IES Abroad Freiburg

My semester with IES Abroad European Union was an invaluable opportunity to learn and grow. As a student of International Relations and History, I was able to explore my passions within a practical context in Europe. One of the biggest advantages of studying abroad with IES Abroad EU is that you learn just as much in the classroom as outside of it. Within our multiple field trips, I visited 12 countries across Europe, and engaged in meetings with EU officials and academics from a wide variety of fields. Some of my favorite memories include visiting the European Commission in Brussels, hiking in the Alps, and bonding over the cold in Latvia. Moreover, the base city of the program, Freiburg, is a gorgeous and quaint town. It is easily accesible, due in part to the excellent tram system, and will quickly make you feel at home (and it also has a great selection of restaurants). Additionally, the IES Abroad Staff are some of the most attentive and caring people I've ever met, and they would always make sure that everyone on the program was doing well. My semester abroad was a big leap for me - a push to try something new - and I'm immensely glad I did it!

My time in Freiburg was the greatest time of my life, and I highly recommend this program. Freiburg is the perfect city, because it is the right size to feel comfortable and very safe. One of the best parts of the program is the travel included in the curriculum, where you get to travel to eight different cities. The IES center staff do an incredible job planning the trips, providing suggestions and tips for each city and exposing us to unique speakers and experiences. As someone who had never traveled outside the United States before, having a structured form of travel was very beneficial and made travel a lot less overwhelming for me. For a personal example of how helpful the center staff is, I cut my hand while in Freiburg and needed stitches. A staff member scheduled an appointment for me with a doctor that speaks English to remove my stitches, which was incredibly helpful and made a stressful and scary situation much easier. This program and this city is one you will not regret experiencing!

I always said I could never miss anywhere but my home in Indiana, but Freiburg proved me wrong. I don't know if it's the cobblestone streets, streams lining the roads, or gothic cathedral in the city's center, but Freiburg and its charms captured my heart. I had an apartment to myself, but you can also share an apartment in Vauban, either of which is just a tram ride away from the IES Center where classes are held. The staff at the IES Center was great. They gave us jerseys to wear during the Euros, advice on where to find the best souvenir shops and restaurants, and opportunities to bond with the other program members. We took field trips to three different countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, and Cyprus, and they were all very well organized. The program even provides classes in German for beginners, although the daily courses are in English. My life has forever been changed by this program, and I highly encourage studying abroad, wherever that may be.

fernweh | (n.) when you feel like you have to leave your familiar surroundings to discover new places. it is the need for distance, the wish to experience something far away from home, the urge to escape from your everyday life by travelling

The IES Freiburg EU program was the perfect way to find Fernweh! Freiburg was the perfect home-away-from-home. It was safe, beautiful, fun, and the perfect size for the aspiring city girl. I had my little slice of heaven hidden away in the Black Forest! We were able to travel so much - which was so easy due to the central train station in Freiburg.

The EU program was so much fun!! Especially the travel aspect, you go somewhere once a week every month and it's the best thing about the program. The center is really nice, some of the professors are great while others are meh, as usual. Classes were interesting for the most part.
There's some good places to go out in Freiburg, and the food is the BEST. There are a bunch of shops down the main street downtown to go shopping. It felt like we weren't in Freiburg much because of the travel but the time we were in town was great.
A couple things to think about are if you plan on fully immersing yourself in German culture you're going to have to do everything you can do to that. In Freiburg you're in classes at the IES Center not the local University, so you're spending 80% of the time surrounded by Americans. Also, this is not a program you can go into assuming you're going to barely be doing any work. For me, it was like any other semester work wise. All of that being said I LOVE Freiburg and being there was so much fun, and I would absolutely go again!!

Classes:

My IES classes were generally good and not too hard, but they required time-management. I found that there was a fair amount of “busy” work and a few too many tests and papers, but my classes in Freiburg were still easier than the classes I take at my home university.

IES does not allow laptops in class, so if you (like me) like to have your readings in class for reference, you’ll have to print everything. Instead of wasting paper, I ended up taking a lot of reading notes—tedious, but I eventually got used to it.

