Hello Everyone! Welcome to my blog. This is where I will be posting all of my musings, adventures, and calamities about and from my time in Germany. I leave in a short six weeks and have some thoughts on that. I hope you enjoy reading about what is going on in my brain.
Here is the situation: I, Meghan Garrant, am studying abroad in Germany! And I am feeling lots of feelings and thinking lots of things about my upcoming adventure, so I figured a blog would be a good place to keep track of all the feelings and thoughts, as well as update you — my glorious and loyal fans. I will be posting about my marvelous mishaps and social faux pas that are bound to happen. I will also be posting about the amazing trips I hope to go on and all of the new things I learn while abroad. I might even try to show off my German skills if I am feeling particularly confident one day.
Now I am sure that you are wondering how this all started, so I will go alllllll the way back to the beginning: high school. In high school I studied Spanish for four years, and I was pretty decent at it. But I pretty much hated it. I mean no offense to the language and the culture, both of which are fascinating and complex and beautiful. But Spanish is not for me. I never really felt engaged with it, so I never truly dedicated myself to it in the way it deserved. Once I got to college at the University of Denver (DU), I knew I needed a change. Thanks to the language requirement for graduation, I knew I had to pick a language I was truly interested in because I was going to be stuck with it for a year to fulfill the requirement. After some careful deliberation, I chose German. My dad speaks it pretty fluently still and I have a familial and cultural connection to Germany. Easy choice. Little did I know how much I would absolutely fall in love with it. By the end of my first quarter of my freshman year I had decided to minor in German. By the end of my first quarter sophomore year I decided a minor was not enough and I filled out the paperwork to major in German.
German is challenging and intriguing and I truly dedicate myself to my language and culture studies in a way that I never did with Spanish. The decision to go abroad was an easy one. I want to challenge myself and my independence, and more importantly, I want to be fluent in German. As my German professor has told me many, many times, I cannot really achieve fluency without having spent time in Germany. I started researching available programs through DU. And as I was going through this process, I realized I wanted to spend as much time in Germany as possible. I started the process of petitioning for a Year-Long study abroad program. Essentially that meant I about doubled the amount of work I had to do for the application, as well as shortened my timeline. But to me, the extra work was so worth it. The more time I spent in Germany, the better I would get. I seemed like a simple formula in my mind. However, just as all underdog stories go, I was blindsided. I was so sure my petition was going to be approved and I would get to be abroad for an entire year. But it wasn’t. And I was devastated. I can honestly say I have never felt such disappointment or embarrassment in my life as I did when I found out that I was not one of the students chosen to go abroad for a year. It felt like someone ripped my heart out, crushed all of the hope in it, and then left it on the ground. Study Abroad was no longer exciting for me. I did not care that I was still selected for the Fall term and I was admitted to an amazing program in Heidelberg. I was still struggling through my disappointment, and even worse, the embarrassment of having to tell friends and relatives that I was not good enough for the Year-Long program. However, I still had things to do for the program I was actually accepted to and I trudged through that checklist despite my disappointment. As I finished off things such as booking tickets and looking at classes, my excitement for my opportunity came back. It was not my first choice, but I was still getting to spend four months in Germany and travel around Europe!
I am proud to say that I am no longer moping about not being chosen. Now I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to go abroad at all. However, because I do like to challenge myself, I knew that four months would not be long enough. I spoke with my incredibly wonderful parents and family, and they said I could go to Germany early, before my program starts. I am leaving August 5th and I will be spending the month of August with my Great Aunt, Linda, and her husband in Ebernhahn, Germany (which is near Koblenz). They are so gracious to house me and show me the ropes of Germany. I am honestly a little terrified about going to Germany an entire month early, because I will be very much on my own in terms of friends. But I also knew that I wanted to get extra time to practice German (specifically speaking it), to understand public transport and shopping, and to make sure that I do not use my friends from class (who are joining me at Heidelberg) as an English crutch. I am pushing myself to my limits and really challenging my independence, but I have this incredible feeling in my gut that it is going to be super worth it. I know my German will become exponentially better in that first month alone and I know that I will find so much growth and strength in that time. As one of my favorite high school English teachers used to tell my class all the time, one cannot grow when they are comfortable. Thank you, Ms. Pavelka. That has stuck with me throughout everything I have done.
After my first month in Germany, I will make my way to the Heidelberg train station on September 3rd, which is where I am meeting with staff and other students from the program. There are about 25 of us total from schools all across the United States. Seven students from my university are going, of whom five are close friends of mine. I am excited to meet people from other schools and other nations, however, so I will be doing my best to branch out and make as many friends as possible. Like I said, I do not want to use my friends from DU as a crutch, as much as I love them. After everyone arrives, we will be taken to our apartments and then have a tour of campus. The first three weeks of the program will include a German intensive language course and many field trips around Heidelberg. Then we have to take the DSH, which is the German language-placement exam. Then a short break as a reward for all of our hard work. Finally, after that, we register for classes and school officially begins.
Like I said, I am feeling and thinking lots of things. I am terrified that I won’t be good enough. I am excited to become more independent and do more traveling. I am worried that I will miss friends and family. I am hopeful that I will learn a lot. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I am just grateful. Grateful for this incredible opportunity, grateful to have supportive parents, grateful for my German professor who has been encouraging and gotten me this far, and grateful that I had the bravery to start this adventure. Going abroad is something I have always wanted to do, and I am proud of myself for accomplishing all of the steps thus far. Next up: figure out how to pack my life into only two bags!
Now, if you have made it all the way through this rambling post, I thank you. Please root for me on this journey and check back periodically for more updates on how the adventure is going. I will be posting more often closer to when I leave and then hopefully once a week or two once I get to Germany. Have a great rest of your day and God bless!
Meghan
P.S. The people in my featured photo are my classmates from German and our Professor (bottom center), whom we have been with for two years now. Amazing group of people!
Travels in Germany 