My major at UND is German. I love the language, the culture, and the history of Germany. I went to Germany and Austria in the Spring of 2009 with a group of students from my high school, and it was exhilarating. The entire experience just amazed me. I was reminiscing about the whole trip recently when it hit me...
I had to go back.
Studying abroad is common for college students in the US, even more so for language majors. To get ahead in my field, I would need to immerse myself in German living. The decision was easier to make when I learned that UND has a program for students to study in Regensburg (located in Bavaria, north of Munich) for 10 months. 10 months! Two whole semesters of living in Germany, studying with native speakers, traveling throughout the country, and others, to see more of Europe.
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| Photo: I want to be there right now, sitting on the banks of the Danube River, eating a fish sandwich from NordSee. |
The tuition is comparable to my current circumstance, and the cost for housing is actually cheaper than what I am paying now for rent. Of course, the flights to and from Germany will be a good chunk o' change, but my intracontinental costs can be offset by the fact that I am saving money by not driving to my home campus, work, and to the Cities to visit my folks every month.
Which brings me to another issue: my family. I am going to miss them, a lot. I am very close with my parents. It may be because I am an only child, or because we lived so far away from all of our other family for so long, but we are really close. 10 months will be a real challenge; especially when I have to leave Loki and Leonard behind. But, it will be worth it, to live in another country, in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
This blog is going to be my diary, from meeting with my advisors (both academic and travel), preparing necessary documents, having a nervous breakdown, packing four months early, sitting around twiddling my thumbs, unpacking all the stuff I should never have packed in the first place, buying a bunch of stuff I won't need for my trip, purchasing a plane ticket, moving back in with my parents are two months before I leave, losing some of the stuff I didn't need that I had bought, rebuying stuff I still won't need but what-if I do?, packing and sitting on my suitcase for two weeks, and finally leaving for Germany.
But it won't stop there.
I am going to try my best to keep up with this diary while I am there. Maybe not daily, but for BIG exciting stories, or random thoughts, or restaurants reviews - whatever happens, it will go in here.
