An Untrodden Road

By

Lo Ka Tat (David)

One year glided away. The memories of my exchange still constantly linger in my

mind. Casting my mind back, I still vividly remember the excitement I felt when I knew my

exchange result. It was in a tutorial and I could not be attentive at all because I kept pressing

the refresh button on my phone. Knowing that I was accepted to study in Germany for one

year, I skipped the following class, dashing home to tell my mum, who hoped that I would

fail in the interview, about this good news for me and bad news for her. Time flew swiftly.

My day of departure came. I carried my luggage and left home, heading to uncertainties. I did

not have any fears because I did not know what to fear. I was not courageous; I just knew

nothing. Besides Guangdong Province, I had never left Hong Kong. It was my first time to

take an aeroplane, to travel to a foreign country, and to leave home for such a long time. The

only thing I had was my imagination of Germany.

Germany is my dream country. It is the birthplace of great musicians, writers,

philosophers and sociologists. It was also the battlefield of the Second World War and once

so infamous in modern history. Yet, everyone appreciates Germans’ genuine repentance after

the War. When I had just started my studies at university, I had already dreamt to immerse

myself in this nation with such a long history, deep culture and admirable character. I

therefore started to learn German and sacrificed my GPA each semester as my German grade

could only range between B- and C+. My dream was then coming true. After a 13-hour flight,

I eventually arrived in Freiburg and my new life began. Stepping out from the main train

station, I was immediately mesmerised by the cobblestones and water runnels in this small

old city near the Black Forest. Brought up in a hasty modern cosmopolitan, I had great

fascination with small old towns with nature and tranquillity. I looked forward to my pleasant

and enjoyable life in this city catering for me.

However, after getting the key in the office, I was brought back to reality and had to

face many big problems waiting for me. I had never been to Europe and I had no idea about

the German transport system so I did not know how to go to my hostel at all. I wanted to seek

help but I could only utter my scanty German. Even though I could speak, I understood

nothing. I just stood outside the office with confusion. I was mute and deaf despite my still

functioning mouth and ears. Familiar sounds echoed around my ear without any meaning.

Every answer just gave me more puzzlement, adding more bewilderment on my face. I

looked so dumb. Fortunately, an old man helped me to grab a person who could speak

English on the street and I managed to locate my room at last. Yet, I knew that I was already

in a language battlefield and this battle was inevitable.

Without any time to arm myself, problems just came one by one. I found that I

brought a wrong adaptor and my computer and mobile phone were running out of power;

meanwhile, there was no Internet in my room. Anxiety started to stir in my heart. I had no

means to contact my worrying mum to give her little comfort. I just went out and wandered

around to see if I could accidentally find one. Fruitless attempts forced me to ask people

again; however, I did not know the word “adapter” in German. A woman could speak English

but she did not know the word “adapter”. Although at last we found out that what I wanted

was just “Adaptor” in German, she was not sure where I could get one. My only hope was in

the city centre and I decided to try my remaining luck. I randomly walked into a shop selling

home appliances. It was just another fruitless attempt. I was absolutely desperate. When I was

about to leave the shop, the shop owner called me back and told me, “I do not sell adapters

but I know where you can get one.” I asked her to write down the name for me. She did more

than I asked: she even drew a map for me. “Vielen Dank! Vielen Dank!” I replied. This was

one of the few German sentences I managed to speak. I tried to give my smile as bright as

possible to express my inexpressible gratitude. In my later days in Germany, it was often

proved that facial expressions could be very helpful when no language was available.

I had arrived in Germany one month earlier to join an intensive German language

course. I was hesitant when deciding if I should take that course since the price was not cheap

at all. I asked for advice from a professor who received his doctoral degree from my host

university, and I can still remember what he told me. He simply explained to me that money

could be earned back and I would not have time to study German when the semester started. I

followed his advice. With hindsight, it was the wisest choice I had ever made. In the intensive

course, my German improved quickly because I could apply what I learned in the class

immediately outside the classroom and German became so useful and practical for me for the

first time. There were many Spanish people in my class and they always hung around

together. However, among them, one deliberately chose not to have lunch with other

Spaniards but with me. He told me he joined the course to learn German not to speak Spanish

so I spoke German with him most of the time. It was undeniably mentally exhausting owing

to our limited German. Very often, communication could not be carried on because we could

not understand each other and we could only switch back to English. Still, it was my first step

to get used to constructing German sentences. Before I left Freiburg, this Spanish friend

asked me to meet for the last time in a Spanish restaurant and we still spoke German to each

other but with much more fluency.

