My time at excellence

My name is Aram and I'm an American volunteer doing the Internship program while studying German.
The most memorable part of the Center was the chance to meet people and make friends from around the world, even people who aren't directly connected to the Center, such as the myriad of university students. I especially loved the chance to interview refugees, and hear their extremely varied experiences. The staff are very friendly and supportive, and relate to you as friends. My German teacher Muaz is excellent. He knows exactly how to challenge you and get you out of your comfort zone, while keeping lessons relaxed and engaging. In general, the quality of teaching I have seen here is quite high.
Note that it is sometimes difficult to obtain housing near the center. Many of the volunteers end up having host families as much as 50 minutes away from the Center. This can make it difficult for many to participate in social events, and can be frustrating for these volunteers.
Many may lament the lack of structure or active assistance in teaching. Personally, I find the ability to design our own curriculums freeing and exciting. One thing that would have been nice, however, is to have advance knowledge of what age our students are and what their basic level in the language is. This would help with planning our first lessons. I found this got better as more volunteers arrived and we had the chance to shadow many of our new students' classes before taking them on.
More generally, there is a certain lack of structure at the Center. Again, personally, I don't mind this, although more advance notice with regard to activities would be nice, given our largely self designed schedules.
I urge any considering coming, to make the most of your time here. Whether here for a few weeks, or two months as I was, the time will fly by. I profusely thank the Center for all the experiences and opportunities I have had, and I hope to be back.