"Guten Morgen, Deutschland." I heard a whisper. For a second I thought it was my father, but then I thought my father couldn't have such a thick accent. A soft prod in my side made me open my eyes half way and the half light filtered in the room. Instead, Finland's was in my view, smiling.
"Hey," he said again. "I learned that phrase from my friend. Did you like it?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Did I miss anything?"
"No." He opened the blackout curtains so the light came through. The weather outside was as usual. Grey, with drizzle banging lightly on the glass pane. "I'm going to get breakfast. Do you want to come?"
"I will." He nodded and went outside, probably to light his e-cigarette. I sighed and went to change clothes, made the bed rather roughly, and washed my face. I left my glasses where they were the night before. The cold water woke me up completely and when I manages to dry my face and put my glasses on, Finland was waiting near the door.
"Impressing someone?" He eyed my clothing choice.
"No, I always dress like this."
"Dressing for success?" He opened the door and then locked it back. "Not that I do." We left Oak College and turned the sort of familiar route that we took in the evening. The Hall came into view and Finland broke into a run. Even though we kept a fast pace, we still were more wet than dry when we came into the warm hall. I didn't eat much, since the midday meal was the biggest, but the person who sat next to me was eating lavishly. Finland was eying the person with uncertainty. I guess he recognised him, since the latter definitely did.
"Hey!" The person's voice resonated so loudly that I had the urge to clap my hands over my ear canals. "Finn! What's up?"
"Hello America." Finland said coolly. "Nothing is up. I am fine."
"Always a basket of joy!" I got the feeling that America spoke in exclamation marks. He wore sunglasses that perched on his head but his eyes were sort of naive looking. Judging what I've heard about him, he was far from it. He was certainly a rebel figure with his black t-shirt, ripped denim jeans and flat bottomed sneakers. I remembered USSR had a particular distaste for the "meddling teenager" who liked fast food, baseball and speaking for freedom. He had some rights to my land and used them quite often. "And who are you?" He asked me suddenly.
"Germany..." I trailed off quietly.
"Germa what?" He asked again. "Speak louder!"
"Germany." I finally managed. Wasn't this guy one of my guardians? Shouldn't he know my name?
"Well hello Germany!" He shook my hand enthusiastically. "I would say how are you, but I don't want to repeat my question ten times in a row."
"Really America?" Another voice spoke up. "Not everyone is outgoing like you."
"Or has two mouths and one ear." Said another.
"Hello y'all." America bounced off the insult and returned a smile. "My favourite Korea brothers."
"You excited?" South Korea sat down opposite to me and waved. "Hi Germany."
"You know him?" America said incredulously.
"Yeah, we met at the introduction ceremony." South explained to him. "Italy is behind you." I felt like somebody was choking me, but it was actually someone hugging my neck uncomfortably.
"South! I was going to surprise him." Italy was mock offended. "Hi Germany!"
"Hi." I said.
"Germany, if you didn't get a formal introduction, this is America, my loud, obnoxious, a bit stupid, but loyal, unbridled, enthusiastic and great friend."
"So many adjectives." America said. "I'm not loud, for your information."
"But you are obnoxious, not to mention stupid." North Korea muttered. Again, America did a very non American thing of ignoring him.
"Anyway." America continued. "Who has my dad's class this morning? I have a nasty surprise for them. That's why I'm here, not with my family."
"What did you do?" South asked expectantly.
"I broke my dad's teacup. One that he likes. He might be foul for the rest of the day." I looked at my schedule that I had folded up in my pocket. Sure enough, English.
"Yay." I half whispered to Italy. He smiled apologetically back to me.
"Mi dispiace, Germany." He said. "It'll probably be bad. I've never seen him angry before."
"Hey, you have my dad first?" America asked me, loudly, of course.
"Yeees." I said slowly. Finland laughed in the background. He probably thought I was being sarcastic.
"Good for you. Don't worry, he'll just look mad, that's all." He patted my shoulder. "Oh the time, the time," he said in a mock British accent and put his sunglasses back on. "Tata everyone. We you all soon."
"Bye America, have a great day." Italy chirped.
"Bye America!" South said and also rose to leave.
"Bye," I waved. North said nothing, but nodded. The whole hall seemed to start to leave.
