Footprints

three

My alarm goes off at 5:45 AM sharp. A whole week has gone by since I've been here. It's Monday, and the first day of school is today. The past week I got unpacked, looked around the town and city nearby, and went on two hikes. I love hikes. That means I can take pictures. I'm such a nerd. Besides the fact that there is so much nature everywhere, the towns are a lot smaller, and the streets and houses are narrower, everything is pretty similar to America. I miss my family and friends a lot but I'm slowly getting used to Germany. Slowly.

"Why do we have to get up so early?" I ask Lea, groaning. I share a room with her.

"Schoooool! Yay!" She replies, not actually answering my question. I roll my eyes and laugh. She is excited for school because she gets to see her friends, but claims that she'll hate it in a couple days. I hate it already and we aren't even there. We get dressed, eat breakfast, and walk to the bus stop. Soon enough we are dropped off at the bus station in Göppingen and walk over to a group of girls, which I assume are Lea's friends.

"Lea!" They all exclaim and give her a hug. I stand there awkwardly as she introduces me.

"Hallo!" They say, shaking my hand and smiling. I smile back shyly. Then they turn to eachother and start talking in German. I couldn't understand much so I just stood at the perimeter of the group listening, but not really comprehending. A couple more girls arrive and we start walking up to the school. I follow behind up the street, into the school, up the stairs, and into our first class. I sit down next to Lea.

The teacher comes in and introduces himself. He starts talking and handing out papers. Minutes tick by, Conversation is all around me but I can only make out a few words. My head hurts from trying to understand more than I actually can. First days of school are mostly orientation, so all they'll do is talk. At least I don't have to work yet. After what seems like forever the period is over and we go to our next one, German. This class is just as frustrating as the first. They talk and talk and talk. I barely make it through the next couple classes without breaking down, but finally school is over. It is only a half day of school today.

Lea gives her friends hugs goodbye and I shake their hands again. It seems so formal, but I do it anyways. One girl, Lena I think, comes up and gives me a hug instead. I hug her back, surprised but glad that I don't have to do another weird hand shake good-bye.

"Ciao," Lena says.

"Tschüss," I reply and watch her walk away. Lea and I start walking to the bus to go to her Grandma's house for lunch. We eat lunch there almost every day because her parents have to work.

"So. How'd your first day go?" Lea asks me.

"Well. Allright, I guess," I tell her, "Pretty overwhelming."

"It will get better. Just work on your German a lot!" She grins and puts her earbuds in, listening to her favorite band, 5SOS. I claim that they're boy band, and they are not even that good. She obviously disagrees and says 5SOS is not a boy band. I laugh at the thought of that and start listening to my favorite band, One Republic. Don't even try to say that they are a boy band because no. They're not. Oh god. Now I sound like Lea.

My favorite song by them, Secrets, starts playing and as I listen to it I try and forget about the anxiety from school. This was just the first day. It will get better.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.