Great Program

Before I came to the Excellence Center, I was somewhat concerned. It was the first solo trip I would take, the first time I would be alone in a country, and many other ‘firsts’ of an anxiety provoking nature. Nearly all of this anxiety was done away with the moment I entered
my shared accommodation and met my fellow volunteers, and it was fully put to bed the next morning, when I walked into the Center for the first time.
My time at The Excellence Center has been a real joy, a sentiment originating from every part of the program. The Center’s staff are all super. They were incredibly kind and welcoming to me from before I even got to Halle, to when I landed in Germany and Rafat reached out to help me get to my flat (even on an early Sunday morning), and then every subsequent day. The Excellence Center does not suffer from a large gap between the volunteers and the staff; we all eat breakfast together every morning, we talk throughout the day, and we have regular group activities, like lunches, trips, and even music lessons. These activities are a wonder for
developing an incredibly close community; even though many of the volunteers before me had
known each other for weeks or months, within fifteen minutes I was talking to them as though I had not just gotten off the airplane. The Center feels incredibly intertwined with the community; people from in and around Halle regularly come in to receive (or in some cases, give) lessons. The staff are all remarkably well connected and seem to know the entire city by name, always giving a wave or a hello when they walk by.
Teaching at the Center was a great experience. All of my students were kind, intelligent, engaged, funny, and happy to be there. The Center provides a very nice balance between structure and freedom: on the one hand, we have endless resources in the form of the
experienced teachers at the center who can always give advice when it is requested. On the other hand, we have the freedom to build and run our own lessons, a task that, while daunting, was
interesting and fun.
The relationships built with the other volunteers really held the program together. We all became very close: many hours were spent playing card games or trying riddles or magic tricks
to fool each other. We ate meals together all the time; once a week, we would do a meal swap, where one apartment would cook a meal for the other. The extreme closeness made for a certain amount of sadness when inevitably someone would have to leave; but the constant arrivals made sure that there was always a steady stream of wonderful people to meet.
The Excellence Center has truly been a wonderful experience; from the staff to the students to the volunteers to the city itself, I have enjoyed every moment of my time here.