Hello,
My name is Sydney. I am a Junior studying Anthropology at Tech. I am planning to study abroad at Justus Liebig Universität in Giessen, Germany.
I chose Giessen because I wanted to study abroad in a German speaking country to improve my German skills. I looked at the options offered through Tech and that left me with either Austria or Germany. After I narrowed it down, I talked to students who had previously studied in these locations to get a better idea of what I would be walking into and ultimately decided on Giessen. My choice was influenced by the fact that I know that I have the ability to get a job while in Giessen and it was unclear if I could while in Austria. If I was only studying abroad for a semester, this wouldn’t be as big of a challenge, but as I am staying for a year, a job would be nice.
Leaving home and campus is both easy and hard. As I have been living on my college campuses, this isn’t the first time I have lived away from home, but this is the first time I have been this far. I don’t know if there’s anything I’m glad to leave behind, but I do know I’ll miss my friends and family a lot.
An ideology I am taking with me is that a person’s actions determine who they are, not skin color, sexuality, gender, etc. Another is that you should always be willing to learn from others and hear other perspectives even if you don’t necessarily agree with them.
I learned that in Germany, academic courses won’t meet as often, the courses will have more reading, and will have less tests. I hope to learn how other countries teach things such as history and culture compared to America.
I don’t have many preconceived notions of Germany, but I do know that the buses/trains are places that are generally quiet, so I plan to interact with this part of German culture by doing the same and either not talking or talking quietly to my mom while on the bus or train.
I am excited about increasing my knowledge of the German language and taking my courses. I am most nervous about being so far from home…
Until next time…
