Rainbows & Unicorns

         The most you can get out of the Erasmus experiences comes from people. One can visit places, study, get absoberd in a different daily life with new cultural aspects, but what I find the most valuable is finding those rare, worthful people that you connect on certain levels with, that teach you new things, that support you unconditionally, that have lots of fun with and remain your friends for life! It might sound cheesy, but i's true.

         Warsaw February 2014. That was to be a new beginning for me. The first time I met her it was when I was trying to get my Wifi connection fixed. I was in the kitchen, talking to our Vietnamese “dormmate” when I saw her in the small bathroom, brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, dressed up in a T-shirt and panties (like who does that with people one does not know haha). She came to me and she introduced herself to me. I made a joke at which nobody laughed, but her. She told me that she is crazy. I agreed. That´s when I knew we´re going to be friends.

         I remember that also in the first days we randomly met in my favorite cafe next to the University; what were the chances. She was so weird because she didn't show up home last night and I was trying to get what happened. She refused to tell me in the cafe so that other people won't hear us. For me, that was strange, but then she told me everything about her night. That's when she became my coffee person.

         We were really good friends ever since. We were exchanging all sorts of ex-boyfriends dramas. I was overwhelmed by the jealousy of my ex and his requests of skyping with him all the time and she was always there for me when crying, trying to get me out of my mood and to cheer me up and to take me out for parties and other international events. There was this one argue that I had with him back then, it was exactly before meeting in Budapest to see each other. He threatened me that he won´t buy the ticket and that he won´t come anymore. And since I had already had mine and paid a lot for it, she stopped me from crying, hugged me and told me that if this is the case, she will buy a ticket for herself to come with me and visit Budapest together. Such a sweetheart! That´s when I knew that I can count on her.

         My parents visited me and met her, her friends visited her and met me, it was quite fun. She was encouraging me with writing my essays; she told me that studying for your grades is not that important though and she took my stress away. I believed her. She encouraged me concerning my future and we had this awfully deep talk about my profession and what I shall become. She encouraged me to love my overweighed body because apparently it is more important if people feel okay about their bodies regardless of what society might say. Such a cliché, but it made much more sense when she said it. Oh and she taught me a bit of German (which I thought is such a horrible language, but oh my, now it sounds so melodically to me). That´s when I started to admire her; she is such a powerful person.      

         We had an awesome last week, travelling in the north of Poland and Berlin. I had a huge breakdown those days because it was also when I split up with my boyfriend. But she was there for me, as usual, hugging me, holding my hand and wiping off my tears. We had this one amazing week with no internet, just us in our bubble. But then Erasmus ended and that’s when I knew that it was harder to let her go than I thought.

         You think about all Erasmus people as acquaintances, people that come and go in your life, like cockroaches after rain. And you think you might never see these cockroaches again. I also thought our relationship will change once we are apart, but we never skipped one day of talking ever since. And then we met in November in Prague. Of course that over time she also became my travelling person, since we share this lust for seeing wonderful places too. It was weird seeing her again, but cozy too. I believed that our relationship won't be the same. I spent 3 wonderful days next to her and that’s when I knew I really love this girl.

         I visited her in München and she visited me too. I met all her amazing friends and she met mine. We saw each other and kept in contact until I found this EVS opportunity of coming to München and working for a cool organization. And then I said why not? After my Erasmus experience I felt like my heart belongs to the world and that I must dig some more into it.

         So now I find myself into this EVS stage of my life which is even more different than I thought. It was harder to adapt to the German culture, which is completely different than mine, harder to make friends (since I am not surrounded by students anymore), harder to live financially in an expensive city. But she is still here for me. That's when I realize she will be there for me my whole life.

         I've had so many breakdowns, moments I thought I can't do this, when I was "servicing" too much and all I could get from people around me was a "there, there" on my shoulder and encouragement like "don't worry, it could be worse". Moments in which my boss was making fun of me that I am not able to find my washing mashine, which here, in Germany is oftentimes situated in the basement of the house; but how would I know since in Romania we don't have this?! Moments in which I was supposed to deal with awesome German bureaucracy, in German, with nobody to help. Moments in which my room has nothing but a couch in it and I have to get everything on my own from Facebook groups like "Zu Verschenken". Moments in which I had to carry everything in my non-existent car. Moments in which I had to count how much money I have left to see if I can actually go to the cinema with the only friend I was able to make on my own. Moments in which you receive a fee for forgetting to validate my ticket in Berlin, because of course controllers come in that 1% of the moments in which this happen to me etc.

         There are so many of these moments, but she is always giving me her support. She introduced me to most of her caring, fun friends, the ones that always throw coolio flat parties, the ones that cook delicious food for us, the ones that help me improve my German, the ones that would always be up for having coffee with me. I am thankful to all her friends who are now also my friends! Oh, and she is the master of bad jokes (more like "father jokes", not necessarily bad) so she does this a lot in order to cheer me up. I like it, because I don't laugh, but she does, so that really cheers me up. I think that's one of her favourite's techniques and she is proud of her because it never fails. This is when I have to admit that she is a bit funny. But let's not exaggerate.

         Furthermore, coming back to the adapting situation, there were some aspects which made me feel pleasantly surprised. I am always pointing out for her that she should feel so lucky for growing up in such an amazing, safe place, with no homeless dogs wandering along the street, with the possibility of drinking tap water, with good conditions in the public transport and so on so forth. That's when I knew how lucky she is.

         She is such an amazing person; she is very dear to me and I am lucky myself to have her in my life!

         Anyway, there would be so much more to tell, so much more to thank, but then I'd never finish this article. The point is that I am happy because of her. She makes me happy. Rainbows and unicorns happy.