Go To Berlin Instead!

The food is just lovely in Germany, and the folks are pretty nice. The language is challenging, but that's why one would study abroad ... on some level ... right?

The USAC staff in Reno are, for the most part, knowledgable at their occupations. Sadly, their main job is to sell you on the program. The company told me that I would be studying at Leuphana Universitaet, in Lueneburg, Germany. And I did ... annexed in a dark hall, away from the other German students, not integrated in any way, shape or form, scholastically speaking.

The resident director is working on his Master's in Economics ... but fancies himself a History professor, and hires language instructors that cannot speak English, and invites them to teach other classes in English.

There was a student who signed up for the program for the entire year. His first semester, he did not really show up, and failed all of his classes. He behaved the same for the second semester. It was not until nearly finals that he was asked to leave class one day, with alcohol on his breath.

We were told to tell the border guards, upon entering Germany, that we (the students) were all there for tourist reasons. Then, we applied for visas. According to German law, that is incredibly backward: one should never lie to a border police-person, and the student visas can be attained before the plane ticket.

This program is a complete disaster. Unless your goal is to drink heavily for a semester or a year, I would suggest going to Berlin. You just might learn some German.