by Elizabeth Ma
For more interviews with students abroad, visit: cllc.osu.edu/stories

Hi Sarah, can you tell me about where you studied/what program you participated in last semester?

Through the study abroad program at Ohio State, I was placed at Bonn Universität for five months. At first, I wasn’t really sure that I was qualified for the program.  I had been looking at third-party providers originally, and when I went to talk to Dr. Spencer, he said that all levels of German students were encouraged to apply.  So then it really came down to the cost. For me, it was so much cheaper to go through Ohio State, and then there’s also the added benefit of knowing that the credits would transfer directly over. There was no, “Oh, maybe I won’t be able to get my credits transferred because it’s a third-party program,” you know?  If I was going to pay the money, it was better to go through Ohio State, and I’m really glad I did. When I got there, I saw students that went through a third-party having to go through so many more hoops and deal with a lot more trouble than I had to.  Ohio State set up the program really well- it was so easy.  

I took German language classes and culture classes in German, as well as one politics class taught in English.  Though I went through OSU, there was only one other Ohio State student, but the program at the university was huge, so there were many international students. One really great aspect of the program was the buddy program they had to encourage us to meet and interact with other German students, which was how I met most of my German friends.

Was there anything really different about being in Germany comparatively to the U.S.?

There weren't too many big cultural differences that caused culture shock for me. The only thing was probably getting the hang of the transportation. It impacted my every day life there. We don't have much public transportation in Dayton, Ohio or Columbus, so it was kind of new to me, but it was super convenient once I figured it all out.  

The language barrier wasn't that big of an issue because I knew some German beforehand. Plus, everyone there speaks pretty good English. Getting people to talk to me in German was actually more difficult than any language barrier I encountered! Everyone was excited to practice their English and thought they were doing me a favor which was really nice of them, but also a little bit frustrating at the same time.

Any regrets?

Luckily, I had some friends that had studied abroad before so they gave me great tips on how to make the most of my trip which definitely helped, but I would say that I probably didn’t speak as much German as I could have. I feel like I learned a lot and got a lot out of the program, but there were times with friends where we could’ve spoken more.

Any suggestions you’d give to someone studying abroad?

When you study abroad, when people ask you to do something, always go. Even if you’re tired and just want to watch TV in your bed. You’re only there for a short amount of time and you’re halfway across the world–you can’t just pick up where you left off–so I would try to do everything possible while you’re there.