One weekend my friends Sofia, Catherine, and I, went to a city near Frankfurt (Oder) called Cottbus to see Catherine’s favorite German comedian for her birthday. Sofia and I took the train to Cottbus together planning to meet Catherine there, since she was coming from Berlin. We expected to meet… read more
Diving into Germany
Horns meet World. World meet Autumn Cox-Sweet. Autumn is a fourth year International Relations and Global Studies major. She studied abroad the spring of her sophomore year at the Europa-Universitaet-Viadrina in Germany. Autumn spent a year living and working in Germany before coming to UT. She studied abroad there to become… read more
The Uniqueness of Studying Abroad in a Border City
The location of Frankfurt (Oder) made for some very interesting adventures. I lived about five minutes from the bridge over the Oder River that separates Germany and Poland. Most of the time I would meet friends at the McDonalds next to the bridge and we would walk over to Slubice,… read more
Tuesday Adventures in Frankfurt (Oder)
In my last post, I talked about the importance of pressing into the home culture when studying abroad. I wanted to use this post as an opportunity to give a practical example of how I did exactly that. Every Tuesday I had a class called German Literature in the 19th… read more
Avoid the Study Abroad Bubble!
Walking home from the university in Frankfurt (Oder) was always a unique experience. When I left the university, the view of the ancient library and modern university buildings gave way to the mall that housed discount stores. The bustle and chatter of students from all over the world gave way… read more
The Forgotten Side of Germany
My gap year experience motivated me to travel to Germany when I studied abroad. I went to the Europe University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) because I wanted to understand east Germany more deeply. The city was founded in the 1300s by merchants and the university was established in the 1600s.… read more
The Human Effects of the German Reunification
My first experience with eastern Germany was working on a tiny farm in a village called Lebehn. I was on a trip with my German class at the time, and decided to remain in Germany for a year instead of going back to the US. My goal was to be… read more
