One of the first words I heard the first time I came to Germany was “Heimat”, which means homeland.
On the first weeks, I was alone and I was missing my home in Mexico. When you move to a place where you don’t know anybody it might be hard to adapt. On my first weeks in Germany the internet of my apartment didn’t work, so for three days I was in a place with no internet, no way to contact my friends and family, and didn’t know anybody around me. At first, it was scary, but as a positive person, I thought that it could be a way to adapt to this new place. In order to kill time, I took long walks that made me realize that the people in Germany are not as friendly as in Mexico.
Before my arrival in Germany, everyone told me that Germans are not super friendly, so I was warned about this situation, but never thought that it could be that true. Anyways, I thought that in a park I could just talk to someone to make him/her my friend… but that is not that easy. When you are not fluent in a language, interacting with other people might be difficult. I’m not saying that I do not speak German at all, but just that I wasn’t that fluent. After failing on meeting new people, I finally got my internet back and I was able to call my family and friends in Mexico.
The time passed and I met new friends, these new people in my life became my family. Normally in a Sunday in Mexico, I will be with my family eating a BBQ and enjoying the good weather. In Germany, I spent my Sundays with my friends, we could just have a calm movie afternoon or just relax in a park.
After a year of living in Germany and getting to know my friends so much, I feel like they are my family too. One time in my German class, I was asked to talk about my homeland. According to the description of the book, homeland could be anything that reminds you to your home, for example, smells, sounds, and colors. Luckily for me, I realized that now I have two homelands. The first one in Mexico, where I will always remember the hugs from my mom, the laugh of my sisters and the smile of my dad. The second one where my new friends are, the funny talks with my friends, the songs of the many road trips we took, and all the memories that I will always have with me.
Having two new homelands makes me feel so happy, it also makes me feel that I can trust so many people all around the globe.
So what means “Neue Heimat”… New homeland.
After an amazing year in Hamburg, I spent another year in Munich.
Hope to share soon many experiences there.
(Photo Credit: Alex Norman)
Ana Campos 