IES Berlin Fall 2015

Berlin was not as much a German city as it was a multi-cultural city. It is a place where all nations are represented, including people, food and architecture. There were so many people from all over the world and all walks of life. Every time I was on the U-Bahn (metro) or the S-Bahn (city-train) I would here languages ranging from English (Australian, British, American, Canadian) to Turkish to Japanese to Swedish to Spanish to Serbian. It was remarkable to think that we all ended up in this small space at this moment in time in this specific city.

I also learned a great deal from the relaxed academic environment at the IES Berlin center, which enabled me to fully understand and more importantly appreciate the uniqueness that is Berlin- there is not another city like it. This relaxed and not-demanding workload also allowed for frequent travel within Berlin and Germany, but also to neighboring nations for a great price. It was almost too easy to say "hey let's go to Barcelona for the weekend, it's only 42euros round-trip." This travel was also very important to IES: this independence was fully explained by the program staff. All program health and safety was fantastic in preparation and I always felt safe knowing that my program was very well prepared to handle anything that might happen. This was something that was very important to me.

One thing that is definitely worth thinking about is if you are a pretty introverted person, you may feel lonely at times, even in such a big city. It is not easy being in completely new situations in a new country with people you do not know. Therefore, try to push boundaries and really find out who you are. Being abroad will be the best experience for you to cultivate aspects of yourself you did not even know existed! It is a scary but an exhilarating time!

I was only in Berlin from September 1st -December 19th, but I accomplished a great deal and saw so much of a part of the world I had never been to before. IES Berlin made my time abroad an absolutely remarkable experience that I would highly recommend to anyone! Take the time to see the world as a student. It is something unparalleled.