A mixed experience February 14, 2024

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I think the educational experience was overall positive. I enjoyed being fully integrated into the university.

On-site administration of your program

Overall, the program director was amazing and the Berlin specific aids were very helpful, however I often felt they lacked in knowledge about the FU. For example, I went through I complex bureaucratic registration with the university for certain courses because I was led to believe that I needed to. However, I later found out I did not need to. It would have been helpful if the program directors new what I was asking about.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The housing was very bad, the only redeeming quality of it is that it is very affordable. It is not very clean (my room smelled like smoke for a week or two when I moved in), the kitchen was smelly and not conducive for more than one person cooking and one person eating. The location was very poor, 20-50 minutes from the University depending on connections, and at least 45 mins from most of the exciting parts of Berlin. I grew to enjoy Lankwitz, the neighborhood in which it is located, but I had to put effort in order to enjoy it.

There are many food options throughout Berlin and summer festivals are a great way to explore some of them. The food at the university was inexpensive but not great. Groceries were cheap, bread was delicious and there is a grocery store just 100m from the housing (which helped make up for having very little storage space in the refrigerator).

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I struggled to feel integrated, in part because it was difficult to find a lot of opportunities to speak German. I felt integrated in classes and I was lucky to go on field trips with classes, where it was easier to get to know classmates.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Experiences with healthcare varied. I cannot recommend the psychiatrists that Middlebury initially recommended, however Geoblue put me in contact with one that was very helpful. However, Geoblue limited my visits with her greatly.

I felt very safe in Germany and Berlin.

I would love to live in Germany and maybe near Berlin again, but the housing was very rough. It was difficult to meet friends with it and he location was not very enjoyable. I would do Potsdam if I could do it again.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Groceries were relatively inexpensive, $40 a week and you do not need to pay for commute in Berlin. There are plenty of things to do in Berlin for free, although I quickly spent much more on eating out and activities.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Fully integrated classes
• Writing workshop class with babble guide
• Being in a city

• Housing
• Knowledge of onsite administrators of the Freie Universitaet
• Programs and recommendations to meet people