Prologue

Why not?

Growing up, one of my favorite past times was to explore my surroundings: whether it be the park down the street, a city a couple of hours away, or a strange state across the country. However, combining my academics and travel together was an ideal way for me to continue my adventures without taking a break from my schooling and (hopefully) on a more budget friendly bill. Going abroad long term during my education has always been a goal of mine, and despite my past memories with A&M to Nicaragua and London, they were both too fleeting for my taste. I ultimately decided to go on this Hero’s Journey because I wanted to take a risk I would not regret: to develop my own character, to connect and make lasting friendships, to further my academics, and to explore.

I anticipate accidentally getting lost while exploring, and instead of becoming frustrated, to take on the optimistic side of wandering without a map because at the end of the day, it’s not really what you do, but who you do it with. Hopefully, with today’s technology and knowledge getting lost would not become a consistent problem. I expect my mother to prod at every possible problem that could unravel in every kind of universe, as she can be quite the worrier – I do know she does it out of concern and love. I look forward to meeting my host family in person and experiencing German culture outside of a textbook from an American perspective. I imagine a mentality of “work hard play hard” being the motto for the semester as I hit the textbooks and catch trains across town and taste new things and take on new trials.

My number one trial would be the communication barrier – I mark myself a notoriously horrible learner in the language department. Despite being in Europe where many people know English, I am anxious about learning German and anticipate microstruggles related to it. Additionally, I hope to understand politics in a more international perspective, especially with the current state of the union in today’s times. Despite somewhat recent politics changing the euro to dollar ratio a bit more evenly, learning about the direct and indirect influences this topic has on me is important. 

What’s even more important is the journey that I am about to embark in a couple of days as I independently venture farther down the park toward Germany and beyond.