Until Next Time

At the time this post is being written, I have been home in Oklahoma for about one week. One week since being with my new friends. One week since being truly independent. And one week since living in Freiburg.

It goes without saying that life feels incredibly different. I have lived in the States my whole life, but the past four months felt like such an important part of my life. When people ask me, “How was Germany?!” it’s kind of hard to answer because the longer I was there, the harder it became to really separate it from what I’m used to. A semester isn’t that long, but it was long enough for me to feel like I really integrated into such a new environment, to the point where it didn’t really feel “new” or “different” anymore. Taking the tram, airing out my room, and intensively sorting my garbage: everything started to feel just right. If anything, being back in America is what feels different. Not being able to walk everywhere, not feeling comfortable drinking the tap water, not hearing German all the time…It’s honestly hard to get used to again.

All this means, though, is that being abroad really left an impression on me that I will never forget. Being able to learn so much about the European Union while living there and being taught by people who experience the effects of EU policy every day was really enlightening; I can’t stress how much I learned this semester. On top of that, having the opportunity to travel with IES Abroad to different cities and countries only further strengthened my understanding of the EU as a whole. I got to observe both the similarities and glaring differences between different member states, especially when it comes to variations in how they govern and participate in the EU. My time here actually influenced me to take a class back at my home school called “Democratic Decay,” which focuses on the deterioration of democracy across the world (I have Viktor Orbán to thank for my new interest in this subject).

Being in Freiburg specifically has been really special. It is funny to think that in August 2024, I had never even heard of Freiburg, and now it’s a place that I hold close to my heart. I touched on it a bit in a previous post, but I do wish more people knew about Freiburg. One of my friends, who has never been to Germany, actually knew about the Black Forest but had no idea that Freiburg was right next to it (and of course, he didn’t know about Freiburg at all until I started studying there)! I love Germany as a whole, and the bigger cities are amazing, of course, but Freiburg is such a nice little place that anyone could come to love. In the beginning, I slightly wondered if I would’ve preferred to study in a bigger place, but I quickly realized that the answer was no: the reason is that I probably would have been overwhelmed if I lived in a bigger place with too much going on. Freiburg was a nice mix of densely populated but not too large, which was perfect for me.

In the final weeks of my time in Freiburg, I had a conversation with IES Freiburg’s Student Affairs & House Coordinator, Dörte Peters. She asked me if I could describe my entire time abroad in one word. After a bit of thinking, I told her: Transformative. This applied both to how I might have affected the people and environment around me and how those same things have affected me going forward. I am a firm believer that meeting new people and experiencing new things truly changes your perspective on life, even if it’s just little things. For me, living in Germany changed how I think about pretty much everything. Even being around Americans from different parts of the country affected how I view things, and I hope my perspectives did the same for them. I also hope my identity as a person of color in Germany changed how some Germans view issues related to race, as well. Transformative was the word I believed could truly capture all of these feelings.

One thing is for certain: I will truly never forget my time abroad. It wasn’t always easy, but I will forever be grateful that I had the chance to experience Germany and Europe the way I did. Thank you to IES Freiburg for being such a welcoming and supportive community. Thank you to all of the amazing people I met abroad, whether that’s fellow Americans or those who just so happened to be in Europe when I was. And thank you, reader! When starting this blog, I honestly wasn’t sure how much effort I would put into it… However, to my surprise, even from my first blog post, I received positive feedback that really encouraged me to give this blog my all, and I’m really glad I did. Even if somebody acknowledged that they knew about the blog, that was enough for me to feel like my effort was truly appreciated. Here, I want to give a huge thank you to Merle Peitsmeyer, director of the IES Freiburg Center, for being the first person to acknowledge my work; it truly meant the world to me. Along with serving as a future reflection for myself, I hope this blog serves future students who may be uncertain about studying abroad or seeking advice on how to make the most of their experience overseas.

I ended my first blog post by saying that I was sad to leave some things behind in America before leaving, but I was hopeful that I would also find new things that would be hard to leave behind in Germany. In a bittersweet way, I was right. There were many things I began to hold dear while abroad, but those things were just as hard to leave behind. From the small things like my favorite marzipan chocolate to the people I made lasting connections with, it was hard to leave my new home without them. It may be sad, but I like to believe that I will be back one day, even if just for a bit, because my time abroad changed me, for good.