Starting the semester, I felt like a freshman again trying to navigate a new university. Only this time, it was in another language. Housing, classes, and credits are all completely different in Germany than in the U.S. and according to my European friends, different from their countries as well.
Most German university semesters run on a different schedule than the U.S. Their semesters operate in the winter and summer instead of the spring and fall. My classes started in late October and will go ’til early February and my summer semester will go from April until the end of July. Undergraduates also typically finish their studies in 3 years rather than 4. Another major difference from home is the credit system. In Germany they are called ECTS and are usually awarded based on how much work you do instead of passing the class. For example, in a history course I’m taking, I’m going to get 4 ECTS for doing a presentation and a research paper. Other students are opting out of paper and will only get 3 ECTS. A couple people aren’t doing the paper or the presentation. Grading is usually based on one or two major assignments instead of several smaller ones. Classes also usually meet once a week instead of multiple times throughout. The workload so far has been a lot less than classes in the U.S. Partly because of the classes I chose to take but also because German students are given a lot more independence with their studies than students in the U.S. Because we don’t get weekly assignments, we’re responsible for making sure we understand a lot of the material on our own. Many classes only meet once a week so a lot of learning is done outside of class and is self-paced. Signing up for classes was a confusing and stressful experience. In the U.S., we sign up for classes the semester before and everything is done online. The whole process takes 10 minutes once you’ve picked your classes. Here, classes were listed online but registration was different for every class. You signed up for some of them online but often you had to go in person on a certain day or sometimes you weren't required to sign up at all, just show up to the first class. The good thing was, the university seems to know what a confusing process it is and leaves a lot of leeway for exchange students. At the end of the semester, I’ll receive a graded “Schein” from each class. It’s a certificate that proves I passed the course which I’ll have to give to UMass to receive a grade back home. My grades will have to be converted to the U.S. letter grading system. In Germany, grades are on a scale from 1-5 with 1 being the best. A passing grade is a 4 or better. Housing is also very different in Germany. It is a lot cheaper than housing either on or off campus in Amherst. Everyone lives in single rooms too, something you have to pay extra for at UMass. In my apartment everyone also has their own bathroom. The downside is the kitchen. Although its really nice to have one and be able to cook for myself, I share it with 17 other people so its usually really dirty. There is a cleaning chart called the “putzplan” that divides responsibilities among all the housemates. Unfortunately, only a small group of us follow it. Winter semester ends in a couple weeks and then I’ll be starting my last semester of university. Navigating a German university has been an interesting experience. It’s been fun comparing all the differences and similarities to back home and It’s been a really unique way to finish my senior year.
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Christmas is a big holiday in Germany, but it felt a lot different than the Christmas season in the U.S. I noticed Christmas decorations up in stores well before Thanksgiving which isn’t too different from home but it still felt a lot less “commercial” than it does in the States, though that might be because I was so removed from it. I had no access to TV to see commercials and there wasn’t a reason to go to a shopping center. I also didn’t hear as much Christmas music (again, maybe I just wasn’t going to the right places). I was really excited to go to Germany in the fall because of the Christmas markets during November and December. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve been to Christmas markets (called Weihnachtsmarkts in German) in Esslingen, Tübingen, and Munich. I also went to the International Chocolate Festival in Tübingen as a bonus! Every market was set up outdoors with vendors selling typical German food like bratwurst, crepes, and glühwein- Lots of glühwein. Glühwein is mulled wine which they sell everywhere during the Christmas season. When you buy it at a market it comes in a mug and you also pay for the Pfand (like a bottle deposit). It’s usually a few euros and you can decide whether to keep the mug as a souvenir or return it and get your money back. It was very strange being able to walk around with a mug of mulled wine after growing up in a state with an open container law. The markets had stands set up selling a huge variety of items like Christmas ornaments, scarves, wood carvings, and figurines. Nothing back home comes close to a German Christmas market but they did remind me me a little bit of Christmas in Edgartown because of all the Christmas themed activity and vendors selling there crafts. Esslingen has one of the most famous markets in Germany and was also my favorite! In the first section they have vendors like all the other markets but the rest is a medieval market. All the performers are dressed as though they’re in the middle ages and there have different activities such as archery and wood carving. They even sold medieval items like amor and swords. Tübingen had its International Chocolate Festival in December that covered almost the entire Altstadt. It was a little expensive but the free samples were delicious! Several vendors sold hot chocolate except it was very different from what I’m used to back home. This was thick melted chocolate served to you in a small ice cream cone. Tübingen’s Christmas market was the next weekend and was even larger than the chocolate festival. It felt a lot more personal than the markets in Esslingen and Munich because many of the vendors were locals and there were a lot of local groups selling food and drinks as fundraisers. Munich was the last market I went to. Surprisingly, it was a lot smaller than the others despite being in such a large city. It was more spread out but with fewer stands. Many of the vendors were selling the same things so it didn’t feel as unique as the others. I loved seeing the large Christmas tree in front of the Neues Rathaus (new town hall) and of course they were selling bratwurst and glühwein so I got to have one more before I head home for the holidays. My main goal while I’m abroad is to improve my German. In many ways, my German has improved a ton the past couple months. I’m more confident speaking, learned a lot of vocabulary and improved my grammar. Some days I’m amazed by how much I can speak and understand but others, it is a struggle.