"I'm going," Finland sighed and put his dishes on an already careening cart. "Let's go." We made it to our room in record timing, mostly because Finland started to run right after we got out. In three minutes or so, we were there. "Do you have your schedule?"
"Yes." I was breathless from the run.
"Do you know where to go?"
"Yes."
"Well then, have a good day, I'll see you soon." With that, he flung his bag over his shoulder and waved to me. "Nähdään pian."
"Nähdään pian." I imitated him and he smiled. I unfolded the schedule again and scanned through it. English 3 for foreigners, Economics 1, Calculus 2, Chemistry 3, History 2 and Engineering 1. I was content with everything but Engineering. I didn't like it. But I had to take it for something I couldn't remember. I guess I'll have to pull through then. Without further ado, I went to the first lesson of English. Next to Sky Hall, the language hall, with the name Arbour Hall, was carved out of wood and stone. Along with other students, I made my way to the class 276. I took my seat in the front row, but not in the centre. After a few minutes the class was half full with chatting students and a burly man came in whom I thought was the teacher until I remembered that Mr. UK taught the class. Instead, the man sat down right behind me and took out a book. I dared not to look back. At the same moment, Mr. UK stormed into the class and slammed a book down onto the small raised podium on the side of the blackboard. The man behind me laughed quietly. I didn't see what was funny.
"Pardon me," Mr. UK apologised. "I had to resolve a small...issue."
"That is okay." Said a voice in the back.
"Thank you." He nodded. "Now, I want to introduce you formally to myself. My name is Mr. UK, and I teach all levels, well most levels anyway, and I am also the headmaster. We have some students who were put into this level so, welcome to Croatia, Brunei and Russia as well as everyone else in the class." I had a feeling who the person behind me was. The lesson was quite interesting, and I didn't have time to think about anything else. As soon as Mr. UK announced the class to be over, the large man, who I think could've squashed Mr. UK without much effort, went up to him and started to talk.
"Don't worry." Mr. UK told him. "It takes a while to learn that. We don't use them much anyway."
"Okay, thank you." He said back. He had an accent, though not as bad as I thought, and it reminded me of someone familiar, like USSR. I shook my head again and focused to go to my next class, which I had to run to, since it was at the other end of campus.
A few classes later, I happily made my way to the second to last class of the day-Economics. Unlike the old fashioned classroom with a blackboard and podium like Mr. UK's, this room was dark blue walled with different charts and graphs pasted here and there. The desks were arranged in a circle formation and I spotted America sitting in a laid back position, staying silent, miraculously. Unconsciously, I sat next to him, and when he noticed, he waved to me with a smile.
"Hey Germany!" This time he wasn't as loud, but some students still turned and giggled. "You're taking Economics?"
"Yes." I took out the textbook we were to use in class.
"This is by far my favourite class." He turned to the rest of the students. "Even though I'm supposed to be in second year, I stayed back in first grade. Can you believe it? First grade! I don't even remember what I did."
"Probably nothing then, America."
"Hey!" America took off his glasses and placed them on the table. "My favourite guy, well, teacher."
"Let me introduce myself." The man said calmly and sat down with the rest of the students. "Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Indonesia, but please call me just Indonesia, I'm not a sticker for titles and rules. We're here to learn about Economy, not grade school discipline, I know some professors like that. Welcome to Economics 1, we'll be learning a lot, and just to be safe, we'll start with the basics, calculations and such. Now we can start. A question already America?" He sighed exasperated. His face was white and red going across his face horizontally. He was dressed casually, with knee length light brown shorts, a white t-shirt with IUUP emblazoned on the front, and a no'n la' hat. His face looked kind and he smiled in America's direction.
"Yes. Can we start with compound interest?"
"That's not part of the curriculum." Indonesia said. "If you want extra help or learn something new, visit me during office hours."
"Okay." America sat back down.
"Now," Indonesia continued calmly. "I like this format of teaching in a circle. I feel like we got to know each other better. Anyone care to start their introduction?" The few students around us mumbled their introductions and most of them were in second year. "Great!" Indonesia clapped when each person finished.
"Hey everyone," America stood up. "My name's America, obviously. I'm first year, and I'm Economics major. This is my favourite place to be with the best people on Earth."
"Thank you, Germany?" Indonesia gestured to me.
