As of Saturday it is officially only two more weeks until I get to go back home. I must say I wasn’t expecting to look forward to going back this much. This experience in London has unfortunately rarely been a positive one. Apart from a few minor details most everything here is just better at home in Berlin.
My bed here is a bit too small for me and squeaks whenever I move, not to mention the slatted frame having to be rearranged at least every other day, lest I fall through my bed (which has happened a couple of times). I miss my chair, my table and I miss playing games with my friends, games which my laptop here cannot run and even if it could, playing while lying on a bed is very difficult. I miss being able to shower without having to constantly duck my head or being unable to turn around. It might sound like I’m just whining or having „culture shock“, but I spent a year abroad when I was in 10th grade and I can tell you this is not me being frustrated with being away from home, this is me being frustrated with the situation here. The food here isn’t great either, most of the meals we have had a couple of times now and they aren’t getting any better. The only times I’m not going to bed at least semi hungry are when I go out and buy my own food.
Work here isn’t the worst, but I prefer the work I do in Germany. The only advantage here is that my day starts at 9 rather than 7, which I do consider a huge plus. I’m not a morning person and having that extra sleep has been great. We also get an hour Lunch and still only work 9-5, meaning i have to work an hour less effectively.
The best thing about my time here so far has been meeting up with the people that came here with me. Dustin and Thore only living 20 minutes by foot away from us has been great and regularly meeting them is probably the best thing about this experience, which I find a bit ironic since the best thing about my experience in London are the the people from Germany. I don’t even speak noticeably more English here than at home. This might sound weird, but at home I am always in voice chat with my friends, most of whom are not from Germany. While obviously I still speak English at work and outside here, I usually don’t speak a lot of German at home, but I do here.
Anyway this turned into more of a rant than I originally intended, but it does represent my general feeling towards my stay here. I know others got a bit more lucky with host families and work, but unfortunately for me this experience has not been good so far.