By Raymond Vickers
3 things I want to do before I leave for Germany (plane leaves tomorrow!) are:
- learn something new
- meet new people
- get closer to figuring out my career
Unspecific but small steps to how I want to spend my time overseas. Since my experience is a two parter, and since I am about to leave for Europe, I’m going to spend this blog focusing on goals for the first half of my experience- studying abroad in Germany.
Firstly, I want to learn something new. The whole point of this experience is educational. In Germany, I want to not only learn the language but learn everything I can about German culture. I hope to learn history, specifically the topics of how the Cold War affected Eastern Germany (I will be in Dresden for my program) and how Germans view climate change… or anything else in between! As well as the two topics I set to learn about, I want to learn about how Germans view the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and how they are viewing the current crisis in the states. As long as I talk to local Germans and observe, I think I will learn a lot and influence the views of my own culture, and life even.
Secondly, I want to meet new people. I know when I arrive in Europe, I’m going to feel different, foreign, and a tourist. I hope through the first couple days I can get closer to any stranger I meet. I want to really work on my German, so locals know that I’m at least trying (not praying for miracles… my language skills are not the best) to immerse myself. I also want to really get closer with the other international students I meet along the way. Overall, I want to learn the stories of others, and make new friends.
Thirdly, I want to figure more about myself. I hope on this first half of my summer 25’ journey, I figure myself out. I honestly have a vague career goal of being a professor, but I know there’s something missing. I hope to learn more about myself from learning about the world and meeting new people and really narrowing down what I want to do with my life. I hope to get inspiration to do something international, or something in between the lines of my experience.
2 skills I want to work on this summer are Career & Self-Development & Communication. I think the 3 things I want to do in Germany pretty much describes these two skills. To put it short, I want to learn about people, talk to more people, learn about the world, and develop career aspirations for my life.
1 song that encapsulates how I’m feeling before I leave (in less than 24 hours!) is U-Mass by the Pixies. It just relates to my highlighted goal of this trip, mentioned earlier, of making this experience “educational” … which is a word very much repeated in the song. I’ve been a fan of the Pixies since I was a kid and I think that everyone knows what they want to do since they’re born (as instinct not like literally), so themes in the music we listen to reveal our goals and aspirations and passions. So I thought it would be fitting to add a song from a band I’ve listened to since I’ve listened to music. The song is also pretty chill. It’s educational.
Picture is from me in D.C. from a couple of weeks ago, I visited my sister and she gave me some good advice for my upcoming experience:
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