Roommate Tag?

Okay, so I just wanted to blog about this awkward situation I’m in before I go to bed…
So most everyone in the program has met at least one of their roommates except me! Students are on a two month break right now so there aren’t a lot here, but when I moved in last week, all three of my roommates were gone and have been gone…until tonight! It’s been odd being alone and just waiting for them to get back so I can awkwardly meet them… and when I got back to my room this evening, I noticed some new dishes on the drying racks so I KNEW…that someone was back.

A couple hours went by and I finally heard the door open and the toilet flush and then a bedroom door close. Aha….roommate is home. And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. It’s been almost three hours.

Now, being an American, my inherent desire is to go knock on said roommate’s door (I don’t know if this one is the boy or one of the girls) and cheerfully introduce myself and make a new friend! But this is Germany. And they don’t do that here.
For the most part, students don’t room with their best friends like we do at college in the states, they just room with people they get along with. So, according to some other kids on the program, their roommates don’t really talk to each other, and just stay in their rooms with the door shut. But here, that’s not anti-social, that’s just culture. You’re not even really supposed to ask “wie geht’s?” (how are you?) unless you know the person well and expect a really long answer outlining every aspect of the person’s day. If you have to ask something, you say “alles klar?” or “alles in Ordnung?” (everything alright?), which is considered much less personal.

So. She knows I am here (I’m just gonna assume it’s one of the girls) and I know she is here. And we have both been in the bathroom and the kitchen but have not sighted each other as of yet. I’m about to go to bed (10:45, I’m so lame—but in my defense, I have no internet to distract me, I have to get up at 7:30 for the fifth morning in a row, and went out last night with some friends to a bar.)

I’m supposed to learn to embrace German culture, meaning I’m not supposed to go knock on her door and introduce myself. So I will go to bed…feeling awkward…and maybe I’ll meet her in the morning.

They call it study abroad…but they should really just call it “awkward abroad” because so much that goes on in my everyday life of learning to live here is just awkward! And unfortunately, there’s not even a good German translation for that word ☹