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Studying abroad in Pforzheim, Germany
during summer 2008 was amazing! The program was created
through a partnership between Penn State and Pforzheim
University and was for business or German language
majors. I did direct enrollment to Pforzheim and got 9
hours worth of credit pre-approved at Auburn, so I
didn’t have to worry about anything thereafter. All 9
hours ended up counting toward my major too! It was the
first year that they had the program and it turned out
to be amazing. I met some awesome professors. The
director of our program was a German professor, who, in
addition to being a lot of fun and inviting us to hang
out with his family, had all kinds of connections to
people in the European Union as well as the German
government, which came in handy when we were touring
places like that. He even got our group a private
interview with a German member of the European
Parliament. We discussed lots of current political and
monetary issues that we were learning about in our
classes. It was so exciting to be learning about world
events and then actually discussing them as they were
occurring and changing with a European politician.
Over
the course of the program we traveled to Munich,
Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg, among
other smaller cities, where we got to tour the cities,
see the historical and natural sites, shop in amazing
stores, practice speaking the language with the locals,
watch Germany play in the Euro-Cup, taste all kinds of
great food, drink, and dessert, and overall widen our
perspective of the world. I feel a lot less sheltered
after experiencing countries other than just the U.S.
In addition to all of that, we visited 6 German
companies and talked with their management about changes
in their different markets over time, the impact of
globalization, and the growth of the companies through
that. As an International Trade major, it was amazing
to see a real life perspective of international
companies and globalization. During the six week summer
program, I learned so much that I will never forget and
that has given me experiences that will impact the rest
of my life. My language skills improved so much faster
being immersed in the culture as well. I am so glad
that I studied abroad and would suggest it to anyone, no
matter what their major is.
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