On August 28, 2019, I left the U.S. with 19 strangers to go live with them in Leipzig, Germany for almost 4 months. When I left, I didn’t know any of them, I didn’t know any German, and I had hardly even been out of the country before. During these 15 weeks, I traveled to so many places I never thought I would ever go to, like Budapest, Prague, Greece, Paris, and Croatia. Traveling opened my eyes to many things, new foods, new languages, but most importantly, new people. Every place we went we were exposed to a new culture, where people saw the world in a different way than we did. They didn’t live in a little Christian bubble as we do going to ACU, and some of them had never been to church. Traveling gave us opportunities to see how religion worked and was viewed in another part of the world, and to see how God works in the rest of the world. Traveling to all of these places was amazing and it let me see, learn, and experience so many new and amazing things, but the place that changed and affected me the most was Leipzig, Germany.
When I arrived there in August, everything was new, different, and scary. I had a hard time grocery shopping because everything was in German, I couldn’t drive places, I had to walk or ride the tram, I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t know how to make friends. But living in a community of people who are all going through culture shock, all trying to make new friends, and all looking to have the best possible semester they can in another country, I found friends that feel more like family. I spent every day with them. We survived travel mishaps in Budapest, the metro system in Paris, the crowded streets of Prague, and the sunrise mountain hikes and sailboats in Greece, but what bonded us was living in and falling in love with Leipzig. We formed a community and went out and experienced everything Leipzig had to offer for us. We learned to be intentional with each other, live in the moment, and the importance of not being on our phones. I learned to take spontaneous hiking trips, or spend a whole day in a park, just talking or having a picnic by the lake in freezing cold weather. I learned to open myself up to people because when you do, you can gain some really amazing friendships. So, in conclusion, studying abroad in Leipzig fall semester of 2019 was amazing. Yes, we went to some pretty amazing places, learned German, saw history in real life, but what made MY experience the best semester I’ve ever had, was the people who were there with me and the community we formed in our villa in Leipzig, Germany. I will always think of Leipzig and those people as my home because they have a little (or maybe a big) piece of my heart.
