Berlin: A Semester Lengthened to a Year (and maybe a Master's?)

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at BCGS so much that I decided to extend my semester to a year (and might come back when I graduate)!
Here are some reasons why:
1. Program support
The preparatory language course was very rigorous, and without it, I would not have been prepared to write the final papers. I thought I had reached a plateau in my German language skills, but I was wrong. After the course, my German was significantly better. In addition, I had lists of "Redemittel"--academic formulations and expressions to use in papers. Now I never write anything without my Redemittel at my side.
Perhaps the most valuable part of the BCGS program is the tutor system. Having a weekly individual meeting with a dynamic, engaging, knowledgeable and approachable tutor works miracles on your academic work. The thorough feedback they give you on your final papers allows you to turn in your work with confidence and notice errors you make repeatedly (allowing you to avoid these yourself in future writing assignments).
In addition, Carmen is perhaps the most organized and attentive individual I have ever met. Carmen and Niko (whom I simply do not know as well because he was away my first semester) provide guidance with everything from health insurance to matriculation and organize excursions and events (even a Thanksgiving dinner!). They respond to emails within seconds, follow up on their own initiative if they know you have had a problem and remember things their students tell them.
2. Freie Universität
I get a huge sense of pride directly enrolling in classes with German students, giving oral presentations and writing research papers to the true German standard (not in a parallel program designed just for exchange students). I also love the system of not doing constant busy work (there are not little quizzes and short responses over the course of the semester) but instead really gaining deep knowledge of a topic through a rigorous final paper (one of my seminar paper topics has now inspired my thesis topic).
3. Berlin
I love Berlin. I love that my life does not only revolve around the university campus and that most of my friends are not students. I have met and become close friends with people from every continent, with native Germans and refugees and expats of all ages. I am involved in interesting activities in the Berlin community that are not university-affiliated (which is a huge contrast to my home university, where everyone and everything lived and took place on campus). My entire social life is in German, which has perhaps improved my language skills more than my coursework.
I would recommend a year. My classmates who only did a semester still had a fantastic time, improved their German and had time to do sightseeing! Just keep in mind that if you stay for a semester, you'll be so busy finding a WG and getting your visa and writing your final papers under a huge time crunch that you might find yourself wishing you had more time to enjoy the city and deepen your connections with the locals.
Enjoy every minute!