Summation of Munich: My Last Blog

Wow, I cannot believe I'm back in the States. Sometimes it's still hard to grasp the fact that I was gone for a year, have come back, and already finishing my first round of exams at Clemson. Sometimes it doesn't really feel like I ever left. But then I look around me and see so many familiar places, but oddly have this lesser connection to them than I once had. It's a weird, heavy feeling. But it brings me peace knowing that I was able to really live and create a new home so far away.

But alas, I am home. And it feels good to be back. However, Munich was a place that became extremely special to me and I will extremely miss it and the people I kennengelernt habe :)

I had to write a 5-10 page paper for a study abroad class after I got back, and decided to use it as my last blog since I never wrote about my last month in Munich. It's really long (obviously), but I feel that it summarizes the experience and concludes in a way that gives Munich the justice it deserves when being spoken of.

Thank you so much to everyone who kept up with my blogs during my year abroad. I can't tell you how much that means to me, and how helpful it is when trying to explain my "second life".

You guys are the greatest :)

Liebe Grüße

Jessica

  

My paper:

During the 2011 to 2012 school year, I completed a year abroad in Munich, Germany. I applied to a program called “Junior Year in Munich”, which is partnered with Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. I decided to study abroad with this program instead of one offered by Clemson University because of the opportunities it presented, and the freedom they gave in the classes available. As a Biology student with an interest in combining this particular field of science with German, there were not many options available. Every class offered by JYM was in German, and each professor was a resident of Munich, having already taught at a University at some point in their lives. If the student wanted to study only at the University of Munich, they are encouraged to take whatever they want, despite their major. The Junior Year in Munich program is well-known throughout Munich and Bavaria, with contacts to some of the most prestigious researchers and businesses in the area, greatly increasing the chances of receiving an internship or research opportunity. JYM also offered a class called “Undergraduate Research Project”, which allowed the student to do research in any field they have interest in, in whichever language they feel most comfortable with.

There are two universities in Munich—University of Munich and the Technical University of Munich, both of which have outstanding reputations. The University of Munich is located in the heart of Munich, and a five minute bike ride from the largest student apartments, which is where I resided during my stay in Munich. It has a reputation of being strong in the arts and sciences; however, the sciences have a central focus around biology, chemistry, and physics. Their Physics department alone ranks as one of the hardest physics departments in all of Europe. The Technical University of Munich is known for their hard-working engineering students. As one of the world’s engineering powerhouses, if not the world leader, the TU creates many of the engineers working for their beloved BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Lamborghini corporations.

I chose the University of Munich because I wanted to focus on the more liberal side of my education, due to the fact that my entire college career has been focused on the sciences. I had purposely waited to take my General Education requirements, so that I could take them in another country while studying abroad. However, the Biology department at LMU is also very strong; therefore, if I had wanted to take a Biology course of some nature, that would have easily been a possibility.

I chose Munich, Germany as my study abroad home for many reasons. I have always known that I wanted to study abroad in Germany, due to the fact that I have always had a very strong desire to know the language. As an American, it is very easy to go an entire lifetime without learning a second language as English is the common world-wide language. Foreign languages have become a last priority in a society pushing to become world powers with advancements in as many developments as possible. However, it has always been my opinion that the ability to communicate with someone in their native language holds just as much value as mastering the scientific world. To be able to hear someone’s view on life and share their story through words and phrasing that may be totally foreign to one’s own, is an incredible concept. However, the concept itself was never enough for me. I wanted to know how it felt because I was quite sure it was change who I was as a person as well.

Deciding on which city was easy—I had already narrowed it down to Berlin and Munich. The church I am a member of in the United States has sister churches around the world, and there were only two in Germany at the time. That factor was extremely important to me, and helped me narrow down the search tremendously. Once I found the Junior Year in Munich program, I knew where I wanted to go because of the fact that every opportunity they offered was something I was dying to experience. I had found the perfect fit.

