A couple of public service announcements before we start:
- German alcohol is MUCH stronger than American alcohol
- Never leave your friends in a foreign city to go to a cute boy’s house
- Attempting to live lives in two places will wear your soul thin
A lot of people travel in college, we want to see the world while we’re young, right? Get out of our little corner of the world so that we can see and experience new things. Whether we go on our own, or through a school program we are free to explore and meet new people.
Not going to Germany in general, I loved the country! But one chance evening while we were looking for a German nightclub we ran into a group of people roughly our age attempting to steal a street sign. Romantic right? That was my first view of Eric. He tried to wrestle the sign out of his drunk friend’s hands and put it back before they could get in trouble. We were desperate to find our way so we asked if they could help us. With the little German we knew, we introduced ourselves and showed them on the map where we were trying to go.
“Oh, Americans!” the more boisterous of the four, (the one attempting to steal the sign) was so excited to meet Americans and talk about politics and gun laws. The other two were quiet. The one that caught my eye was the 6’5 hunk wearing Adidas and a beanie, who spoke perfect English…but didn’t let us know until about 10 minutes into our walk.
Long story short, we didn’t make it to a club. We all ended up roaming the streets of Berlin drinking corner store beers until 3AM. Looking back on it now, I realize what a dangerous situation I put myself in and I beg you all to never EVER follow my example….I left my friends and went across town with Eric (the hunk’s name). We spent the whole night together talking and laughing and in the morning he walked me back to the train station. The negative connotation that PDA has in America doesn’t exist in Germany. He picked me up and fireman carried me down the steps and we kissed until my train came.
The rest of the nights in Berlin involved him. We found ways to hang out after I did my school stuff in the mornings. He walked around with us and showed us some of his favorite places to Berlin.
Our time in Berlin was up way too quickly, and before I knew it I had to say goodbye to my handsome German. We hopped on our train to Nuremberg and I moped the entire way. Eventually we pulled into the gorgeous, medieval town on a hill and I turned on my phone to see a message. Eric had bought a ticket and was going to come to Nuremberg so that he could spend just a little more time with me!
It was a similar situation to Berlin, we had one tour the morning of the first day and then two days to do whatever we wanted. Walking around holding hands with my foreign man and having him treat me like a princess was truly something out of a dream. I sent a message to my sister, and all it said was “Holy crap, I’m like Lizzie McGuire when she met Paulo!!”
He joined me and the rest of the group exploring, drinking in extravagant bars, dying over German music in a hookah bar and eating fresh lebkuchen (gingerbread, because Nuremberg celebrates Christmas year-round). The morning we left he walked with us all the way to the train station and hugged me right up until I stepped onto the train. He walked away so fast I was confused until receiving a message that he had to leave or he would start crying…
To be honest I was happy to have time to myself in Vienna. I was angry at myself for focusing on a guy when I was in a foreign country. But it’s true what they say, when you stop looking for someone, that’s when they come along. We were Facebook messaging and snapchatting every time I had Wi-Fi. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to America. A week after I made it back to Mankato he sent me a huge bouquet of roses, a teddy bear, and a box of chocolates to make sure I knew that he was thinking about me (cute, right?).
This was going to be the difficult part, I’ve done long distance stuff before, but this was almost 4,500 miles we’re talking about! A couple weeks after being home, when the shine wore off, he was doing things like asking for a “long distance open relationship” (like, excuse me? No.) and saying that he loved me…I was getting mixed advice from everyone in my life. “He’s obviously a sweet guy and cares about you, you should give him a chance!”, “He is willing to spend the money to come to America, why don’t you let him?”, OR “He’s super clingy and you should cut contact.” I kept telling him that I didn’t want that and that I wanted to focus on my life in Mankato.
I had no idea what to do because I felt bad for just disappearing! He had a lot going on in his life and said that he had never met anyone that he had liked more than me. In short, I’m weak. I was in Germany over spring break in March and only last week cut contact with Eric, after breaking his heart when I told him that I have a boyfriend.
Overall, Germany was an amazing experience. I wouldn’t trade a single moment for something different. Eric was one of the things that made it such a life-changing experience. Be open to all of the experiences life throws at you and maybe you too will have your own Lizzie McGuire experience! Hopefully a slightly better one than mine.