As I already told you in my last post, I want to do my Masters in the USA. Yes in the land of freedom and opportunities, which is also called the American Dream. I have been living in the States for over three years now and I really enjoy my time here and started to love the life and people. I have learned so much about life, which I would not have learned being babysat by my wonderful mum at home. If your parents are close by they are always looking out for you, give you advice, and help you to solve difficult situations. Sometimes I wish I could just go to my mum, tell her about my problems, and get a big hug. If your mum takes you in her arms it feels so warm and full of love, as no other hug in the entire world. It is so unique and no one else can give you this feeling in a hug other than your parents. Skype is the only option in this long distance relationship, but it definitely is not the same as seeing them in person, talking face to face, and smelling the scent of home. Those are the two wonderful people I am talking about:
Still, all of this I am doing, which means being far away from home, counts as a life experience and helped me a lot to develop my personality, abilities, and skills. I also learned many life lessons, which I would have missed out on staying at home. I never had to open my own bank account, buy a car, deal with car insurance problems, get it fixed, and so on. My parents also don’t know anything about the America system and the life here, so they were not even able to help me with anything.
My freshman year was the worst because you don’t even know what’s going on in general and then one has to handle all of those things besides school and tennis, such as getting a social security number, meet hundreds of people, finish NCAA eligibility stuff, and so on and so on. It was such a challenge, but I mastered it and now I am almost done with my undergrad, which is crazy, because the past three years have passed so fast that I don’t even know where the time went.
The time went fast, but during my collegiate career I have been accompanied by many different teammates and coaches. It has been such a pleasure and interesting time for me, because our team has always been very international and I was able to learn new things about everyone’s culture, behavior, and characters. People from eastern Europe, western Europe, Asia, Africa, and America can be so different, but so similar at the same time. You are finding out things you never thought to have in common. For example our entire team has always been in love with food. We are going crazy at the dinner table, and sometimes coaches are even ashamed of us, but as soon as the food is on the table it is so quiet that you could even hear a raindrop splash the ground. All of our music tastes are so different going from hip hop, to pop, to country, to church music, but then there is this one song playing in the locker room and we all go crazy, mostly after a win. Obviously, we all have a different opinion about craziness, but some show it more than others and that’s okay. Writing this post, and reading my other stories, you might have already figured that I am more one of the louder personalities, and like to act crazy from time to time, but mostly I am the ‘mum’ of the team as my teammates call me.
The main point I want to talk about though is that you may meet someone, and think you have nothing in common, but getting to know each other, and learn more about what one likes, dislikes, loves, hates, will show you more and more that there is something in the other person you can connect with. Just try to find the little something you have in common, instead of giving up on a person you don’t even know yet. Don’t jump to early conclusions, because you might miss out on a great friendship in the future. I made many great friendships in my germerican life and cant wait to fly all around the world for my girls’ wedding celebrations in the years to come… and please have a good buffet and free bar when I am already taking on long travels that might be even longer than the actual wedding day.
Romy Kölzer 