Our second study abroad summer session is underway in Leipzig, Germany. The group of 28 students left last week. Beth, a Junior Communications Disorders major, checks in with us, sharing a brief update of the trip so far:
Our Leipzig adventure started at DFW on July 11th. Our plane left around 5:35 pm and after a long sleepless (at least for me) flight, we arrived at London Heathrow airport where we had just enough time to grab some breakfast and stretch our legs for a bit before catching our plane to Berlin. From Berlin we took a bus to Leipzig. Honestly I don’t remember much of the bus ride because although they encouraged us to try to stay up as long as possible in order to combat the jet lag, my body couldn’t fight off sleep any longer. I remember looking out the window In Berlin, and trying to take in this unique huge city, and the next thing I knew I woke up in Leipzig.
We received our room assignments, and moved into our flats, which will be our home for the next month. I love the flat! There are three girls in my flat, and it is the perfect size. The Shewmakers (who were the professors here last semester and at the beginning of the summer) had pizza for us that night which was delicious considering my hungry confused stomach (poor thing couldn’t keep up with the time change), and afterward we went grocery shopping and walked around the neighborhood. Just grocery shopping in itself was quite the experience. I have never been to a country like Germany where I can’t at least guess at some of the words like I can with Spanish.
My roommates and I found ourselves receiving help from the Shewmaker’s daughters when it came down to picking out the right kinds of lunchmeat or jelly when we couldn’t read the labels, or make out what was on the picture. The neighborhood our flats are located in is quite nice. It is easy enough to get around, and there’s a park nearby with huge trees. Everything is different over here. The cars are much smaller, the streets narrower, and the people are much different than back home. Not to mention the weather is has been around 70-80 degrees and feels wonderful compared to the brutal heat of Texas.
The next day we slept in a bit before walking to the tram station that took us to the train station, which we found out is also like a mall, and then to downtown where we walked around some more. The buildings are beautiful and detailed. It’s crazy to think how old they are. We got to see the church of St. Nikolai where huge groups of people met before the wall fell. It was surreal to think how much has changed since then, and yet the church building has remained the same. We continued to walk around and ended up getting some delicious (cheap) ice cream downtown.
For dinner that night we had durams at a local place near our flats. The only way I can think to describe them is to say that they are similar to gyros, but in my mind they were better. The classes that are being offered are International Business, International Marketing, and Strategic Management. We did some group work last week comparing different advertising strategies here to the ones back home. We will have more class activities starting tomorrow.
I have so much more to write, but I just got back from my weekend trip to Rome, and I must get some sleep!
Beth in Rome (first weekend excursion from Leipzig)
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And stay tuned for a wrap up of Global Apprentice: Oxford!