"Hi, my name is Germany. I am a first year student. I don't know what major I want yet, but maybe Economics. I like the school." I finished quietly and sat down.
"Very nice." Everyone in the small room clapped not really enthusiastically. There were about six students including me, and I forgot their names as soon as they sat back down. "So what we'll start with what is Economics. We can have an open discussion..." The class was great, and was very comfortable. The next class I had want one I liked at all: Engineering. Great. I trudged down the steps to the physics building to the second floor. The classroom was built like a workshop. Three work tables were set up and the class was almost full. Well, maybe, I couldn't guess the sizes. I noticed the man who laughed behind me in English class. He was sitting at one of the tables, talking to a cheerful looking girl. Her white face was accented with a red dot in the middle. She had strange looking cat ears on her head and she wore a oversized pink sweater and a navy blue skirt. She was doing most of the talking. The other tables were louder so I had to sit next to her.
"Hi." She said to me.
"Hello." I said uncertainty in my voice.
"What's your name?"
"Germany." Was it my imagination or did the man's eyes narrow?
"Hi Germany! I'm Japan, and this is Russia. We were just talking about careers and stuff." She put a hand over Russia's waist and tried to yank him forward. He stubbornly refused to do so. He reminded me of USSR in many ways. He had a grey ushanka on his head, a light black jacket with something in Russian stitched on it. His face was white blue and red, and his eyes were full of suspicion and a little boredom. They were also a captivating purple. I only realised I was starting when Japan prodded me. "What's your major going to be?"
"Eh, well, probably math. I really don't know."
"I think I'm going into Information Technology." Japan said. "Russia said he wants to do-,"
"This." He said, but it sounded more like a growl. It was definitely the person that was behind me in the English class, I had no doubts.
"Engineering, he means." Japan explained to me. "Hey, where is your Ice friend?"
"What Ice friend?" He asked her. "You mean Iceland?"
"Yeah, Iceland. The melty one."
"He is not melty. He's my roommate." Russia said to her. "And friend."
"I see." She nodded. "Probably more than friends, right?"
"Um, no." He spoke without a trace of embarrassment, which meant it was true. For some reason I felt relieved when I heard that. Why did I care who this guy was friends with? "He's someone I met on the train here."
"Aha." Japan's ears drooped a bit with disappointment.
"Sorry that your weird dream didn't come true." Russia smiled. "For all your soothsayer abilities you talk about, this was the weakest prediction of all."
"I think I'm half right though." She crossed her arms. "You don't crush on girls."
"I don't crush on anyone." Russia raised his eyebrows. "I am here to get an education, not to play frivolous games of who I love and who I don't. It didn't work out last time."
"Last time it was just bad timing." Japan said. "Now you can decide who you want for yourself."
"How did we get on this subject?" Russia shook his head. "I don't know anything about this so it's like asking a wall, why was it built. A wall can't answer, so can't I."
"Bad comparison, Russia." Japan told him in mock seriousness. "You are bad at comparing."
"Its not my strength, the nuances of English." He shrugged. "What are you doing in Engineering anyway?" At first I thought he was addressing Japan, but his lavender eyes were trained on me, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. Too bad I was the prey.
"Me?" I asked.
"Who else?"
"Well, I, um, you know...My well, not real father, but, um." I couldn't get my words to form a sentence. I gave up when he threw his arms in the air.
"Genius!" He said. "Just brilliant. I would also go into Engineering because of um, well, and you know."
"Russia," Japan sighed. "Don't be sarcastic. That's how we lose friends." She loudly whispered to me. "I'm trying to get him more friends rather than letting him stick with melty face."
"Japan, you make up for ten people in my life." Russia said.
"Your life must be pretty dull then." She decided.
"It actually was dull." He growled. "Half the time my father wasn't even there to help me. Where he was I don't know. Probably dating someone."
"See Russia, now it's your turn to go date someone. I already have a great girl for you in mind."
"Who?" He drawled.
"One of my friends," Japan purred. "Bangladesh is her name."
"Япония, I don't even know who you're talking about." He huffed.
"She's not at this university but..."
"Then I'm not interested." Russia finished for her. As soon as he said that, a lythe middle aged man came striding in. He had light blue skin, and his flag almost matched that of Netherlands'. He looked easy going and clapped for everyone's attention.