I travelled to Munich three weeks early to live with two different host-families from the sister church in Munich. My first week was a train wreck of getting lost without a cell phone, not understanding a word of German, feeling unbelievably alone, wondering if I could really last for one whole year away from home, meeting so many new people that the excitement turned to being completely overwhelmed, jetlag, unusual food, Oktoberfest, being allowed to drink beer for the first time, and so many more experiences.

After the third week of living with my second host family, I moved into student apartments called Studentenstadt, or Students City. It was a hard transition because I had never lived by myself before, and I had not me a single soul in Munich except the host families I had spent time with. My host brothers, Dorian and Erik, helped me move in to my new apartment and set up as much as possible. As per request, Dorian stayed longer and walked with me to get dinner to help me feel more at ease about living by myself.

During the next few weeks and months, I slowly but surely started transitioning well into the German society and culture. It was a shocking to live in Munich as an American and constantly be reminded that the city was not my home. I always felt like I stuck out more than every once else. I was absolutely convinced that when Germans walked by me on the street or saw me sitting in class, they would immediately know that I was not one of them. When I would finally work up enough nerve to speak German, my accent would forever give away the fact that I was, yet again, not one of them, and their English responses gradually wore down any linguistic ability I was desperately trying to build confidence in.

In this struggle to learn the language and actually speak it with others, I learned the most about myself, my personality, my triggers, my mindset, and my outlook on so many different areas of life. I would take it to a completely new level of personal when a German was not respecting the fact that I wanted to speak German. I constantly told myself that if they wanted to learn English then they needed to travel to America, where English is always spoken. I would have angry German conversations with them in my head, in order to make myself feel better about the fact that no one seemed to want to respect my leaving home for a year to learn their language. Obviously this is not a piece of character I cherish or am proud of, and its constant occurrence left me frustrated beyond reason.

This struggle pushed me to pursue the actual reasoning behind Germans always wanting to speak English with Americans, or those from English speaking countries. I knew that once I took the extra time to understand exactly why, then I would be able to respond more calmly, and even begin feeling more confident every time the situation reoccurred. These are the reasons that were forever given to me: Germans just love to practice their English! The majority of their Master-level classes are in English, making every chance they have possible to practice, essential for not just their own pleasure, but their academic success. Another reason is that America is a gigantic media influence with the film and music industry. Everywhere one goes there is some form of an English influence, causing Germans to be even more aware of the language. And the last and final reason: because it is “cool” or “fun” to speak English. Germans love a challenge and due to the complexity of our frequently-used phrases and idioms, they are first in the line to master the language.

The other huge struggle I faced while living abroad, was dealing with an unbelievably large awareness of the fact that I am an American. Having lived in America my entire life and never really leaving the country, being an American is not something I have thought about very much, and especially never something I had been conscious of on a day-to-day basis. I found myself wishing that I could just for one day not bei the “American girl”. I learned the stereotypes of Americans as seen by Germany’s society, and I became ashamed of many of the ways my country handles itself. Politics and obesity were two reigning subjects that I had to become very well-informed and well-versed in. A lack of knowledge in many subject areas is also an unfortunate stereotype of Americans, which pushed me to actually watch and read the news, read classic literature books in English and German, and travel to other countries in order to gain my own personal perspective of what I saw and thought.

This initial response was done to “fit-in”, to mesh with the German culture, to not stand out in a crowd of thousands thanks to my American accent and constant corrections of German (and English, let’s be honest) grammar. However, as time progressed, I found that I actually wanted to know more about the world and gain an opinion on a variety of topics that had previously never interested me. I became excited to venture into many new worlds, and not be afraid to stand up for the opinions that I had taken the time to formulate. I stopped trying to “sound smart” when not knowing the answer to a question, and would answer honestly that I was not sure at that time, but was interested in learning more regardless.

