Take your experience into your own hands, don't rely on the program.

IES provided many opportunities that really enhanced my experience abroad, but I did have to do quite a bit of work outside of the program to fully benefit from my experience. The excursions that were part of course work, which was incredible to learn about a piece of German history and then go see it in context. Other than these excursions with my American classmates, experiencing German culture and meeting locals was mostly up to me to discover. It was quite difficult to find locals that were interested in befriending an American who would leave in four months. I was determined to not allow a little culture barrier prevent me from meeting locals, so I joined a rowing team in southern Berlin and it became the highlight of my experience! This program really does allow for you to live independently (aside from living with a host family), but you must be comfortable going out of your way to make your abroad experience worth while. Additionally my housing situation was not ideal for me. My host family was more interested in me as a renter than me as a guest. My suggestion would be to get an apartment with locals that are closer to your age and are living a typical student lifestyle. I often felt like I was intruding on the family, and it was strange having lived on my own during college and then being placed with a family with children that was not my own, I felt very out of place. I initially was really excited to have a host family, but in the end, I realized how much I would have preferred living with people my own age who would be studying and living a similar lifestyle to me.