"Hello everybody! Not going to welcome you all, you have to welcome yourselves into this class. I'm sure your other professors bored you with their long welcomes and what is your name kind of thing, so we'll just get started." He paused for a little bit. "My name's Luxembourg, that's all you have to know. Now, this class is just the basic engineering course. We'll be starting simple, obviously, and we will definitely be using calculus and physics in this class. Mostly, we'll be using our hands and what we have in our heads. So without further ado, let's begin!" Japan clapped and Luxembourg bowed in her direction. "Thank you Japan. Now we have to apply integrals and derivatives as well as remembering our rules for differentiation. Don't forget those. Also remember that we need to use physics. So mechanics play a large role in what we do. In case you forget," he went up to the board and scribbled some equations on top. "I'll write them on the board. Okay, onward!" There was shuffling of paper and pencil from the small group.
"I've never touched this stuff before." Japan looked at the metal slates that were stacked on the work table.
"Don't worry." Luxembourg jumped in between me and Japan. "Its easy. We won't be starting with metals today. Just the application of equation to a physical thing."
"Okay." She said. Her ears twitched nervously.
"Russia," Luxembourg stopped mid-sentence.
"Yes?" He stopped what he was doing.
"How are you doing that?" Luxembourg pointed at the messy notes on Russia's paper. I hastily started to follow the vague instructions on the board in the front.
"Am I not supposed to?" Russia asked. Even though he sounded calm, there was some hints of fear in his voice, as if he was scared to defy and anger the small person who was the professor.
"That's actually, pretty advanced. Where did you learn those?"
"My father." Russia said simply. Luxembourg nodded slowly and smiled.
"You know what? Come here, I want you to try something." He led Russia to another work table and murmured something to him. I turned back to my frustrating paper. After ten minutes of petty derivative extraction with natural logarithmic functions, I got a somewhat believable answer only to see that I was only on step one.
"Not working out?" Japan asked me. "What did you get?"
"My derivative is more complex than my original." I complained. "How is that supposed to be?"
"Oh, I got the same." She noticed. "I guess our math skills are okay. Or maybe we're both wrong."
"The math part isn't hard. It's the physics."
"You're right. Wind resistance is awful." She laughed. "But I'm not a professional when it comes to mechanics either. I like my code. Luxembourg said next time he'll have a formal lesson. Today's just like, an introduction to our skills."
"You talked to him?" I asked.
"Yeah, me and Russia did. Before classes started." She told me. She was cut off by Luxembourg.
"Japan, is he your friend?" Luxembourg looked at her.
"We met at Sky Hall. At the welcome speech."
"This guy's brilliant. I've never seen first years operate that kind of machinery. Who taught you again?"
"My father." Russia fiddled with a screwdriver until it dropped on the floor.
"Well, your father needs some sort of monument." Luxembourg looked around the classroom. Many people were already finished. My project was done half way. "Okay guys. I think time's up. I'm sorry today's class was boring, but next time I will be teaching, okay?" He waved to the departing students. As it was the last class of the day, I decided to hang back with Japan and Russia. Actually, Japan made me stay by yanking my shirt when I started to leave.
"It's okay if we stay right?" Japan asked.
"Sure." Luxembourg gestured to two seats. "I just want to write Britain a letter. I want Russia to assistant teach with me. Hope you don't mind Russia?"
"I don't." He hopped up and sat on one of the work tables. "Don't expect enthusiasm."
"I don't expect anything but your assistance." Luxembourg kept typing on the keyboard. "Frankly, I'm not that enthusiastic myself. I just want to get the students ready. Next class will be pretty tough for some people. A lot of people drop this class, and by the time the deadline for dropping classes is over, I only have about four students left." He finally finished typing. "And send. Okay, I sent the letter, hopefully he'll approve, you are way too good for this class. Even for the next level class. What type of engineering do you want to do?"
"There are three types that I'm sort of leaning to." Russia started. "Mechanical was my first choice, but then I was looking at nuclear and naval engineering as well."
"Good choices." He leaned back in his chair. "You'd be good at mechanical and naval, but I don't know much at nuclear, so I can't judge." He shrugged apologetically. "But that's a good career path. We have some internships with companies and factories that have good starting salaries. With a strong four year degree, you can start work and continue with your master's and even doctorate." Russia nodded but said nothing.
