Translation of gewissermaßen

In the beginning it looked brutal but it worked. He brought my wallet back to me and asked me to count the bills in it. I was stunned and could not believe what just happened. He repeated his order.
Anyway, I used these two weeks of break in order to fly to a Spanish speaking country and learn a new language. My friends told me that it was a waste of time but I really insisted. It is educational.
I connected to a group of people and we played some volleyball, had some drinks and they told me a little about the place and the country in general. I returned to the hostel and took a cold shower.