As promised in my last post, I’m going to back up and introduce myself.  Let’s see…I guess it was about this time last year that I made up my mind to go abroad.  The possibility had always been a lofty one, and with one complete year at NU under the belt, I was quite reticent to leave the amazing, engrossing community in Evanston.  But, after endless talks with friends and parents, a long examination of my degree requirements, turbulent fall and winter quarters, mounds of paperwork, and seven classes spring quarter, I was packing my bags and looking for my passport in preparation for a year abroad.

I had managed to find a job for the summer in Freiberg, Germany and I had been accepted to study at the Université de Strasbourg for the ‘09-‘10 school year.  Before I knew it, finals were over and after 24 hours of traveling and encountering several kind German strangers, I had arrived.

To give you an idea of what Freiberg is like, let me tell you that if you google it, Google will ask you if you are looking for another German city; it is that depressingly small.  But other than that, Freiberg is a charming college town, with a university, the world’s largest mineral museum, and a mine.  It is about 30 minutes away from Dresden, deep in Eastern Germany.  My time there passed in a heartbeat, and has become one of the best summers of my life.  I traveled to Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich, Dresden, Poland, Prague, and Vienna.  I also went strawberry picking, camping, worked at a festival and went swimming in an old rock quarry.  (I found time to work as well, in the research department of the energy and engineering department at TU Freiberg.)  Soon, my last night in Germany had come.  I ate dinner at the Kartoffelhaus – literally, the potato house, everything including the schnapps had a potato base – and spent the night at a friend’s place.  The next morning, I woke up before the sun to several Happy Birthday text messages from my German friends, and rushed to get ready to go to the train station.  I was driven there by my boss, and greeted by two friends, who serenaded me with ‘Happy Birthday’ on the accordion.  Then I gathered ALL six of my bags and hopped on the train.  I was lucky enough to make all of my transfers, and I soon arrived in Strasbourg’s Central Train Station.

Since the day off my arrival time has just flown by. I’m not here with a program, so all of the responsibility of registering, choosing classes, figuring out visa procedures needed to be done, and soon, I was starting classes at l’ECPM – the European University of Chemistry, Materials and Polymers.  I had two weeks of intensive lab, with the rest of my year, and it was quite a challenge.  Not only did I have to adjust to an entire course load in French, but also, all of my peers were native French students, and no number of French classes would have prepared me for carrying on conversations with them.  I got home every night, after 8 hours of lab a day, completely exhausted and overwhelmed.  But, I stuck with it, and now, a few months later and one semester gone, I have finally started to settle in.

I came abroad for so many reasons: to work on my French, to see the world, to experience life in a foreign country, to become more independent, and to grow up.  I feel my time here racing through my fingers, and with every new adventure, I hope to grow and learn.