My first month here, my German improved a ton. I participated in a language program, Start Kurs, which was a huge help. I learned a ton of practical vocabulary that’s helped me in everyday situations like ordering in a restaurant or navigating the university. It was also a great refresher for grammar and helped me get better at speaking conversationally. I’ve always struggled speaking in a second language because I hated making mistakes. I focused so much on making sure the grammar was perfect, I couldn’t keep up with the conversation. If I didn’t know a particular word or how to say a sentence correctly, I’d usually just not say anything. The first couple weeks in Start Kurs, I made an effort to speak more, even if I knew the sentence would sound funny or be ungrammatical. I figured out alternative ways to communicate when I didn’t know the correct word (by gesturing/finding a new word etc.). My goal was to be understood, even if the form wasn’t perfect. When I taught ESL this summer, I always told my students not to worry about making mistakes-that’s how you learn. I’ve started applying this mentality to my own conversation practice which has helped me overcome some of my speaking anxiety. Now that the semesters started, I’m taking three German classes. All of them have a focus in conversation and each has a different focus in writing, grammar, and accent training. Each class meets once a week, for ninety minutes. My grammar and vocabulary are improving a lot with these classes. I’m getting a lot of input from native speakers too, which is helping me understand the language is a more practical way. Until now, my only German instruction was of course, in the classroom and the vocabulary in textbooks is not helpful for actual social interactions. My accent has not improved that much, even with instruction. There are certain German sounds which are know to be difficult for English speakers such as the /ch/ or /r/ sounds. This class has made me aware of which sounds I need to work on but I still have a very hard time pronouncing them, especially in natural speech. I make a huge effort to speak German in public, even though this usually leads to an awkward conversation where I only half-understand what’s going on. I have so many embarrassing stories now, all thanks to the language barrier. One of my favorites is an interaction I had at the pharmacy a few weeks ago. I went in, confident I’d be able to speak in German to the pharmacist. I was looking for cough medicine so I told her “Ich habe ein Hoffe”. The pharmacist gave me a really weird look and I realized I was using the wrong word. I mimed coughing and she said “Oh! Husten” It wasn’t until after I got home I figured out “hoffe” means “hope”. I must have sounded so ridiculous walking into the pharmacy and telling them “I have a hope”. At least now, I’ll never forget the correct word for cough! It’s been 2 months since I arrived in Germany! Here’s how my experience has been so far:
Munich has one of the easiest airports I’ve ever been to. The gate we arrived at wasn’t crowded, I breezed through security, and it took less than 10 minutes to get my luggage (very different from the 40 minutes I waited in Orlando). I was nervous about getting from the airport to the hostel on my own but that ended up being pretty easy as well. The train system was really easy to figure out- even if there hadn’t been English translations to help. Once I arrived at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), I started having problems. First I couldn’t find my phone and was convinced I’d left it on the train. After several minutes of panicking I found it in a random pocket in my backpack. Once that was figured out, I couldn’t find my hostel. It was supposed to be close by but I couldn’t find a street name the matched one on the map I had downloaded and without data or wifi, Google Maps was useless. I decided to ask a waiter for directions. He didn’t know but a nice woman from Frankfurt got up to help me. She couldn’t find it either so she ended up calling the hostel for directions. Two things surprised me about this interaction: First, I was surprised by how helpful she was. She didn’t have to help me at all, so I was surprised that she went out of her way to call them for me- I don’t think I would’ve done that for a stranger. The second thing that surprised me was how we communicated. I’d purposefully asked the waiter because I thought he’d most likely speak English. This woman spoke a little, but by the end of the conversation we were speaking in German. I’ve always done well in German class, but had little faith in using the language in the real world. I was really pleased to find I could understand