Language and Cultural Exploration

I was enrolled in the Language and Area Studies in Berlin and all my classes gave me different perspectives of the city. Students in this program will take 5-6 classes (all conducted in German) including one German intensive class. This made me nervous but all the professors understand that we are learning the class as well as the language itself. All my classes have excursions to different places in the city such as the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Berlin's State Parliament (Abgeordnetenhaus) and many more. The center itself is supportive in helping students and they put together different events for the students. IES also hosts weekend trips to other cities like Dresden and Hamburg, so we learn more about the different cities in Germany.

In this program, students are most likely to live with a host-family and I love my host! They are a family of four and really care about my experience and always there to help me. Coming from a school of 1,500 students in a small city makes me a little bit worried about being in a big city like Berlin, but I love every moment of my experience there!