Hannah Jester: Summer 2015 at iik German Language School
Dusseldorf, Germany
My study abroad experience was nothing short of life altering. Through Campbell University study
abroad, I spent 2 months in Germany at the Institut für Internationale Kommunikation learning the
intricacies of the German language. This trip certainly opened my eyes to what’s waiting out there if we
choose to look. Between the umlauts and the esstsets (β), the Akkusativ and Dativ, I made connections
with people from around the world in one small classroom and then travelled beyond it to sights I never
expected to see. Having never left the US, these relationships and experiences influenced my perspective
irrevocably. Never before had I been thrown so far outside of my comfort zone and had to learn to swim
so quickly.
When I got off the plane at the Frankfurt International airport, my German was non-existent and I
struggled over the following weeks to learn as much of the language as possible in order to go from mute
to communicative, from disoriented to thriving. My home base for the duration of my trip was a fairly
large rented flat that I shared with 11 other students from the language school in the “suburb” of Rath in
Düsseldorf, Germany. Düsseldorf is a beautiful city, with an Old Town center that is the heart of its people
and culture. Their culture is not defined by just that of Germans, but also by the profound influence of the
city’s large immigrant population of Turkish, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Greek peoples. This provided
me with the unique opportunity to experience many cultures in one small setting, like the phenomenon
that is Turkish pizza, as well as the traditional German festival of Kirmes.
In between attending classes and attempting my newly developed German skills on anyone that
would listen, I also found the time to travel. I spent a week in England, visiting London, Brighton, and
Nottingham; a weekend in Prague; and a day in Amsterdam and Brügge, Belgium. I never would have
thought, if you had asked me a year ago, that I would be standing in these major European cities and
experiencing them for myself. I never would have guessed that I now have friends in Russia and the
Middle East, whose ideas differ so much from my own. Up until now, I had only seen these places on
postcards and in Films, but the reality that I experienced was so much different than the romantic view
that I had developed since childhood. Nothing can really prepare you for that moment when you’re
standing next to the Dome of Cologne with your head tilted back to take in its breathtaking enormity nor
the congestion of tourists that overpopulated London’s streets.
To study abroad is to be challenged and at times feel like you really are the American tourist that
everyone thinks you are, even if you don’t bring a selfie-stick. In reality, the people that you meet are as
interested in you as you are in them. What you really learn is that all this time you’ve been
underestimating yourself, how many steps you can walk in a day, how far $1,000 gets you, and exactly
how easy it is to adapt to a new situation when you embrace it whole-heartedly.