I began having mature conversations with people from many countries about incredibly sensitive matters, such as religion, politics, and world events. For the first time, I would joyously initiate such discussions just to hear someone else’s point of view, and to learn, rather than trying to prove myself right, and show that my point was better than the other person’s. I came to the conclusion later on in the year that having a calm, respective conversation between two Americans is much harder than two Germans having the same conversation. This is mostly due to the fact that the American personality tends to be very outgoing, passionate, assertive, and strong-willed, without necessarily knowing how to properly handle certain strong emotions. Germans, however, are notorious for being more reserved, held-back, with a much dryer humor, allowing them to not let emotion interrupt the desire to have conversations concerning a sensitive subject.

Not only did I expand myself in relationships with people, but I started travelling to various places around Europe and even the world. Most people dream of travelling at a young age, as much as possible, for as long as they can or their wallets will allow them to. I used this great opportunity to travel to five different countries, and multiple cities throughout those countries. The countries from Europe were France, Switzerland, and Germany. The other two countries I visited outside of the European Union were the Czech Republic and Kenya. Every travelling experience taught me something new and incredible about myself and different cultures.

The most impactful travelling experience I had abroad was my trip to Nairobi, Kenya in Africa. During the winter and summer semesters, I applied for an internship at a faith-based organization called HOPE Worldwide Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya. I was accepted and we planned for my stay to include five weeks of service. They housed me with one of the single ladies who worked at HWWK, which pushed me to deeply immerse in their culture. I was not living in a nice hotel, or eating food that I recognized. I left a freezing cold Munich with snow on the ground and arrived to one hundred degree weather, a language I did not understand, and an unbelievably annoying amount of mosquitoes. I could not recognize any of the food they ate, and my body’s refusal to consume this unusual food forced me on a five week diet of peanut butter sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, and mangoes. It was an incredibly hard adjustment, which pushed me out of my comfort zone more than ever before. I had just lived in Munich for six months, but there was no comparison in the struggle it takes to adjust to these two very different cultures—Kenya wins by a landslide.

For the first time in my life, I was in a cluture in which my race was the minority—to the point that everywhere I went I was stared at, talked to, touched, and called a “mzungu”, or “white person” in Swahili. In America, if anyone’s race is mentioned, especially those of the minority, it is considered very rude and highly offensive. When I realized new acquaintances were calling me “white person” more than by my first name, I had a very hard time not becoming offended. It took time before I realized that they were not trying to offend me, they were just excited to see someone of a different race in their country. Between the constant travelling, slums of Mukuru, meeting new people, sleepless nights, and constant reminders of the poverty and corruptness the population lives in, I was living in a continually magnifying culture shock. Even to this day it is still hard to comprehend their way of life, beliefs, customs, and mindsets. However, their ability to love deeply and be honest with strangers is something I deeply admire and wish our culture could utilize more.

Studying abroad allowed me to see my home and other cultures with completely new eyes. Every time I met or now meet someone from a different culture, the first questions I ask will be about their belief systems, their customs, their opinion of politics, and whatever else I can think of to gauge their awareness of the world around them. I have learned that due to the variances in language and culture, each country has a very particular and unique personality that no other country possesses. As an American, I know that when I travel to Germany I need to be respectful of certain laws, expectations, and habits that only their country practices. I do not view that awareness as annoying because that is their home, that is who they are, and I, as someone who is not German, should be more than willing to respect their way of living. However, I also do not believe that my respectfulness should be taken advantage of, or my courtesy ignored with negative comments about my own country. The hardest part of living abroad was conversing with others who made disrespectful and hurtful comments about America. That has really taught me to be mindful of people travelling to America to live or for vacation. It has always taught me to respect their wishes during their stay due to their sacrifice in wanting to travel the entire way to my country.

Had I not studied abroad, I would not have learned any of what I have written in this paper. I would have stayed another year at Clemson University, which would have been great, but I would have never really gotten to know myself outside of the only two environments that have shaped me. I have gained new strengths, found various weaknesses, found families that have taken care of me around the world, and I have grown more mature and confident in who I am and the life I want to live. I know study abroad will not be the only impactful event of my life, but it has certainly prepared me for every significant experience that has yet to come.