do not accept American credit cards because they do not have chips in them.
The next thing that I experienced was the train. There were two different kinds of trains long-distance and local and I now had to find my platform for my long-distance train. My German is not very good, so I did not know where this platform was by the signs. I chose to ask someone, feeling lost, if they knew which platform my train was. The only thing I could make out was him pointing to the information desk, which thankfully was all I needed. The attendant told me, in English, where the platform was, to my relief. It was much the same as 30th street station where the tickets are ‘open’ meaning they can be used for that train at any time and they also use the platform system as well. Maybe we could adopt the kiosk purchases too, that is something that I really prefer to use. Later, when my train arrived I wasn’t sure that the train was correct because it had several stops scrolling on the sign. I asked a woman “Entschuldigen, sprechen Sie English?” and the woman beckoned to her daughter to help instead.
Tip #2: Most young people in Germany can speak English. They have told me that most of the films and internet sites are in English so they would be able to help in tight situations. Look for teens and young adults if you find yourself lost or in need of assistance.
When entering the train I sensed a noticeable difference compared to the trains I have taken at home. They were much cleaner and comfortable than I have ever seen. Of course this was a long distance train, but it was still amazing how comfortable the seats were. This ride would be shorter than any train ride I’ve taken back home, but the quality of the service and the train was not comparable. I have learned that all public transit in Mannheim is very clean, based on an honesty system and is quite comfortable, which is something that I truly appreciate.
Arriving in my flat (I now love that word and will bring it back with me) there was so much that I took for granted. Knowing that a home usually had most of the essentials you need, I had to start from scratch. It was an adventure just trying to find some of the basic items that I needed in a new country…