The semester began and I met more German students. Speaking German with native

speakers was by no means easy. They did not know what words and grammar I had learned.

The only thing they could do was to lower their speed. Of course, I acknowledged that I

could never speak German with precision. To say something with understandable grammar

was my only aim. This task was yet still very challenging. The incapability of expressing my

thoughts always made me anxious. I felt like a baby, who was unable to speak at all but only

knew how to cry to tell people its needs. I reflected upon my experience of learning English. I

had learned English for nearly 20 years and I still could not speak perfect English. I

questioned myself, “Why do I demand myself to speak German without problems when I just

started to learn this language two years ago?” I became more down to earth. I was a learner of

German and even little improvement was actually some progression. I endowed German with

more meaning: German was a tool for me to show my willingness to adapt to the local culture

and my respect for their language. When I could express myself in German, I spoke German,

not English. Asking people to repeat again and again was indeed not very pleasant and I

sometimes found myself annoying. However, they at least knew that I was willing to learn

their language. I was very lucky to have many encouraging German friends, who always

taught me German with patience and paid me undeserved compliments in spite of my silly

mistakes. There could be embarrassment and frustration. I reminded myself that I foresaw

this challenge when I made this choice so I had to confront it with perseverance.

The challenge in an exchange life was not limited to language; integration was also a

problem. I had never made friends with foreign students before. I knew nothing about their

habits, hobbies and outlook of the world. Only with many cultural reductive stereotypes

learned from the Internet, I threw myself into an entirely different culture. I was so eager to

make friends but I had social anxiety. Sitting with a bunch of foreign students, I found myself

an outsider. The party culture was very confusing for me. In a party, I could meet countless

faces and make some repetitive chitchat. I could ask people some questions about things that

could be easily found on a form like names, countries, and majors but nothing deeper. I got

tired of this hollowness of relationship. I longed for true friends with whom I could share my

ups and downs, and on whom I could rely when in need.

Actually, more great friendships were welcoming me with open arms and I just

needed to be more patient. I met a student from Barcelona. I was impressed by his

introduction of his origin because we both told people which city we were from, instead of

the countries. We were both very conscious of our identity. We loved studying literature so

we took similar classes. We had lunch together almost every day and exchanged our views on

books. It was amusing that I could find such a like-minded person despite our entirely

different cultural backgrounds. In Germany, I once suffered from an Internet scam and lost

lots of money. My German flatmate, without any hesitation, promised to accompany me to

the police station to make a complaint and do the translation for me. My French friend knew

that I did not like big parties so she particularly organized a small home party to celebrate my

birthday. I did not like beer so I always got the privilege to drink iced lemon tea when I lost

in a game. Two of my German friends invited me to their birthday parties. In both parties, I

was the only non-German student. In fact, I was worried because I had to speak my poor

German for the whole night; meanwhile, I was very grateful that they accepted me although I

was different. In one of the birthday parties, we played footballed together until 4:00 a.m. I

was by no means a skilful player but they welcomed me to join them. All of our clothes got

soaked at the end because of the rain. It was a crazy and enjoyable night because I felt more

like an insider. I knew I need time to establish friendships. I cooked Chinese food for them so

that we had more time to chat and to know each other better. I also went to their concerts to

support them. We treated each other with sincerity and respect, which transcended the

cultural barrier and spoke more than language.

An exchange means not only going out but also coming back. My friend from

Barcelona taught me a Catalan phrase, “Volta el món i torna al born” (“Travel around the

world and go back to the terminal”), which is perfectly suitable to sum up my year in

Freiburg. Immersing myself in a different culture helped me reflect upon myself. We all have

our own languages and cultures and these differences actually constitute who we are and our

individuality. I am different but I need not be a conformist. A different culture perplexes me

and forces me to think deeper about who I am. I returned to Hong Kong as a person with

greater flexibility and adaptability. The process is not always pleasant but very rewarding.

Robert Frost in one poem says, “I took the one less travelled by, / And that has made all the

difference.” This untrodden road in my life is unquestionably fruitful and makes me a

different person.

An Overview of Freiburg

A Christmas gift with a letter given by my German flatmate to help me survive my lonely Christmas in Germany

A farewell party for one of my Spanish friends

About the author

Lo Ka Tat (David) is a Year 4 student, majoring in English and minoring in Philosophy andSociology. In 2012-2013, he participated in a year-long academic exchange program at the University of Freiburg in Germany.