About three weeks ago, I started working again. This is going to sound really lame, but it felt so great to be dressed in a suit and sitting in front of a computer once again. I have an office! (Ok, ok, so it is shared with two office mates) I have a computer! And a keyboard! And a phone! Mostly, I just feel like a real person again. I was nervous of course – Not just because of being new and meeting new people and trying to make a good first impression, but also because of the added uncertainty that comes with working in an office in a foreign country. So far, things have been going pretty well. There are the expected difficulties: Not knowing where anything is, not knowing very many people, figuring out my new role, etc. My position is unique (at least, to me) in that it is defined, but very flexible. In other words, I don’t think my boss even knows exactly everything I’ll be doing yet. But that’s fine with me. I’m excited to see how things go. And I think I will gain some really valuable skills.
But along with the expected difficulties, there are also the more unexpected experiences:
-German. Everywhere. Look, I know I signed up for living in a foreign country where I am not fluent in the language, but seriously, I will never stop thinking that everyone is talking about me. (Actually, I think I can make out enough of the conversation to verify that this is NOT the case, but I am still suspicious) Also, I am pretty sure to get hired here, you have to speak some English. But you know what they say, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it,’ and so I have had a few occasions where I ran into people who spoke little or terrible English. This is rare, but it happens, and it’s awkward haha.
-The elevators. It’s actually a really cool system, but I am still getting the hang of it. There is a bank of 6 elevators in my building. Instead of just pushing an “up” or “down” arrow, you type in the number of the floor you want to go to on what looks like huge pay phone buttons. Then, the screen displays the letter of the elevator that will take you there. Ok, ok, so it’s not that difficult. But it is different and I am constantly worrying that I will get on the wrong one and then have to get off like an idiot and get back on another one and try again.
-Lunch dates. There is a tradition at Munich Re (in the Munich office, not Princeton) to make appointments to have lunch with people. There are cafeterias in the buildings, so you send a meeting request to someone via e-mail and when they accept, you meet at the cafeteria and eat together. Supposedly, this tradition was implemented years ago by upper management in order to encourage networking and socializing at work (Germans are very strict about work and personal life boundaries, so this encourages letting those go a bit). I guess it’s a nice idea, but personally, I just want to eat with who I want to eat with. And not worry about being “on” for another hour of my day. Fortunately for me, basically all of our friends work at Munich Re, so I should be able to have lunch with friends most days. Unfortunately, everyone at Munich Re takes this very seriously and consequently, most of my friends do not have any available lunches until August. In like, 3 months. Apparently, it is “acceptable” to crash someone else’s lunch date, but who wants to be an obvious third-wheel, am I right?
-Because of the cafeteria in the building (and the fact that it’s free for all employees), there are no refrigerators on the premises. This is annoying for someone like me who religiously eats a yogurt around 4 PM every day. I do NOT do warm yogurt.
-Getting used to different names. I don’t know if we lucked out, or maybe it’s a generational thing, but all of our friends have names that are not so strange to me: Markus, Karl, Julia, Julian, Robert, Stephanie, etc. But so many of my co-workers have names that are unusual to me and therefore, difficult to know how to pronounce and to remember how to pronounce. Thorsten, Bärbel (which apparently, is a nickname for Barbara), Jens (pronounced “yens”)… just to name a few. They are perfectly fine German names (I mean no offense), it’s just that it is hard enough to remember so many new names, not to mention when they are unfamiliar to you.
Obviously, these are all minor things, and honestly, they just make the experience far from boring. I am so excited to be back in the workforce and can’t wait to prove myself by doing a great job here. Here's to diversity in the workplace!
Cheers,
Kristin and Matt
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