Hello! My name is Chloe Goff and I am an International Studies (Global Studies Concentration) and German Studies double major, with a Leadership for Sustainability Minor. This summer I had the privilege of traveling to Berlin this summer for the College of Charleston: Summer Internship in Germany with Cultural Vistas program. This is my first collegiate study abroad experience, as I will be a junior in the fall. I have traveled abroad several times before with my family to the United Kingdom and Iceland, as well as to Costa Rica with my high school Spanish class and EF Tours.

I have always admired those who take on the pressure and art of learning another language. As someone who would ideally like to live and work abroad postgrad, it is a skill that I yearn to gain. This program offered by the German and Russian Studies Department at CofC opened up the perfect avenue for me to venture down while I start achieving my long term goals.

I expected this summer to be full of challenges and excitement. It is extremely intimidating to live abroad in a foreign country that speaks a foreign language at 19 years old. It takes a lot of courage to commit to 3 months of living in a completely new environment, away from everything you have ever known. I, personally, believe that this program is extremely unique in comparison to other study abroad programs at CofC. This summer, only 6 students from CofC traveled to Berlin to partake in this program. We attend intensive language classes for 4 hours a day (with not a lick of English) alongside healthcare professionals, spouses, and students from all corners of the world. Out of all the people we have met in the school, our group are the only Americans attending. This is an extremely special phenomenon, as most American college students have not had the opportunity to experience being immersed with people from so many different national backgrounds at such different parts of life. Each person in the course has a different mother tongue which makes it interesting to see how German is translated into different languages (such as Korean). Though our perception of English is as a universal and extremely common language, some people in my class do not know any.

Naturally in German courses at an American institution the concepts are taught with commentary in English to provide clarity. Most of the time, a direct English translation of vocabulary or verbs is provided. However in Berlin, the concepts are strategically explained in German. This is done using common concepts and vocabulary we already know from previous levels—sort of like charades. Learning a new language in such a way forces your brain to rewire itself to process information in new ways, and I am so thankful that I can become immersed in German, abroad!