"Thank you." He said after a long pause.
"My pleasure. Have a great day. Stop by tomorrow and I'll have an answer by then."
"Bye!" Japan skipped out into the already empty hall. "Russia, we're meeting your melty guy at the gate right? I want to go today, since the professors didn't have enough time to assign homework today. Too busy for them." The rain had thankfully stopped and some blue patches of sky were starting to show.
"It's Iceland." Russia said stubbornly, clearly ignoring everything else Japan said. "Not melty face."
"Okay, okay." She sighed. "You're no fun. Hey, care to join us, Germany, right? I don't want to be all alone with two depressed icebergs."
"Now I'm an iceberg." Russia muttered. "Yay."
"I can come, sure." I agreed.
"Do you need to put stuff away?" She asked. "Because we're going to the city park."
"No. I only have two afternoon classes. Both without books."
"Good. Great. Fantastic!" She exclaimed. "There's melty face." She gestured towards a sad looking figure trudging along.
"Hey Iceland." Russia called. The melancholic figure turned to us and then positively smiled. He seemed to straighten up and walked to us. He was a bit overdressed and was very tall. When he spoke his voice sounded like ice cracking.
"Hey, Russia." They did a complicated sort of handshake and laughed. "Hi Japan."
"Hi melty face." Her ears perked up. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing. Much." He spoke in very short sentences, just like Finland. "Who's that...again? I definitely remember you from somewhere... "
"This," Japan took my shoulders. "Is Germany. He's our friend now."
"How'd he become our friend again?" Russia asked sarcastically. "I wasn't there on that part."
"In class. He seemed lonely, so we took him in." She smiled back at me. "Right?"
"Yeah." I nodded. It was partially the truth. Now that I thought, Iceland was already introduced by Finland to me. I'm guessing he hasn't told Japan anything about me.
"I have to introduce you again. This is melty face, who prefers the name Iceland. This is Russia, who I haven't made a name for yet. These two are roommates, so they're friends forever, nothing I can do about it, and me and Russia and Iceland met at the welcome speech. Now we met you. " she finished. She then rolled the sleeves of her pink sweater up and put her hands on her hips. "Icebergs, are we going or what?"
"Да, да," Russia waved his hand, simultaneously talking with Iceland.
"Don't you 'da da' me," Japan pushed between them. Again, I felt some sort of relief in my chest, like it was constricted but then let go. Strange. And worrying. "Come on."
"We're going Japan." Iceland's voice finally dropped that icy feature and it was replaced by a baritone pitch. Japan led the way, swinging her red messenger bag wherever she could. We left the grounds and entered the large city once again. The afternoon was quieter than when I arrived days before, and there were less people out on the street. We rounded a corner and then walked down another street for three more blocks until we reached a tranquil looking park. A rusty sign was nailed to a gate reading 'quiet meadow park'.
"Isn't this the place where people sell illegal drugs?" Russia casually broke the silence. "It's what this place is famous for, I believe?"
"Firstly Russia," Japan turned around and looked at Russia with an authoritative glare. The drastic difference in their heights slightly dampened the effect. "A lesson in English. No one says 'I believe' anymore. It's stupid and outdated. Secondly, we came for a walk not to discuss the horrible histories of parks in this place. Now, can we please enjoy the nice little park?"
"Yes, Japan." Iceland bowed in her direction. "We all know who's the boss around here. Lead the way."
"Thank you." She flicked her ear at Russia and tugged him by the hand. Russia let out an animated groan and let her drag him to the other side of the gate. After that point he easily shook her off.
"Now I can walk my self thanks." He laughed.
"What are you studying for again?" Iceland asked him.
"Engineering. I'm thinking of three categories." Russia explained. "Either Mechanical, to help manage my father's business, Naval, I had that thought on the whim, I like the water and Nuclear, an idea that came into my head when I came here."
"Interesting." Iceland murmured clearly uninterested. "If you are going into the Naval field, we might run into each other. I'm going to be helping Norway with her fishing thing."
"Fishing thing?" Japan asked. "Do you mean a boat?"
"Yes. A boat." Iceland corrected himself. "Not just any boat. An icebreaker. Norway can't hear half of what I say because she's always next to that awful motor and grinders."
