End of the Tunnel

Well, there are now only seven days before my plane back to the USA, and I cannot stress how excited I am to be going home. Honestly, it is hard to believe that I have been here for almost 5 months now. There have been some really good experiences and some rough patches as well, but it has definitely been an eyeopening experience in my life. It has been very interesting experiencing another country and culture first hand like this. I am not saying that Germany is drastically different from the USA, but it is different enough to be very challenging at times. More than anything else, I feel I have developed a much greater respect for the international students visiting the USA and the challenges that they face.

There is no way that I could have truly appreciated the difficulties that International Students go through without my time here in Germany. Even with my German skills vastly improved, there are days where it is just a massive drain to deal with everything in German. There are many times where you cannot help but feel alienated and alone. I think that I have done well and prepared the best that I could, and even so there were some very hard times. For any students reading this in the future. I do not care where you are from, but take the time to introduce yourself to someone you know to me an international student. They are often great people and would love to be invited to hang out. Many will be eager to learn about you and just as excited to talk about their home. They seem like small things, but that is how you make friends around the world and it can mean so much to them.

During the last week I had a sudden realization. I had been having a really rough day with my language skills. It was just one of those days where my brain did not want to find the words, form the sentences, or pronounce words properly. I was sitting on the bus headed for my apartment when I noticed a couple speaking sign language from the corner of my eye. I watched them for a moment before it really hit me. All of these feelings and small bits of depression I had experienced during my time here were do to the fact that I could not properly communicate and I could not always understand people or make my self properly understood. That single fact is what cause most of my homesickness and loneliness that I experienced while in Germany.

I thought to myself, the hearing impaired suffer from this everyday. It does not matter where they are from or what language they speak, the can have a hard time with basic communication with the majority of the population. I am not trying to say that these people are crippled and should be pitied, my goal is not to offend anyone. Once I was home, I did a little research and found that I was right. Many  people with hearing impairment of one kind or another feel alienated and separate from the rest of society. It is not unheard of for a person fall away from the majority of their friends simply because they have a hard time hearing. I do not mean to climb onto my soap box and start preaching about how everyone should live their lives, but this just does not sit right with me.

I have always wanted to learn sign language, but that conversation that I saw on the bus has really lit a fire in me. This is something I cannot pursue full tilt immediately upon my return, as I have to finish my schooling and begin the next chapter of my life, but there are steps that I plan on taking as soon as I get home. There are multiple sources online that can be utilized, a number of books that can be purchased online, sign language classes at community colleges, and there are entire communities online to help people develop sign language online and connect with chat partners. There are many options and I am excited to start looking into them.

tI know this blog does not have any kind of a following, but I would like to pose a challenge to anyone that follows me this far in my journey. Take at least a single step towards learning sign language. Even if you never get past the research phase, this will give you a better understanding of what the possibilities are. Even learning to say hello and ask how someone is doing could mean the world to someone. It is not difficult and I think it is a worthwhile goal. Now that I have ranted for the entirety of this post, I will be ending it, but fear not. I have finished my last exam and will now have ample free time to write several more posts before my return home. I do not know if this will make a difference to anyone but myself but I'm doing it anyway. Tomorrow I plan to discuss finals and ex-matriculation.

. Gute Nact.