It has been exactly one month since I got back from my six month adventure in Germany. Being home has not only granted me the ability to use my cell phone for unlimited text messaging and to drive to Walmart at whatever ungodly hour I choose, but it has allowed me to look back on my experience in Germany with fresh perspective and to take in the semester as a whole. While I am really enjoying being back and looking forward to what the future holds, I find myself thinking about Germany at least a handful of times each day.
Since I have been back, the question I have been asked the most was, "Was it worth it?" At first I would give the generic response of, "of course! Germany was great and wonderful," but lately I have been considering the question a lot more in depth. While my time in Germany was fantastic, there definitely were some flaws and a handful of low points. There was the difficult language improvement barrier, where I severely questioned my capability of ever becoming fluent in German. There was also the creepy roommate situation, the long bus rides, the confusing train system, and the extremely expensive nature of Germany to contend with. I returned from Germany with a bank account balance of $30 and gave up the opportunity to graduate a semester early. With all this in mind, I have come to a conclusion on my thoughts on the value of my German experience: I wouldn't trade those six months in Regensburg for anything. Here's why:
Being a KIIS study abroad student was more than just spending six months as an outsider in a country where I didn't belong; it was more than just drinking beer, wearing a dirndl, and speaking German. Being a KIIS student forced me to take myself outside of who I am and what I am comfortable with, and to see a country and a people in a new way. When I look back on that crazy semester I spent in Regensburg, I will probably eventually forget the classes I took, the assignments I completed, and the name of every single city I visited. What I won't lose is the self-reliance I learned, the memories I made for myself, and the new perspective I developed by making myself comfortable in a new place that I can now think of as home. In my memory bank I will always have a wealth of experiences to think back upon. From spending hours with Liz and Morgan cooking our own meals without any trace of food preparation talent, to having the most fantastic Independence Day celebration Germany has ever seen, to having my host mom painstakingly try to explain to me the consequences of eating asparagus, there will never be any shortage of joyful German memories to sustain me in the future.
I am now back at Transy and preparing for my senior year, but the effect of spending a semester in Germany has not been lost on me. Being away from a place I love since December has reminded me of how lucky I am to be here and how fortunate I am to have so many opportunities ahead of me. My enthusiasm for foreign travel has only been refueled by the six months in Germany and I am now applying for both a Fulbright ETA position in South Korea as well as the JET program in Japan for 2012-2013. I know that KIIS and my study abroad experience have opened a number of new doors for me, and with the new knowledge I have gained from this experience, I know I will be prepared to take advantage of all of them.
