Interacting with locals:

    This study abroad program first started on zoom, so that we could be introduced to the faculty and begin lectures. This meant that there would be more free time for activities while in Germany. During this first week, we were told that Germans have a tough exterior and not very “friendly” at first but will open up after spending some time with them. From hearing this, I thought that it would be difficult for us to make friends while abroad because most of our group had not traveled outside of North America so I figured that we may be viewed as outsiders. However, my worries were extinguished the very first day.

    After getting picked up by our “buddies”, which were German students that were assigned to help us adjust to the culture, we decided to go out to Hofbräuhaus. This was the first time seeing everyone on the trip in person, so we introduced ourselves and began sharing stories and jokes. From just the first night, we began bonding with not only the people from Pitt, but with the German students. Even though we grew up in completely different countries with different norms, we had so much in common. The picture to the right are two German students, Lars and Nader, that I became great friends with and still communicate with them to this day.

    After class, we often didn’t want to spend a ton of money going out, so we decided to hang out at a small river near our hotel. Here we would bring a speaker and hang out with each other. This became such a routine that we began to invite the German students to come. Not only did we invite the buddies, but we invited their friends and other students that we met in the school. The school in Munich was very different from Pitt because the students were given much more freedom. Just in the two weeks that we were at this school, there were 3 separate parties that were being thrown in the actual school. These parties were the best for meeting other people because we were the only Americans in the school at the time, so everyone in the building knew of us. This helped because everyone wanted to talk to us and see how we like it in Germany and to practice their English. Usually after these parties we would invite anyone that we met and enjoyed hanging out with the join us back at the river that night.

    The final instance that confirmed that the majority of Munich was friendly was when we traveled to the Olympic Park. It was a fairly nice day, so the park was packed with people enjoying the weather. As we were about to leave, we saw a basketball court and a few guys in their 30s playing. Even though we were all wearing jeans and khakis we asked if we could play against them. They were happy to play with us and for the 30 minutes that we played, I felt like I was back in the United States playing a pickup game at Trees Basketball court in Pittsburgh.

Studying abroad and its influence on my goals:

        Before going on this trip, I would say that I liked to travel because it made me sound more interesting, but now I have a completely different reason. For most of my trips that I’ve gone on, it has just been my family and I mainly doing sightseeing and tourist attractions. After going on this trip, I realized that I want to travel more not to just sightsee, but to meet more people. I was always wary of talking to strangers especially in another country, but I know now that it is actually a lot of fun. Everyone you meet has different experiences and interesting stories to tell.

I also want to make it a personal goal to travel abroad more. Each country is completely different from the next, and I want to experience as many cultures as I can. I believe that when I travel to a new country and interact with its citizens, I learn new perspectives that you can’t find in the United States. This is important because I may be able to make difficult decisions that I would not have been able to make because I learned a variety of ways to think about something. Not only will travel broaden my perspectives, but interacting with locals is enjoyable. I enjoy hanging out with people and just talking. You can learn so much just by telling stories with someone that you don’t know. Not only can you learn, but if you were to travel again, you would have a friend that you can reach out to in country.

The main thing that this trip has taught me is that I want to find a job that is truly fulfilling. I used to only want a job that would make a lot of money as fast as possible, but I understand that now I want a job that I love doing. This trip was only 2 weeks long, and I only wanted to do things that I enjoyed because the trip was so short. I compare this now to my life because I won’t be fit to work forever, so why would I want to do something that doesn’t make me happy every day. If the work is what I’m interested in, I would choose it 10/10 times.