IES Abroad Freiburg

I would highly recommend the IES Abroad European Union program, especially for students interested in politics and travel. Although this program is based in Freiburg, Germany, it is unique from other programs because it includes three separate excursions incorporated into the class throughout the term. These excursions consist of trips to many important European Union institutions, and include a rigorous schedule of academic meetings, balanced with time to explore. Locations for my semester included Berlin, Prague, Brussels, Luxembourg, Sofia, Budapest and Athens. For the third excursion, you are allowed to choose between 3 offered locations for you trip, so you can customize the program to fit your interests.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this program was the wide selection of course options. There were courses from topics ranging from politics to law to economics, and all the classes tended to be grounded current events.

Freiburg is also a perfect town in which to study. It has a vibrant student life, due to a local university, in addition to proximity to Switzerland and France, which provide great weekend trips. It has a bit of a city feel, but is quite small and has a lot of charm. It also has lots of local hiking and winter sport opportunities!

However, I would say that this program is geared more toward politics (and economics) majors, rather than toward people trying to gain an advanced handle on German. Although German classes are offered at several different levels, most people from my semester came to the program with little to no German experience and were less focused on the language learning aspect. I came into the program with 3 semesters of German and was very serious about building my proficiency while there, although did not feel ready to sign up for the IES Freiburg language program, which offers classes in German and involves enrolling in the local university. While I found many opportunities to practice German with locals, it was easy for other people in my program to insulate themselves from the German locals and students, and just interact with other people in the program.

Participating in this program really helped build my independence and my confidence in being able to travel alone! I felt confident navigating European trains and public transportation in many different cities.

This program is really unique and truly inspiring. It offered amazing academics that really reinforced why I love what I am studying and what I am doing while matched it very well with course-related excursions that took us to new countries to explore and learn about the EU and domestic politics. The time spent abroad both in Germany and traveling was incredible and really felt balanced thanks to the planning of the administration. It also really helps that you are traveling with professors as academic advisors so they can really help you reflect on everything you have learned.

Freiburg is such a cute little university town. There's plenty of great food and fun places to go. All of the university students were very welcoming and friendly. I lived in university housing, and it was clean and relatively up-to-date. The staff at the EU Center is great, and the course-related excursions were super interesting. Since Freiburg is kind of in the middle of Western Europe, it was very easy to travel.

If you are looking to study internationally while also fulfilling your major requirements for International Politics, Business, or Econ; or just looking to travel a lot while learning, this is the program for you! I cannot say enough positive things about my experience with this program. For starters I was able to learn so much about the European Union not only in the classroom, but by traveling to different countries and hearing how the EU affects them as a country or even individually. That was probably the most important part of the program, because I don't think it would have been enough to just have sat in a classroom to learn about this material. It was also a great way to experience the different cultures and not just that of your host country. I would like to also say that the staff is absolutely phenomenal. They really care about your experience and do everything they can to make sure you are getting the most out of the program. The teachers are also there for the students! All of the classes I took were really interesting subjects and the professors really brought them to life. Plus the classroom setting is incredibly small so it leaves time for one-on-one help if you need it. This program really helped me to step out of my comfort zone and become more independent! The only issue I had during my entire experience was the fact that the program was a little isolated from Freiburg University. If you were looking to make friends with the locals it was difficult to do, unless you lived in a flat (which I didn't). So for the most part we hung out with each other. This also made it difficult to really submerge yourself in the culture and learn the language. Most Germans in this area were incredibly excited to have the ability to practice their English with someone, so sometimes you didn't get the chance to improve your German. Anyways, I would 100% recommend this program and would do it again if given the chance.

