And the People You'll Meet
- Julianna Humecke
- Nov 8, 2021
- 3 min read
Being placed in another country is truly terrifying, but thankfully I’ve had a lot of people helping me through this journey. With my host family and with my friends, there is plenty to learn and plenty of things to do.

Home Life
My host family has been so helpful with getting me adjust to the German culture and teaching me how to act like a real “Berliner”, especially the first few weeks when I was still confused about how everything worked. They provided me with a relaxing atmosphere and a safe place to practice my German without exposing myself as an outsider. They also gave me many tips and where to go while I had my time here in Berlin. I am included in many family activities like neighborhood Barbeques, going to the children’s field hockey games, and home tournaments of Uno and Table Tennis. One of the things that I was really surprised about was how active my family is. Both children play club field hockey, and my host dad was a semiprofessional cyclist. He still bikes every weekend with his friends. Often times the family will chose to walk or bike to work, school, or other free time locations even when the weather isn’t great. It's very different from the United States where almost everyone has their car. But I've taken to this family practice and use one of their bikes to get to campus everyday.
They provided me with a relaxing atmosphere and a safe place to practice my German without exposing myself as an outsider.
Another thing that's different is their lack of usage of technology. While most American families spend their time watching T.V. shows or playing on their phone, my host family interacts a lot more in-person. They enjoy playing board and card games or going out on walks or reading together. I think this creates a much closer bond within the family and simply watching something without speaking. Of course the T.V. is used occasionally for important news segments or even more important soccer games. I enjoy taking part of these activities and spending time with my host family. It allows me to look into their daily lives and get to know them even better
Liebe Freunde
After a few weeks I was able to form a wonderful friend group which allowed me to experience the city with people my own age. We would often do the things that were recommended by our host families or teachers. Being together during these experiences allowed us to compare or past experiences with Berlin and share our current perspectives of what we were doing. I felt much more myself around other students who were going through the same situations as me. It was much more comfortable ask them about those "dumb questions" about the city or culture instead of doing it in class. Not only were me and my friends traveling around Berlin and learning about the city together, but we would often study our classes together or practice speaking German since we were all near each other’s language level. This was another helpful aspect. We could really push each other to try new grammar techniques or learn new vocab from the other people.

One of my friends here has a friend who lives in Berlin. I have been able to join them a few times and it is really fun and interesting to listen to what he has to say about his thoughts on American and our cultures and how our (the students) experiences compares to actually living in Berlin. I learned a lot about what local life is like, and despite living in the city for 3 ½ months, how it will never really compare to making this city my home.
I felt much more myself around other students who were going through the same situations as me.
One of my favorite things about the friends I’ve made is the new perspectives of their lives I have learned about. The United Sates has a lot of regional-cultural differences. And once again to learn about them and to know someone who has experienced them are two totally different experiences. People have joined this program from all around the country. From New York to Southern California, from the Deep South to the plains of Montana. It’s so incredible to see where everyone is from and the experiences they have. They are people who have lived in Europe before and people who have never seen a major city. It’s so fun to talk to people and hear their experiences and how this common experience in Berlin is different from their life at home and their universities.
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