Germany 2001/02: So Many Good Title Options Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I would describe the workload as busy, but not overwhelming. I think I was excited by it all, so the amount of work didn't bother me. The educational experience was NOT in the classroom, per say. It was the entire experience. I loved my one-on-one voice lessons, choir, and smaller survey courses with more interaction with the professors. The large classes were difficult to understand, and the professors do not allow students to participate. It's a LECTURE where they talk AT you, not TO you. Lecture courses make sense to the German students who don't receive grades for individual classes, but it was difficult for these instructors to grade us Americans. It was still a good experience, and a huge exercise in listening. I think the most important thing to tell a student going to Germany, is that there are no course catalogs that tell you what you "should" take in order to graduate. If these exist, it is something the Study Abroad Program put together. Typically, the student is responsible for everything, including finding classes. There is typically no matrix for how or what you should study.

On-site administration of your program

The administration was located at Uni Tuebingen, so I didn't get to react with them much. There was one person assigned to Trossingen, and he kind of let us fly. There were not a lot of preparations made for us in Trossingen. I mean, many of us (myself included) had NO housing when we arrived in Trossingen. I lived in a hotel for a week, made phone calls to newspaper ads with broken German. It was kind of scary/exhilarating.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Lewis and I were the last in our group to find housing, and we found an attic apartment about 1/2 miles from the school. Our landlord was the head of the local bank. The apartment was literally 2 rooms, a very small bathroom and a very small kitchen. Anytime you took a shower, the entire bathroom was wet. That's how small it was. One of the "bedrooms" had a door, the other did not. It was actually a better place for one person, but for $150 Euro a month, we made it work and actually got along quite well. We had the sweetest French neighbor, and other music students living in the building, so we heard practicing much of the day.

German food = so good. German food = so fattening. I stayed away from pastries and Nutella.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I went on all of the outings, and I really enjoyed them for the most part. My most fond memory was going to a 4-hour long Wagner opera in Berlin. It was actually pretty horrible, but it was a great learning experience. WOW. My least fond memory was the bus tour of Berlin. No one should be forced to sit on a bus to explore a city - what a waste of time.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I don't remember ever feeling unsafe, except in Italy. :)

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Ok, I acquired a German boyfriend about 3 months into my study. Both of his parents were teachers, and they forced me to learn German. The German classes in Trossingen were not so great, so I took some classes at Uni Tuebingen that were much better. I also studied on my own at home. Most of the other American and other foreign students spoke English most of the time, while I feel like I spoke German 90% of the time by the time I left.

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• Apartment

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• Americans

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