Berlin, 01.02.2016
Back to school! She was half excited half nervous. She has visited the university, TU Berlin, a week before and she knew where the classes and stuff, but meeting new people especially them who don’t speak her native language is always challenging for her. — Just in case you are confused, the prep college is offered by most of the university in Germany. So people attend the school together with the university students, only it has different curriculum and also stricter rules just like how the school works.
“Speak slowly, so people can hear your voice clearly. Speak slowly. Speak slowly.” she kept repeating those sentences in her head. There were many Indonesian students, 8, she’s included. Others were from Ukraine, South Korean, Iran, Russia, Colombia. Her home teacher, Frau Schilling, was a fine woman. She had white short hair, wore a glasses and was an expert in chemistry. She had a habit to fix her bra while explaining things in front of the class. She and her new friends found that funny. The time went so fast that she didn’t realize it was lunch time already.
She got a student card from the university and also a mensa card, not that Mensa, but one for university food court. The canteen system was pretty much the same like what her senior high school also had, the difference is only the menu were always changed every days and every weeks. There were many stands, students pick the menu they want to eat and pay all of them at the cashier. Some food, like pasta, salad and desserts, were served that students can take so much as they want and pay it according to the weight. There was one stand that sells the most delicious menu but also the most expensive one. Her favorite day was Wednesday. All her favorite food, like ayam goreng, pad thai, and some other Asian foods were always shown in the electronic menu board.
“So, has already some in mind, what do you wanna eat?”
“hmm I’m thinking fish maybe? Because I can’t eat pork and they don’t have chicken today.”
“okay, take your time, but not too long, I pay first and wait you at the table.”
“sure!”
She picked fish, said thank you to the canteen lady and moved to the salad stand. She loves to mumble while choosing things, “Corn, iceberg lettuce, carrot, cucumber but not too much. And..” she looked at the sauce bottles “I’ll take the orange one, hope it’s tasty.” She paid for her meal and walked inside, but instead of searching for her friends she stood in awe for couple of seconds. The canteen was huge. It had 2 floors. The new tables were colored lime and orange and the old ones had wood color. Some were made from the same material as the floor so they couldn’t be moved around. She pulled herself together and started to look left and right searching for her friends. She saw waving hands towards her, she knew she found the table, she smiled and walked to the table.
Lunch time is always fun. People are having conversation about their mornings, classes, days.
Close friends share deep talks and strangers share names.
Some are talking and some are listening, some are learning for their next exam, some don’t get to finish their food and need to pack it all before returning their plates. In Germany people are taught to clean their own mess. All is self service. They pick their own food and return their empty plates. That goes also with grocery shopping. They pick their own things from the shelves and put them out of the shopping back before paying. Then pack them in their own bags themselves. Which is a lot of different from the country she comes from.
“It’s almost up! Where are your next class?”
“Physics Laboratory, you?”
“I don’t know haven’t checked yet”
“It’s in the main building,” shouted the other.
“Okay. I have a class until 3PM.”
“We too. We’ll wait for you at the front of the door near the train station.”
“Okay. till then.”
She came to Germany with 7 other friends. Basically she already knew 4 people who attend the same prep school with her. Three boys and two girls including her. They all studied science. The school days were all the same. The stuffs were a bit different from what she had studied in senior high. The language was the only thing that made everything difficult. Days by days, weeks by weeks, months by months went by and it was suddenly November. Weeks before the assessment test took place.
