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Germany
Jane White with friends in Freiburg, GermanyGermany — that was the plan. I came to Colorado College with a German major in mind, and simply ecstatic to take advantage of the Block Plan’s inherent compatibility with studying abroad. My advisor introduced me right away to the German department’s semester-long program in Lüneburg. Seeing as this was my freshman year, I wasn’t too eager about the idea of leaving CC so soon and for so long. Instead I opted to go abroad only for seventh and eighth blocks, so that I could get the experience of the program and still manage to root myself in Colorado. I feel it was a wonderful decision for me.
Lüneburg is a little town outside of Hamburg in Northern Germany famous for its salt-trading history. The guest family I’m staying with lives within biking distance of the city center and the university, and I have a bus and train pass for the entire region. In that respect it’s been wonderful to experience both small-town and big-city living. The Lüneburg program also includes side trips to other places around Germany, Austria, and France. This year I visited Vienna, Cologne, Bonn, Kempen, Freiburg, the Schwarzwald, Strasburg, and Hamburg (to mention a few of the bigger ones). Each new city had a distinctly separate atmosphere, and from these impressions we were able to glean a slightly rounder cultural perspective. I have not yet seen anyone in lederhosen.
One distinctly memorable visit occurred during seventh block, when our class of eight made a two-day excursion to Saig in the Black Forest. Those of us who had just arrived for the second half of the semester had barely gotten a chance to adjust to the weather in Northern Germany, and packed accordingly. Somehow we didn’t expect to board the bus at the sunny train station and step off of it on a snow-covered mountain! Our hotel was situated on a gorgeous mountainside with a view over evergreens drooping with snow and a little village lying at our feet. Although we had to bundle up with everything we could find, we strapped on our snowshoes and hit the hills. I just giggle at the thought that I trekked through the Black Forest on snowshoes — what an experience! And the pool felt delightfully warm afterwards.
Jane White with her host family in Lüneburg, GermanyThe fact that I’m living with a host family here has also had a huge impact on my language skills. My experience in this program is directly rooted in the day-to-day interactions with foreign speakers. In the morning I have the opportunity to warm up my speaking skills before class with table talk; in the afternoon I can play games with my 9-year-old host sister, and in the evening I can get into a discussion at the dinner table about everything and anything. I feel if I were to have stayed in a youth hostel or in a hotel I wouldn’t have needed to use anything other than English, and consequently would not have learned as much. I buy my own fresh fruit at the market and navigate the train schedules, and feel as if I can confidently function in a foreign country on my own. If I come away with nothing more from this program than this sense of accomplishment, I’ll be satisfied.
With only a week or so left, it’s strange to look back over the last two months. It’s been simultaneously forever and a blink. Certainly there are things I miss about home (CC, that is), and there will be things I’ll miss about Germany as well. Which is more important, Mexican food or Swiss chocolate? I suppose I’d have to sum up with another anecdote. Over my two-week spring break I was able to travel with a friend to Cologne, in the West. We stayed in a student housing area there, whose residents were students from all over the world — Sudan, France, Iran, Portugal, you name it. I basically spent three days lying in the sun and asking life’s “big questions.” And everyone I talked to had ideas rolling about in their heads over cultural differences and responsible global citizenship and self-realization, etc.
One exchange seems to stick in my head though: I was speaking with a student from Cologne, and he wanted to know the one thing I missed most about home/ the one thing I wish Germany had that America does. My only answer was my loved ones. When it comes down to it (clichéd as it is), a place is just a place. Things aren’t necessarily better or worse, they’re just different. And if you’re with the people you love, difference is merely a trifle. Therefore I’m so glad I came to Lüneburg this year. I was able to make wonderful friends and experience life out on my own in a foreign country. Through that I have also realized just how much the people in my life and the quirks of my country mean to me. It’s been quite a rounding and humbling experience.