This past weekend, I took a trip to Berlin, Germany, with my study abroad class. The class, Short Film Productions in Prague, consists of 12 students and our amazing professor Susan Kelly.
Even though most of us met just two weeks ago as we touched down in Prague, many of us have become best friends. We have bonded beyond belief and spend practically every waking moment together.
When we found out we got to take a trip to Berlin for the weekend, we were beyond excited. Especially since a few of us will continue our Europe excursion at the end of the class and backpack to various other countries for around three weeks. It would give us a taste of what the following month will be like.
So, on Friday morning, we boarded our four-hour train ride to Berlin and planned what we would do while there.
Unlike Prague, Berlin is not a very walkable city and is incredibly spread out. I looked for things to do on Google, Instagram, TikTok, and any other platform I could think of. But nothing stood out to me.
I figured we would figure it out when we got there.
My close friends and I, about five of us, spent the whole weekend stressed, bored, and hungry. Even though we had only been in Prague for two weeks, we found ourselves saying, “I want to go home to Prague.”
We felt overwhelmed by the city, and the loud, dirty, chaotic streets didn’t help.
We found solitude in the hotel room and counted down the hours until we got to get back on the train and go ‘home.’
Yet, for the most part, we kept our spirits high. We tried to remind ourselves that maybe Berlin just isn’t the city for us and that this isn’t what our backpacking trip is going to be like.
On the final day, we caught up with some other students on the trip and they told us about their incredible time in Berlin and how much fun they had. We were so confused how we could have had such a different experience than them.
On the train ride home, I spent a lot of time thinking about it and I finally came to a conclusion. Mindset is everything.
We did everything we could to keep our spirits up and not get discouraged, exactly as we should have. We did everything exactly right. However, we also were much more resistant to opening our minds to Berlin.
As soon as I got there, I let the dirty streets cloud my vision and decided right then and there that Berlin could never compare to Prague. And yes, it’s probably true that Berlin just wasn’t the city for me, but my mindset completely affected my opinion.
This doesn’t just apply to traveling. I find myself doing this at school as well. I can ruin an entire class for myself because people told me their negative opinions on the class or professor, and I decide that my experience will be exactly the same.
Opening your mind to new possibilities and opinions is the only way to truly experience the world to its fullest. It takes practice and it isn’t the easiest thing to do, but once you learn, you will see the world in an entirely new way.
