The University, Albert Ludwigs Universitaet is located in Freiburg, Germany . This is a semester or year study abroad, however, be aware that German schools are on the trimester system . Students earn elective and required hours toward the German major. This is a good choice for German majors or German teacher education majors, since a semester year-long study abroad is strongly recommended.
For more information about Freiburg and how much it will cost go to the ISU International Studies link.
Coming soon...
Director: Dr. Jim van der Laan
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Campus Box 4300
Normal, IL
61790-4300
Freiburg, Germany-Albert-Ludwigs-UniversitaetFreiburg
I had LOTS to take care of--my student Visa, actually registering to the University itself, finding an apartment, moving into the apartment, taking a language class, making friends, shopping for food and essentials, and other such stuff. But it was GREAT nonetheless. The toughest part is that you're all on your own. No mommies or daddies around to help. Personally, it was liberating, but some people struggled with that, which is understandable.
Worthwhile, but nothing spectacular. It's good because it helps you build confidence with the language, which is the one tool that will really help you learn above all others. It was also good for making friends, particularly those of other nationalities (Sweden, Finland, Korea, Russia, etc).
Fine. No reason to fret. You get placed where you "belong", and if they notice you were incorrectly placed according to your actual capabilities, they'll just re-place you. I did not take any test afterwards.
My SLI (Sprach Lehr Institute) courses were a waste of time, with the exception of the pronunciation class. In these classes, you just spend too much time listening to foreigners and being taught via presentations by foreigners who can't speak the language and don't truly understand their topic. The teachers in these classes were mostly lazy and uninterested in teaching us foreigners, or at least that's how it came off. They were NICE, most certainly, and patient, but not the best of teachers. Frau Claudia Schmid, however, taught an SLI course which was wonderful. So perhaps there are others like hers, and I just had bad luck.
The normal classes that I took (actually normal university classes...with Germans, not foreigners), were great. They were challenging, interesting, and exciting, and the teachers were there to guide you along the path you chose, NOT to tell you where to go and how to get there. Most of my classes were literature classes, with the exception of my 2nd Language Acquisition class (a linguistics class), and they were held as weekly class discussions. Normally, two students would prepare a discussion/outline for the week's readings, and we would go from there... The teachers would speak if things slowed down and no one had anything to say, or if the things being discussed by students were somehow intensely flawed (ex: analyzing a piece from the perspective of Realism when the piece was written hundreds of years before as part of the Baroque era). But mostly, they let us develop our own ideas and perspectives throughout the entire year, ocasionally giving us their own thoughts on texts. This led to our one and only grade, our Hausarbeit (more or less like a term paper), in which we were to develop one of our own ideas, using mainly the actual text to support our thesis, but also using other literature and sources. I loved this, because you were encouraged to think for yourself. The answer was not of stone or predetermined. I was able to really get creative and analyze deep! It was great fun, and in the end, some of my teachers were very satisfied with my work, stating that I had an insightful perspective into literature, while others were disappointed...that's life! I felt just as they did. But hey, one can't always be content with his hardest work. It's not like here at ISU, where one hardly needs to lift a pen to paper to get a B because God forbid you fail someone who's paying for the grade (even if his work is awful!). (Sorry if that's a little too much. That's one of the things that frustrates me about US colleges. Assessment, to me, is still done all wrong here. We're trained to be a bunch of obediant dogs, whose sole learned ability after college is not that of applying knowledge of a subject area, but rather how to jump through a hoop--since that's all education is here in the US...jumping through said hoops at said times paying said amounts of cash along the way.
They were of various social and ethnic backgrounds. Rich and poor alike, East and West Germans, hippies and punks, jocks and preps, Swedish and Italians, Spanish and Slovakian... etc. But the coolest thing about this was that these borders between man, these social and ethinc divisions, seemed moreso to unite us than divide us. There was very little judgement passed from student to student, and there were very few so called cliques--at least not in the way we think of them. Here in the US, cliques form because of the above mentioned criteria. In Freiburg, however, jocks, preps, nerds, hippies, Swedish, Slovaks, rich and poor, could all be part of the same "clique". A clique in this sense, is merely a group of people who enjoy each others' company; maybe they all enjoy hanging out on the river, watching Germany's Next Top Model, eating ice cream and reading a book on the Augustiner Platz stairs. It's rarely because they're all of equal attractiveness, all nerds or jocks, or of the same SES (socioeconomic status), etc. But then again, Freiburg is a very alternative, green city, and thus attracts people who tend to be more open. So...
Pretty good! Much of the food is similar to US food, so the regional specialties within Germany’s city’s, states, and dialects are where the tastebuds truly get the study abroad experience. Well, then there’s the Döner shops… oh how I miss you, Uni Döner!
I either walked (15 min), walked to the Strassenbahn/Streetcar where i rode to class (6-10 min), or rode my bike (5 min). The university was right downtown, which meant I could stop and grab something from the bakery or go a bit early and grab a coffee at one of the cafes.
Yep. Almost always by train... Went to Vienna, Austria; Rome, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Freiburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Konstanz and Frankfurt, Germany (along with many smaller towns and villages). Trains can be good places to meet people and make friends... life-long friends, even. Sounds strange, but it happens! :)
Fascinating. Really sparks your curiosity. Hearing the different dialects and languages, meeting people of their cultures, staying at hostels with young kids from around the world, discovering their beliefs and takes on the world, politics, love, religion, humor, life and living... it's something I could do my whole life, and never experience the quenchedness of thirst. I would always want more. There are so many perspectives on so many issues even within one culture; but start throwing other cultures into the mix? Wow. Ex: America; George Bush; Religion; McDonalds; French fries with katsup or mayo; racism; ethnicity vs. heredity; hobbies and spare time; war; music; etc...
Absolutely. I just payed attention to how those within the culture acted, and tried to do the same. Then again, I wasn't exactly anywhere too dangerous, nor am I what you would call a particularly attractive or rich looking person. :)
Just fine.
-Laughter, along with coffee and maybe a sixty-cent lemon ice cream cone, was a daily necessity, and never underappreciated...nor was friendship.
-The language is no longer a meaningless system of symbols to me. It carries a culture, a virtue, and a vitality that I never knew existed; which, similarly, allowed me to discover a part of myself that I never knew existed.
-The university seminars concentrate on education and discovery.
-I found both an educational and personal self in Germany, and I never expected either of them to be so at peace, both with each other and their roles in life.
-Freiburg deeply and sincerely touched my soul, and my heart will forever reside in its stream-lined, cobblestone streets; a part of me will forever be reading Siddhartha--the story of Buddah's path towards enlightenment--on the steps of Augustinerplatz, because to me, the path to my own personal Nirvana is lined with streams and cobblestone.
1) The fact that it ended so soon (11 months). I am relatively fluent, but not enough for my liking. There's no doubt my German improved tenfold, but tenfold from what? Most people, before studying abroad, have 4 years of high school instruction, and maybe a few semesters at college.. and then they study abroad. I guess I just think that that time spent there would be much more valuable to a future teacher (especially since nowadays we are taught to stay within the TL 80-100% of the time).
2) The fact that I was ten times happier there than I've ever even dreamed of here...and I don't feel like this place (certainly not central Illinois) will ever be able to offer me the wholeheartedness of laughter and smiles that were a daily discovery in Freiburg. The culture and its people's mentality quite simply don't allow for it here.
