Me on a bridge in front of the historic Town Hall of the city of Bamberg in Bavaria

Author: Ben Burdess | Majors: Mechanical Engineering and German

This summer I participated in a study abroad program through the University of Kansas. The Program is usually hosted in Holzkirchen, a small town about 30 minutes away from Munich by train. However, due to covid concerns, this year the program was hosted in Berlin. Spending six weeks in the largest German city versus a tiny Bavarian town had both its benefits and downsides. In Berlin, we were able to visit a new museum, cultural site, or restaurant every day which made for a more exciting and culturally enriching experience. Unfortunately, we were not able to live with host families, as we would have in Holzkirchen, and in a city as international as Berlin, many people defaulted to English. Because of this living situation, however, I was more able to bond with a wonderful interdisciplinary group of peers.

I chose this program to catch up on German credits and to prepare for a full year abroad at the Technische Universität Darmstadt during the 2023-24 school year. The summer program consisted of 3-4 hours of classroom learning in the mornings and excursions in the afternoons. We visited multiple museums, cultural sites, and political institutes. The program was non-stop as we also wanted to see things not included in our classes.

My trip started off pretty challenging, my flight out of the US was delayed so I missed my connecting flight in Germany forcing me to wander around the Frankfurt airport looking for the United terminal at 4 am US time. I ended up delayed for about 12 hours and my luggage was lost for two weeks. A week later I tested positive for Covid-19 along with a few other people in the program and I missed about a week of instruction and museums in quarantine. After that, however, my program greatly improved and these hardships that I experienced along with the other students made us fast friends. After figuring out how to navigate the Frankfurt airport after 20 hours of travel, I feel very prepared to tackle any challenge I would face studying abroad.

With my awesome group of friends, I took several weekend trips to different cities in Germany, including trips to participate in a Pride parade in Dresden, the beautiful river town of Bamberg, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen nestled in the Alps. As part of the program we also visited Goethe’s home in Weimar, the Volkswagen Autostadt in, and palaces in Potsdam, as well as other interesting sites. We spent the last week of the program in Munich and were able to visit Neuschwanstein castle which inspired Disney castles.

One of my favorite aspects of life in Berlin was the public transportation system. No matter where you wanted to go in the city or the entire country for that matter, you could get there by a combination of U-Bahn (Subway), S-Bahn (Metro), Bus, or Tram. Partially because of the Oil crisis and partially because of a political push, Germany has recently come up with an initiative called the 9 Euro ticket which allows riders unlimited use of all of the public transportation in Germany for just 9 euros a month. So where I would have spent a couple of hundred dollars on gas in the US, I instead spent 18 euros for all of my transportation in Germany.

My favorite museum in Berlin was the Deutsches Technikmuseum which had hundreds of airplanes, ships, and trains as well as the world’s first computer. I feel like this tour was a turning point in my understanding of German. Our tour guide had a background in Mechanical Engineering and, it was the first of the tours we took in the program that I understood nearly everything that was discussed and was able to actively contribute with poignant questions. While in Munich I was able to visit the Techikmuseum’s counterpart, the Deutches museum which was more interactive and had exhibits on the physics of musical instruments, consumer electronics, silicone manufacturing, space technology (with enough satellites and rockets to rival the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC), and my favorite, an exhibit on Robotics. A friend and I spent about 4 hours in the museum and only made it to about half of the things that we wanted to see before it closed. I definitely plan to go back during my full year abroad.

While I did enjoy my fair share of Currywurzt and Brezel, my favorite foods from Germany weren’t even German. The food that I ate the most was Dönerkebab, a Turkish-German lamb sandwich. The meat is cooked on spittle and the sandwich is piled high with vegetables, curry sauce, and garlic sauce. You can find Döner stands all around Germany and it’s perfect for a quick bite to eat. The Italian food in Germany is also excellent, we frequented a place aptly called “Mario’s Pizza Pasta” right by our hotel that had excellent and cheap authentic pizza and pasta.

A surprising and disappointing cultural difference is that, in Germany, dogs are considered a part of your family in the same way a child is and just as it would be weird to pet someone’s kid it’s

weird to pet someone’s dog. Dogs are also very well behaved with half the dogs we saw in Berlin following their parents without a leash and waiting outside of stores while their parents got groceries. This made me miss my Mops (German for Pug) even more.

This program was a perfect on-the-rails introduction to life in Germany and it has given me the confidence I need for my full year abroad, and while I didn’t get to bond with a German host family, my living arrangement meant I could bond with the other student of the program. When I get home I’m going to pet my dogs, revel in the air conditioning, and take as long as I can to relax.