Learning a foreign language is hard, but overcoming the anxiety of speaking out loud and the fear of being judged is even harder. I am an advanced German speaker, but even I have anxiety about speaking German. Getting over that fear is the only thing that will help you advance. I especially learned that this J-term. All my friends have been trying their hardest and continuously speaking German, no matter if they make mistakes, and they are learning. I would say each and every one has tremendously improved. Through the vocabulary words which we had to gather and all the technical jargon I heard on tours, I am improving my lexicon. Being forced in a formal setting in German also was a great cause of my improvement, as it helped me hone the grammar skills I use least and am most uncomfortable with. This push out of my comfort zone was actually very helpful because I stopped worrying about if I was wrong and instead just talked.
I had an absolutely fantastic time on this trip. The places we visited were very interesting and diverse. I met great people thanks to this trip and learned a side of Germany that I had not previously seen. I absolutely recommend going on this trip to anyone who is even remotely considering studying in Germany because touring the schools and meeting current exchange students reinforced my want to study abroad (and especially here in Germany).
I think I completed all of the goals I had set at the beginning of the trip. They were: to make business connections, learn more about German cities and to make new friends. I have definitely learned a lot more about Germany and its history. I have made really great friends, who I am going to study and hang out together with. Finally, I did make business connections, even though I am not an Engineering major, I met people who work in my field on this trip. Overall, I once again just have to say that this trip was a lot of work, but it was way more fun and I absolutely would go again it if given the chance.
The one downside I would like to quickly mention is that for people with food restrictions, it is very hard to eat traditional German food, which we did a lot.
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