“Don’t just be in another place, live in another place!”
These were the very wise words in a text my mom sent me a few days after I arrived in Erfurt, Germany. When I got the text, I disregarded it with a half-hearted “I know.”
The first few nights I was in Erfurt, I was one hundred percent confident I had made a mistake. I was halfway across the world, barely spoke German and was panicking. I had to figure out how to live in this strange place for two months. Now, less than two weeks before I head back to Texas, I have considered missing my flight to stay longer.
I’m in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, Germany, as part of the Summer Program in Communications Erfurt (SPICE) program at UT. This year, the program is taught by Professor Scott Stroud and Dr. Katerina Tsetsura. Dr. Tsetsura is from The University of Oklahoma and I can’t help but think, what a funny pairing, UT Austin and OU.
Professor Stroud’s class centered on communication ethics, is where my friends and I learned about Aristotle, Kant, Mill and different ways to approach situations, and rule out whether they were ethical. Spoiler alert, it’s not always as easy as one may think.
We also went on field trips to Buchenwald (a Nazi concentration camp) and Topf and Sons, where many of the concentration camp’s crematoriums were created. Professor Stroud made sure to help us connect these real-world events to things we learned about in class. He taught us that visiting Germany is about more than traveling, it’s about remembrance and respect for the past.
Dr. Tsetsura’s class is focused on global public relations. As the only official public relations major in the group, this class has helped me learn more about topics relevant to my future career.
Dr. Tsetsura has a great teaching style, and having a mix of German and American students allows us to bring our own experiences and observations of Erfurt into the classroom. It’s exciting to work together on creating solutions to real-world problems.
In addition to being great professors, this year’s group of students has been, in my opinion, one of the greatest parts of our trip. Six UT students along with myself have navigated a pretty big adventure, and I’m incredibly grateful to have gotten to know them. In addition to UT students, our University of Erfurt classmates have been so kind in showing us their favorite places to eat and spend time. However, we would never have made it without the student coordinators. We love you guys!
Throughout this program, I’ve come to consider Erfurt my home and my home base. Because of the setup of the program, the class is held Friday through Sunday. This allows time for travel during the rest of the week. With my friend, I have been able to visit Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Innsbruck, Cologne and many other cities throughout my two months here.
Whether it was art museums in Hamburg, mountains in Austria or thrifting and currywurst in Berlin, the opportunities to see Germany have been incredible. My classmates have also been traveling, seeing other countries such as the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands.
After concluding that Germany is a highly underrated destination, I’d like to highlight another underrated gem: Erfurt. It’s a city like no other. I’ve been invited to birthday parties, picnics, student clubs and dinners. I’ve played Mario Kart in my friend’s apartment, gotten lost (and found) while searching for swimming spots and explored both the highest and lowest points of the city. If you’re in a position to study abroad, take the opportunity. It will change your life.
Before my trip, I wasn’t fully living my life. Sure, I was working and going to school and occasionally hanging out with friends, but something was missing. I was shy and kept to myself. I had lost the art of being able to communicate and connect.
Studying abroad has changed that mindset. I’ve learned once again how to truly communicate, and to listen. I talk in class, engage and laugh. I’ve learned that being myself doesn’t have to mean pushing myself onto others. Instead, it’s being at peace and accepting that things may not always go according to plan. It’s doing things that make me feel happy and fulfilled. It isn’t always easy, nor should it be. So I would say if you are going to study abroad, make sure to learn to live in a new place. It doesn’t have to be Erfurt, but it should be!
This post was contributed by Gabrielle Norman, a Global Ambassador for Summer 2024. Gabrielle is a junior public relations studies major studying abroad in Erfurt, Germany.
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