"Must be tough." Russia conceded. "My father works at a factory. The noise there from the machinery is so loud that I cannot even hear my own thoughts. One almost ripped my arm out of its socket."
"TMI." Japan was both groaning and laughing at the same time. "Too much information Russia. Too much."
"What are you doing, Japan?" Iceland said, almost crashing into a lamppost while doing so.
"Ah, IT." She sighed. "Everything else seems either too easy or too hard." The road became smaller, and we were forced to move in twos. I was surprised when I saw Russia next to me, his lavender gaze cold and unwelcoming. He looked at me with a mix of disgust, disappointment and anger. I had no idea why and didn't open my mouth to ask.
"What?" He asked after a minute. Again, I felt that I was staring for too long. I felt my face grow hot and bent my head, muttering something about the weather. He narrowed his eyes and frowned. "You are one of the strangest people I've met, you know."
"Really?" I lifted my eyes but not my head and kept my voice in a low mutter.
"Really." He ducked to avoid a branch in his way. "You're pretty meek and polite for...never mind."
"For being my father's son?" I whispered. "Is that what you mean?" I didn't want to cry, but tears threatened to come out of my eyes and my throat started to burn slightly. It felt like a salt ball was lodged in my throat. I swallowed and shoved the burning sensation down. Russia was clearly uncomfortable now and kept silent for a while. Japan and Iceland were far ahead and didn't notice or hear what was going on behind them.
"Sorry." He finally said, but faced forward instead of to me and didn't meet my eye. "Old habit. They die hard."
"I know." I nodded. Silence was in the tense air again. We walked, the only sound was the ones of our feet on the little paved walkway, and the wind in the air.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know. I don't know how to talk to people without making them cry or hurl things at me. I only can interact with placid lakes like Iceland and cats like Japan." He finished, his face becoming redder as he continued. Surprisingly, his rough apology was sincere and it calmed me a little.
"It's sort of my fault too. I shouldn't become unglued like that because of my dad." I admitted. He smiled awkwardly at me and adjusted his ushanka, tying the earflaps on the top.
"I know your dad really well too." I said quickly to switch the subject. He cocked his head to the side and blinked twice.
"Are you serious?" He asked. The paved path became rocky and I noticed that Iceland and Japan were waiting a little farther up. Japan waved for us to come over. Russia ran to her and was there in less than four strides. I made my way there a bit slower.
"Look at the view." She breathed. The path ended abruptly at a sheer cliff face. There was a small gorge that was cut out by a river, which was now a little babbling brook on the bottom. The rocky face was grey, with little seams of soil running down like veins. The sun hovered right above the cliff making the view spectacular. "Isn't it nice?"
"It is." I said. I never stopped to look at such scenery. It was calming and quiet to see the beautiful gorge.
"You should come up north." Iceland commented. "I have one of those outside my window at home."
"I have a mountain face." Japan traced a mountain shape in the air. "How about you two?"
"I have a road. And a freeway exit." I said simply.
"I have a field, then forest, then more grassland, then village." Russia kept looking over the edge. "I like the change of scenery." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Does anyone run in the morning?"
"Nope." Japan shook her head. "Don't have time."
"I would, if you wake me up." Iceland offered. "Finland would like it if I did."
"I will come here." Russia turned away from the setting sun. "If anyone else wants to join us, we'll be here. At five thirty."
"Five thirty?" Japan squealed. "I can't wake up that early even if my life depended on it."
"I could maybe." I said. "I've never ran before. I mean, as a routine."
"Well, I haven't either." Iceland smiled. "So if you come tomorrow, I won't be alone."
"I guess I could." I nodded. "At five thirty?"
"Yes. Tomorrow, five thirty. If you change your mind Japan, you can still come." Russia said.
"Maybe." She flicked her ears. "Let's get going." In the setting sun we made our way back to the campus as the sun finally set. As I fell asleep a few hours later, I wondered what I signed up for.
Guten Morgen, Deutschland - Good morning, Germany
Mi dispiace- I'm sorry
Nähdään pian - see you soon
Япония - Japan
Да - yes
I have lost track of how much I've written, so the chapter became very long and I had to cut it off. I promise that the next one will be a bit shorter. Thank you for understanding.