Overall, I learned a fair amount in my classes and enjoyed them, but I wouldn’t say that they were the highlight of my semester.

Travel:

I visited 9 cities with IES, and had a great time on all of my trips. On most days, we had lectures in the morning (sometimes long and boring, but usually informative) and free time in the afternoon/evening.

If you want to make the most of your free time, you definitely need to do some research in advance. I spent a lot of time on my trips trying to figure out what to do/where to go, so I wish I had taken the time to do some advance planning.

Because I traveled so much with IES, I didn’t end up traveling too much on my own. Once I got back from my IES trips, I was pretty exhausted and preferred to spend my weekends in Freiburg. I also took some day trips around Germany, France and Switzerland (yes, you can go to France or Switzerland for brunch if you want to).

Freiburg:

I absolutely loved Freiburg. It is a university town, so there are tons of young people around and lots of student-friendly places to eat/shop/hang out.

I lived in a flat with 5 other students in a building called Berliner Allee. The flat had 6 single rooms, 2 bathrooms and a shared kitchen. Every student had an assigned bathroom along with assigned kitchen shelves and space in the refrigerators. I was also entered into the flat “putzplan,” or cleaning plan, which rotates weekly.

My building was very well-located. I had 2 grocery stores, a bank, a coffee-shop, a pharmacy and a beautiful park within walking distance, and I was only about a 10 minute tram ride from downtown Freiburg. My building was also very close to another student housing complex.

Due to the German semester system, students in Freiburg tend to move in and out of apartments frequently. When I first moved into my flat, I had 2 flat-mates from Germany, one from Romania, one from France and one from Lithuania. Some of these flat-mates moved out within a few months and their rooms turned over, but I was lucky and ended up liking everyone I lived with.

Learning German:

Before arriving in Freiburg, I did not speak a word of German. This made my transition fairly challenging—I couldn’t read a menu, understand labels in the grocery store or pharmacy or ask basic questions in a store. My German class at IES taught me a fair amount (enough to understand the basics), but I didn’t become as comfortable with the language as I would have liked. German is not the focus of the EU program, and you can get around Freiburg with English. Expect to learn something, but you won’t be fluent in German by the end of the semester.

Meeting German Students:

I met a fair number of German students (flat-mates and others), and became quite close to them. In fact, I had closer connections to Germans than most of my friends from IES because I was more inclined to get out of the “American IES bubble.”

My German friends were wonderful, and they invited me to lots of different events. I went to a German acoustic-punk concert at a local bar—definitely not an event I would have found on my own—and to many dinners and picnics. My German friends enjoyed practicing their English with me, and they helped me a lot with my German. One friend helped me study for my German oral exam and my German flat-mates loved to answer my homework questions.

It is very easy to stick to other Americans in Freiburg, but it is worth it to make an effort to meet Germans. Flat-mates are a great place to start!

Would I Choose the IES EU Program Again?

Definitely!

Studying abroad was definitely not an easy choice to make but it was one that I am so happy that I made. It has been so far one of the best college semesters so far that i have had. Freiburg can feel kinda like a small town (I'm originally from Chicago) but that doesn't mean that there isn't something to do. Whether directly in the city of Freiburg, in the Black Forest or in other neighboring cities, you'll never really get bored. The trips offered by IES are also a great way to see more of Europe. There are a lot of international students at the University so you'll never really feel alone and people are always interested about learning about different cultures and things. The academics offered by the program are really interesting and really helps you acclimate to Germany.

My semester abroad was my first time being so far away from home, and naturally I was nervous, but by the end of the semester I didn't want to go back on the plane ride home. Going abroad was one of the best decisions I've ever made! I've been taking German for three years and going to Freiburg, Germany was my first time in Germany so I was finally able to put my skills to the test. Through this program I was able to accomplish all three of my goals: improve my German, learn about European politics, and travel. Along the way I made great friends, met people from across the globe, and grew as a person. I cannot stress enough how much this program will do for its participants.