13 years ago I landed in Germany to pursue a masters degree in automotive engineering from RWTH Aachen University. I relinquished an admit from from Ann Arbor in USA for this. Apart from the finances, German and a new society, unfamiliar to me until that point, were some of the important factors for this decision. I wanted to be thrown into cold water, not having put any effort in improving my linguistic capabilities while in India. You see, I like challenges.
I did not know a single word or phrase in German when I first moved. Not even “mit Karte bitte”. This is probably one of the most used phrases by expats-who are not proficient in the language-in countries like Austria, Switzerland and Germany.