My first day in German class at Alexanderplatz!

Sara, 05. Dezember 2019

I woke up, had a quick little breakfast and was on my way to my first German class ever. That was back in July when the sun was shining and Berlin was sunny. I really miss it now that it’s cold! Arriving to Alexanderplatz, I spotted the famous Fernsehenturm and started looking for the building where a new chapter of my life was about to begin. As I made my way to class, I kept thinking to myself: “What am I doing here?”, “am I really going to learn German? German?? oh well, here we go”…  It felt so surreal to be standing in the middle of Alexanderplatz that day. I had come from Lebanon a month before and still hadn’t processed it. That day, it hit me. I was in Berlin, I was about to start learning German to live in Berlin. wow. I felt extremely overwhelmed. In 5 minutes, I was going to enter a room with people I had never met, and I was about to learn a language I would have never thought I’d be learning.

I got to class and spotted multiple people already at their seats. They all had the same hesitant look as me, awkwardly exchanging smiles and nods. The teacher entered the class and presented herself. Then it was the students’ turn; we were all coming from different countries and coming for entirely different reasons. I was so impressed with the diversity of the students. Some students were in their early 20s, moved to Berlin to learn the language. Some were in their 30s working or married and had relocated to this city for professional or personal reasons. What startled me the most, was that each student came from a different country and spoke a different language (Spanish, Arabic, French, Hindu, Italian, Polish…). It was amazing to see such a diverse group of people coming together on this day to learn a language and become a part of this new city. It made me feel like I belonged.