No, really.
Granted, there are crazier adventures one can embark on. Studying in Germany for a year doesn’t approach, say, going to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps on the Crazy Adventure Index. There are as many ways German life feels familiar to someone from the U.S. as there are ways it feels different. And overall, Germany offers a quality of life unmatched almost anywhere in Europe. It isn't hard to live in Germany, but it’s unquestionably a great adventure.
< Ripening grainfield, late spring, outskirts of Ludwigsburg. >
When I landed in Stuttgart in September 2006, I was sort of a green college student: I had been at Portland State for one year, and (although I had done my share of traveling) I had never moved from my hometown of Portland. Making my way to the main part of the airport, with no one to meet me, carrying only a crinkled sheet of paper describing how to get to Tübingen and 70 pounds of everything else I had on my back in a large trekking backpack... there was no doubt I was on a great adventure. Even though I knew where I was going and how to get there, I felt lost during that first morning. On the trip to Tübingen, the beautiful Schönbuch forest passed outside the bus windows like something out of a dream. When I got into Tübingen, I was tired, having gotten little sleep on the airplane, and I generally felt bewildered. It was so much to take in. I strapped on my enormous pack and wandered more or less in the direction of the youth hostel where I would stay until the beginning of the study program. As I approached the Neckar River, a friend from PSU who was in the same program spotted me. At that moment, I ceased feeling lost, and did not feel lost for the rest of my month in Tübingen.
That first month was the most amazing, crazy, fun, and educational month in memory for me (my posts about it can be found on the Douglas-fir archives site). After that month, all the Oregon students parted ways, some staying in Tübingen, while others headed for Freiburg, Ulm, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Heidelberg... and Ludwigsburg. The adventure continued. I have lots of photos and information on this blog about the year I spent in Ludwigsburg, as well as the other places I visited in Europe. Of course, I’m glad to answer questions about studying in Germany that students interested in going there may have; send me an e-mail anytime.
In the meantime, some photos from the vault that I never got around to publishing on my blog, shown for the first time...
< If you’ve lived in Oregon or 10 other U.S. states, you know the drill. If not, get used to it: bottle deposits and bottle returns. While refillable containers are rare in the U.S. nowadays, they are common in Germany, not only for beverages, but also for milk and yogurt. I have an earlier post about this subject (and grocery shopping in general). >
< View of the Bodensee from the castle at Meersburg >
< Picnic lunch under an old, shady tree, Meersburg >
< At a wedding in Berlin I was invited to >
< Members of our church group went together on a van rental to go to Berlin together. What a great group of people! We’re from all over the world: Germany, Guatemala, El Salvador, India, China, Peru, USA. Many in the church group (which meets at the University of Stuttgart) are international students. >
< The Americans held a Fourth of July party at the Studentendorf. Students playing with sparklers. >
< Crystal lights a firework at the Fourth of July party. >
< Magda and Francesca are exhausted after the party. >
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