So-Long, Farewell...

This will be my final post to the Dusseldorf Digest, and therefore, I will try to summarize all my experiences and the impact this trip has made on my life. First of all, my host parents—they are truly two of the most wonderful, caring individuals I have ever met. I am so thankful to have met them, lived with them, and become great friends with them over the five weeks I was in Germany. They did so much and cared so much for Katie and I that I began to feel like part of their family. I plan on keeping in touch with my host parents hopefully for the rest of my life because I don’t want to lose them as friends. Hopefully I can return to Germany sometime in the future and go to visit them; it would be great to see them again!! My advice to any newcomers to this study abroad program…and any for that matter… is to get to know your host parents well by talking with them, doing things with them, and learning from them. You’ll meet some awesome people that way!!
Secondly, I loved getting to know and making friends with all the other students and professors on this trip. It was fun getting to know Dr. Wasser, Dr. Musser, and Miriam better and talking with them and hanging out with them at Biergartens. It is always good to have a professor that knows you better than just by your grades in a class. This was new to me, because usually I don’t go and talk to my professors much, but now I just spent five weeks with two of them. It is good, though, because now I have two professors that I know well enough to feel comfortable going to talk to for advice, to ask for a letter of recommendation, or just to chat. That is something really nice to have. As for the other students, I had a great time getting to know all of them since I didn’t know anyone really well. I usually get nervous about meeting new people, but since we all didn’t know each other, everyone was forced to do the same thing. I also loved rooming with Katie because we had a lot of fun together and we became really good friends. Even though Katie was in all my classes, I didn’t talk to her much, so it was really cool that we became friends over this trip. I also found it really interesting that everyone in the group got along fairly well when we were all from different majors and involved in different things. It is really awesome that I have something in common so many different people that I probably would never had known otherwise. I see the other students around campus everywhere and it is so neat to know that I share this common experience--an experience that most people would not understand or be able to relate to. So far I’ve seen Becca at the football game sitting behind me, Mas working as an EMS at the game and walking to class, Erin on the field at a game with the swim team, Prissy standing out of the rain at a football game, Leslie going to class, and of course Katie, Robin, Doug, and Kyle who are in my classes. It is fun seeing everyone again because it reminds me of all the fun times we had in Germany.
Lastly, this study abroad program has taught me a lot about myself and my capabilities. Through riding trains and busses into class and riding trains all throughout Europe, I have learned that I can successfully navigate through big cities on foot and by bus and figure out how to get to where I need to go by using public transportation even if it is in a different language. I also feel I am more comfortable talking to people and asking questions since I had to do that in Germany where it is harder to communicate. I used to hate calling businesses to ask questions or talking to them in person or even sometimes calling people I knew, but now I don’t mind at all and I do it without even thinking about it. I also definitely do not like interviews, but when I went to Career Fair and started talking with some of the representative of companies, I became really comfortable and not so nervous. This trip has also made me more independent because I had to do everything for myself while I was in Germany and I did not have my parents to run to for help. I also became more confident in talking to people in a foreign language, although I wish I had practiced this skill more while I was over there. It was hard to force myself to speak German when everyone there seemed to speak English. Overall, from this experience, I have learned more about myself, become more confident in myself and my abilities, become more assertive, and become more mature. This program was a fun, learning experience for me that has affected my life in a positive way. I had so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat.