With my German department study grant, I boosted my language skills by exploring New German Cinema over the summer. Starting in 1962, a revolutionary wave of talented filmmakers broke generic and cultural norms with their intense, artistic vision. By the time Abscheid von Gestern (Yesterday Girl) won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, this generation of post-war auteurs was being called the New German Cinema.

Over the summer, I explored the history and personalities of the generation that produced the zenith of German film. I used my funding to watch some of the most notable and extreme works of the period, such as the maddening, unforgettable 16-hour-long Berlin Alexanderplatz and the oft-banned satirical classic The Tin Drum. For each film I wrote a brief discussion in German to improve my skills and worked with my adviser to improve it grammatically and stylistically.

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During the summer of 2015, I attended Middlebury College Language School with the generous financial help from the Department of German at Colgate. Middlebury currently operates 11 language schools and the year of 2015 is the centennial of the legendary Middlebury method, with the start of the German School in 1915.

The schools implement an immersion method called “The Language Pledge”: students are not allowed to use any languages other than the target language. My German skills were very elementary when I began the program. When I finished the seventh week, though not at fluent level, I had developed a mentality and skill set to speak German without fear.

From brushing in the morning to dancing on Saturday nights, we used German all the time. This not only helped me to learn countless vocabularies and expressions, but also to increase my confidence and comfort level with the language. I also participated in a few extracurricular activities such as theater and radio. The theater club especially helped me in memorizing expressions and putting them into context. All the faculty members were incredibly approachable and we built a close-knit community by the end of the summer.

I highly recommend Middlebury to anyone who wishes to boost their German skills in a short amount of time. And I could not be more grateful for the support that Colgate provided.

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Before beginning my semester with the Freiburg Study Group, I spent the month of January and February 2015 working as an intern in the Carl Schurz Haus Deutsch Amerikanisches Institut Freiburg e.V. My tasks included helping to set up and run events pertaining to American culture, helping to teach workshops on English language and literature, and advertising our program with posters and social media. Our events ranged from American movie nights to comparing parenting techniques between the United States, Germany and China.

It was very interesting working in an environment where I had to represent my country in a foreign country, and I believe I learned just as much as those attending our events and workshops. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Carl Schurz Haus and especially encourage students to spread their horizons and get involved with the many German institutions in the United States and American institutions in Germany.

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This grant allowed me to pursue tutoring before embarking to Germany to participate in the Freiburg Study Group program. I was already a year behind in my German studies when I decided to participate in this program, but having the opportunity to work with a tutor at home allowed me to catch up on pronunciation and overall comprehension before leaving for Germany.

Jacqueline Listemaa, a graduate student and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, was my tutor, and she was incredibly friendly and caring. During our tutoring sessions, we would read from the textbook meant for university-level German second year students, paying particular attention to my pronunciation and words that were unfamiliar to me. Jacqueline, who had spent a year in Austria, discussed with me as well about what to expect from living abroad in a German speaking country, and how to prepare beforehand. I also asked for her help with some of the assignments that were due before leaving for Germany, and she proved to be a great help with my overall writing and reading skills.

Once again, I am incredibly grateful to everyone who generously made this grant possible, as it was a huge help in allowing me to prepare for my study abroad experience. Working with a tutor definitely took the pressure off and eased my anxiety about going to Germany for 4 ½ months and speaking primarily German. Without this grant money, I would have had a much more difficult transition into German-speaking once I got to Freiburg. I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have had through the German department, as studying German has given me an incredible sense of community with people I might not normally have crossed paths with. Leaving Freiburg, I came back to the U.S. with friendships I hadn’t had before, and I am so glad I decided to throw myself into the study of German.

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I used the German Study grant to support my position as an unpaid intern in Berlin from January to March 2015. My internship was with an organization called Entrepreneur’s Organization, which is a global organization of entrepreneurs focused on building successful businesses.

I used the money to pay for transportation within the city and food for myself during work hours. I spoke German with my boss at work and learned about everyday life in the city of Berlin with my host family.

Living with a family of four children, I learned many aspects of German school life from elementary school to university. The study grant allowed me an exciting opportunity to live in a German city and practice my German outside of the classroom before arriving in Freiburg!

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