almost everything the woman said to me. Responding in German was a bit of a struggle but the interaction was enough to reassure me that I knew enough German to survive on my own. Something that amused me was how familiar somethings felt. Mostly small, insignificant things, like the cars or trees, looked familiar enough to make me forget I was in a foreign country. When I was taking the but to Tübingen, I’d look out the window and it felt like I was on the Peter Pan bus back in Massachusetts, maybe heading back to Umass after a long weekend. Of course for every one thing that’s familiar, there are 10 things that aren’t. There are big differences, like the University and recycling systems (which I’ll save for another post) but then there are other things that throw me off like the extremely large variety of cheese you can get in any supermarket (with usually a disappointing lack of cheddar) There’s also the amount of bikes. There aren’t quite as many as there were in Amsterdam but it’s much more common to ride a bike here than in the U.S. and you always have to be careful you’re not walking in the bike lane or you risk being hit. No one jaywalks either, something I noticed immediately in Munich. Even if there isn’t a car in sight, people always wait for the light to turn green before crossing. Despite the differences, I’m really enjoying my time in Germany. Tübingen is a great and very unique city and I’m really glad I got opportunity to live in it. In just a week I’ll be getting on a plane and heading to Germany to live for the next 11 months. I’ll be staying in Tübingen, a town in the state of Baden-Württemburg. I’m really excited but anxious to get there. There’s been a lot of build up and preparation for this trip and I can’t wait to go and get settled into my new home!
I chose Germany as my study abroad destination because I wanted the chance to practice my German with native speakers. Choosing which city to go to was a harder decision. I talked to friends and co-workers who’d traveled abroad for recommendations and I ultimately chose Tübingen because of the classes they offered. The university has a lot of linguistics courses I can take to finish my degree as well as a variety of language courses so I can improve my German skills. I’m most nervous about the academic part of my trip. I’ve lived abroad before but I’ve never done it while also taking classes. I think it will be hard to find a balance between studying and traveling and it’ll be challenging trying to adjust to a new university while also being in a new country. I know very little about the education system and what to expect while I'm there. I’m taking classes in linguistics, history, and the german language. I hope I can branch out in these classes and learn things that I wouldn’t have been taught back at UMass. I also hope I can learn from new perspectives and be challenged in new ways. My biggest learning goal is to improve my German although I need to focus on setting realistic goals for myself so I’m not disappointed by a lack of progress. I want to expand my vocabulary and improve my conversational skills which is always something I’ve struggled with. I’m trying not to have many expectations about my trip or the culture because I’ve learned things rarely are what you’d expect when traveling. Any expectations I do have are based off my previous trips to Europe even though I know Germany will be very different from my trips to Spain and Italy. I’m excited to see the similarities and differences between the cultures across Europe. I’m also looking forward to learning about the differences between American and German culture. I’ve always been an open-minded and flexible person which has helped me when I travel. I think it’s important to be open to new experiences, especially when you’re abroad. I hope I can keep this mindset with me over the next year even when things are different from what I expect or what I’m used to. Leaving home feels bittersweet. I’m going to miss my friends and family and the ‘comfort’ of being home. It also feels strange not going back to UMass while so many of my friends are heading back for our final year- They’re all moving in this weekend and I’m definitely experiencing a bit of FOMO. But studying abroad has been something I wanted to do since I was a kid and took my first trip to Europe. I love traveling and I can’t express how much I’m looking forward to the year ahead. I can’t wait for all the new people I’m going to meet and places I’m going to visit! |
AuthorHi, I'm Michaela! This blog will follow my adventures in Germany for the next 11 months (September-July). Archives
January 2020
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