In particular, Freiburg is a beautiful place; in the winter there is snow, then comes rain, and in spring time the hills are green and the sun breaks through with warmth. Freiburg is a student town, the German culture is different; it's welcoming, a breath of fresh air, and eye opening. My time abroad, I always felt safe. I also had the opportunity to learn German, which is a goal that I have always wanted to fulfill. I got to participate in the Freiburg Marathon during April with a few of my friends as well as a few faculty members from the program. It was a lot of fun being able to run a 14km through Freiburg. This experience was great; having the people cheer me on as I ran through the city was welcoming, being a part of a team with my friends and professors, and challenging myself by running 14km without stopping and finally crossing that finish line was exhilarating. Furthermore, I got to participate in another run; Run For Europe. This was my favorite run because I got to run a 5K while running between the borders of Briesach Am Rhein, Baden- Wurttemberg, Germany and Ile de Rhin, France with my friends was amazing! I got to run with others who support a united Europe.
After having visited: Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Greece, Vatican City, Rome, Nice, Paris, Brussels, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Basel, Grindelwald, Feldberg, and Freiburg. You learn that there is so much to see, to experience, and that life is a constant journey in which one expands their perspective of the world. I learned that there is so much more to learn, to experience, to do, and to witness. You only get one life and it's your job to live it to the fullest. Since having studied abroad I now have a greater appreciation for the world , cultures, the people that make up each country, and the country's history.
My study abroad experience has helped me grow personally, academically, and as well as professionally. Personally, I have grown to be more confident, independent, assertive, and ambitious through the IES European Union Abroad Program. I am from Oceanside, California and my university is about forty-five minutes from my hometown. I am use to having my family close by and having studied abroad in Freiburg, Germany was a learning process for me. I remember when I first arrived in Germany; at first I was nervous having to say goodbye to my mom because I have always had my support system close by. It was through this marvelous program that I was able to grow to be more confident and ambitious. In my leadership course: Leading Across Political Cultures, I learned to be ambitious and assertive through taking on leadership roles in my course; in our third leadership workshop I volunteered to be a leader in which I was required to lead a group of my fellow students to the destination of our workshop all on my own. In addition for a water conference that we had for this course, I volunteered to be one of the three moderators that had the task of coordinating, organizing, and running the water conference.
Furthermore, this Spring semester I challenged myself to try new things and to push myself to do better in my courses. This particular semester abroad was at times demanding at first but as time went on I got use to the work load. The first week of classes was the intensive phase; in which we had one week to learn the basic history of the European Union as well as an intro to German before we had a trip to Berlin and Prague. The education system for studying abroad was a bit different, in my opinion there is more independence to work on your own, in addition spending time and taking classes with the same seventy students was a nice change. I enjoyed connecting and getting to know these people My home university has five thousand seven hundred and eleven undergraduate students; it was also convenient to have all of my courses in one building, as well as a library, a lounge room, and study rooms within the same building.
In addition to having grown personally and academically, I was able to grow professionally as well. Being a Political Science major and having taken courses that focus on the American government system, I wanted to learn more about the politics of the European Union. I enjoyed getting the chance to learn about European Integration and European Foreign Security and Policy Analysis. It is one aspect to learn about the countries that are in the European Union yet it is another aspect to be able to visit these countries, to apply the knowledge that you learn and to see firsthand the important issues and their impacts that they have on these countries. I loved learning about the Copenhagen criteria, integration, enlargement, the migration crisis, the high youth unemployment in some countries, and as well as other topics about the European Union and the member states.
After having visited the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council. I had the goal of learning more about European politics and expanding my mind on international issues and U.S. relations with Europe. I accomplished this goal this spring semester. I want to attend law school after I complete my bachelors in Political Science and become a civil rights attorney. Having acquired more knowledge about the European Union I have become more aware of the importance to stay on top of current international issues. As a political science it is vital to be versatile and aware of domestic and international politics and the impact that issues and events have on a global scale.
I am thankful and fortunate that I was able to learn about the European Union, to have visited: Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Nederland's, Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany and during my stay in these countries see firsthand the issues that these countries face. Studying abroad is a once in a lifetime experience and it should be encouraged for all students to do. I am forever grateful for studying abroad and I have grown immensely because of it. It is due to studying abroad in Germany that I have a greater appreciation for the world, for politics, issues that affect the U.S. don't just affect us but they have global effects as well. Moreover, the most important aspect that I took with me from studying abroad is that we are just one speck on this earth; for there is so much more out in the world than we think there is. There is so much to learn and to share with others. Freiburg will always be a place I call home and if I didn't study abroad I would not have learned more, grown more, visited countries, cities, and met wonderful people. If you would like to learn more about the politics of the European Union, visit the institutions of the European Union, then I highly recommend studying abroad with IES through their European Union Program in Freiburg, Germany.

I had an amazing experience with the IES Abroad EU program, and there honestly isn't much I can say that was bad about my semester. Not only did I love living in the beautiful, sunny, and student-filled city of Freiburg, but I also learned so much about the EU that I never would have back home at my own university. The course excursions and extensive program travel were a highlight of my semester, and the trips were well-planned, offering us the invaluable opportunity to travel across Europe and visit many cities, while getting a unique political, historical, and cultural perspective on them that I likely wouldn't have gotten by visiting on my own. Both IES Abroad in general and the IES staff at our center in Freiburg were so helpful and organized and really made an effort to make all students feel comfortable and engaged while abroad.

