Middlebury School in Germany

Overall, my semester in Mainz was a great experience. The academic work was challenging, having to write 4 Hausarbeiten over the course of the semester. It is manageable though with the help of the tutors and resources that Middlebury provides. The one downside to my experience was that it wasn't easy meeting other German students outside of the close vicinity of where you live. German dorms aren't like ones in America, in that German students don't typically take it upon themselves to meet and converse with their neighbors, which is very common in the dorm life of American universities. That's at least what I found to be the case for my dorm, but I did meet a number of German students who were more open in this way. However, spending the time with the students I did get to know was really memorable. Mainz has so much to offer in terms of bars, nightlife, Fastnacht, activities and simply beautiful scenery. The key is balancing time for these activities in addition to the pretty tight academic schedule that you have to follow in order to complete your work for the semester.