Being abroad, even for the short amount of time I’ve been here in Berlin, has given me a wonderful opportunity to step back from the stressors in my day-to-day life and to reflect over why I experience them in the first place. It has been a lot easier for me to clear my mind and shift my focus onto the changes that are going to take effect in my life in the next few years and to think about where I really want and need to be headed.
I have seen my goals for the future change around quite a bit, as I have taken time to consider that what I wanted before I began my studies may be different from what is important to me now.
Visiting the Schlosskirche
in Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Riverside Culture an der Spree
Something that struck me as strange recently: it’s been years since anyone asked me, “Are you planning to study at a German university?” but this question comes up quite frequently here, since many participants at the Humboldt Institut are yet to begin their paths of higher education. I think I used to feel like I had to have some grand plan for my language learning, like German was going to be the catalyst for the rest of my life and nothing would ever be the same again.
There is no denying that knowing a second language and becoming intimately familiar with another culture has changed my life in overwhelmingly positive ways, and I can do nothing but recommend you do the same. What I mean to say is, learning a language (or engaging in a course of study) doesn’t always have to come with a specific goal in mind. Naturally, new circumstances will arise every day and the best way to handle them is to keep moving forward and do your best at what you do, even if you may not have it all planned out.
The connections you make along the way and the doors that open and close as you continue onward will be worth the experience, I promise.
Click here to learn more about the UNL Faculty-led: Spring Semester in Berlin!
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.”
-Flora Lewis
William H. Thompson Scholars Learning Community 