Freiburg is an absolutely wonderful place to study abroad; it is a charming university city bustling with bikers (Freiburg is very eco-friendly!) and there are tons of things to do in one’s free time. Not only are there tons of restaurants, pubs, cafes, and bakeries to enjoy if you want to enjoy the wonders of German food, but there are also opportunities for shopping, enjoying local parks and the river Dreisdam, or venturing off on a short train ride into the neighboring Black Forest, where you can bike, hike, or ski! The EU program has so much travel incorporated into the semester, often to large European capitals, so having a home base in Freiburg, where it’s not overrun with tourists, was really great.

I lived in a student apartment complex with five German students and one international student. We each had our own rooms and shared two bathrooms, a kitchen, and living area. This living situation was nice because I had a lot of independence and my own space, but I still was able to engage with German students, practice my speaking, and learn about their lifestyles, studies, and interests.

On the topic of costs, which is often an important factor to studying abroad for many people, I would say that doing this program was really affordable, largely because the cost of living in Freiburg is fairly low. There are many options of where to buy food (stores and the local Münstermarkt), and groceries, toiletries and other living necessities were very inexpensive and much less than what you would pay for the same thing in the US (for instance, I could find a jar of jam for 1 Euro or a loaf of good German bread for 2 Euros). Although I’m vegetarian, I found that there were still many options for food, both eating out and buying food at the store. Freiburg also has tons of restaurants, pubs, cafes, and even a pretty good (and very inexpensive) student cafeteria, so there are lots of options for students at very reasonable prices. I won’t lie, the abundance of bakeries and cafes in Freiburg made me quickly addicted to the large array of delicious fresh German bread, pretzels, and pastries.

Although the course workload was definitely vigorous (probably more than other average abroad programs), I learned so much and gained a greater perspective on the EU, world events, and various European cultures. I might also briefly note is that this program is definitely focused on politics, international relations, and economics, and less so on intensive German-language development, understandably. However, being someone who really wanted to practice my German a lot, as I’ve been studying it for many years, I will say that I was a bit disappointed that most students on the program had little to no German language background, so I could not have those types of language engagements with them. Nonetheless, I still had many opportunities to practice German out in public and at home with my flatmates. I would recommend, however, for anyone thinking about studying abroad - to take a semester of German beforehand or have learned a little bit. It makes getting around and having simple interactions with locals much easier!

Overall, my experience in Freiburg and with the EU program was one that I truly will not forget. From visiting many beautiful and historic cities across the EU, to enjoying the Biergartens in Freiburg, to spontaneously deciding with two other students to venture on a 60km bike trip from Freiburg to France and back, the experiences I had were really irreplaceable. Without any hesitation, I would recommend this program to any student interested in the subject matter or who wants to experience life in an active, but charming German university city!

I studied spring 2017 in Freiburg, as part of the Language and Area Studies program, and I fell in love with the city and the program. I studied there from February to July in the city and had the opportunity to study and do an internship during the time I was there.

The living situation was great for immersion. I lived with 3 native Germans, and then one international student who also knew German, and so the language of the apartment was German. They also understood that I wanted to learn German, so they were helpful by speaking German with me, which improved my German skills a lot.

This program allows for the opportunity to take classes directly at the university. I had the opportunity to do this along with a few other individuals in my city. You typically have to stay in the city for an extra month, so it works better for the spring semester, but it was a great experience to improve your German through having a class with native Germans. The program also allows for an internship opportunity for credit. I did translation work for the university's alumni office, and it improved my German substantially.

When I said that I fell in love with Freiburg, that is 110% true. I loved the old buildings, along with the nature that was surrounding the city. Being in the middle of the Black Forest with ample amount of places for hiking, along with being an hour from France and Switzerland made it the perfect location for me.

Well, I had a fantastic time in my study abroad semester and plan on going back.

I really enjoyed this program due to the classes that was offered, the travel opportunities, and the city of Freiburg itself. The classes are taught by qualified and interesting professors and I learned a lot about the inner workings and relationships of the European Union. The best part of the program is all the travel that is included. We went to Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels, Prague, Berlin, Strasbourg, and three further countries (I went to Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome) with the program, and got to speak with interesting politicians, academics, and NGO workers such as the Czech Foreign Minister and an MEP from Poland. Freiburg itself is a beautiful city with amazing people, located in the Black Forest and only a 30 minute train or bus ride to France and Switzerland. Overall, I learned a lot and got to see a lot of Europe.