I went down my street, turned left, then right, then right again and only a block away was the food store!
After finding the store once, I no longer needed a map to get there again. My goal is not to need a map to find my way around the city. I feel comfortable when I can trust myself to get home from wherever I am.
My second priority on arriving in Saarbrucken, has been to get to know people. When I first got here, I knew three other people in the city: one American girl, one Austrian professor, and one German professor. I then took a German class at my university and met a bunch of other international students.
On the first day of class, we all went around in a circle and introduced ourselves. We had to say our name, where we were from and why we wanted to learn German. Even though we came from different countries and backgrounds, we had two big things in common: we were all new to Saarbrücken, and we were all interested in learning German and learning more about Germany. I made friends at this class session, and since then we have all gone out together to get to know Saarbrücken better.
My year-long sport classes start in a week's time! I am going to do some sports that I have done before (volleyball, swimming, yoga), as well as some sports I have never tried before (kickboxing, standard dance and Latin dance). From all of my experience moving to new places, I know sports are a really good way to make new friends. And the added advantahe of sports is that it is okay if I cannot speak perfect German!
My third priority in Saarbrucken is a bit harder to explain: I want to know spaces. When I think of spaces, I think of a combination of people and places.
