An Ode to Studying Abroad

I knew one of my main goals coming to Oberlin would be studying abroad. Little did I imagine that my dream would come true five months into my freshman year! My first winter term project became the Voice and Organ program in Dresden, Germany. 

To say this experience was life-changing would be a wild understatement. I learned so much more about myself, grew more confident in my adulthood and independence, learned the foundation of a whole new language, made amazing connections in the music world, but the most impactful of my experiences was the lifelong friends I made while I was there. All in THREE WEEKS!

So let’s debrief this wonderful expedition together!

I arrived to Dresden, Germany, the first weekend of January 2024, and to my surprise was taken to a small hostel the size of my dorm room with two bunk beds, a desk, a closet, and a sink. This was not what I expected to walk into after a 16-hour travel day, but having been the first one to arrive, I got to choose the bottom bunk next to the heater. 

The other three girls were going to arrive the next day, all from Oberlin, but I didn’t know them very well before the trip. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck! These were the girls that I was going to live with and spend 24/7 with for the next three weeks. 

I spent my first night alone, exploring the city of Dresden, walking the streets and seeing the various historic buildings, restaurants, and the opera house. With the light snow that was occurring at the same time, I felt like I was in an episode of Gilmore Girls.

The next day was my first day of German language class at the Goethe Institut. All of my roommates’ flights got delayed, so they arrived in the middle of the class day. I learned how to say hello, my name, how I was feeling that day, and what languages I spoke. After class, my roommates and I went back to the hostel to unpack and debrief our first day. Much to our surprise, we were all cracking the same jokes, had the same opinions about the teacher and other students in the class, and all wanted similar things out of this trip. We went out that night to a sushi restaurant, and successfully fulfilled the “loud singer at a restaurant” stereotype. Suddenly as I was lying in bed that night, I didn’t feel so nervous anymore. 

As the week continued on, the girls and I shared more and more experiences. From shared looks in class, to cooking together, to staying up late drinking tea and talking. We grew an instant bond, and it had felt like we’d been friends for ages. We decided we were going to call ourselves “Die Hostelfrauen” (“The Hostel Women”). It was like we were living in our own movie!

My most memorable moment with the Hostelfrauen was climbing the mountain to the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. I am deathly afraid of heights, like, I get scared being on the porch of a second-story apartment. And this mountain was giant, it felt a million feet tall (it was 1,350 feet tall). And I knew I would not be able to make it alone. So, the four of us held hands, and we all walked up the mountain together. They kept reassuring me, telling me it would all be okay, and we were not going to die or fall off the mountain. And though I felt insanely stupid for having this fear, I also felt so supported by my wonderful friends. From this moment on, I knew I had found my best friends. 

We would continue to have many more of these experiences. When one of us cried, the rest of us would lift her up. When one of us laughed, the rest of us would erupt into uncontrollable hysteria. It was wonderful. I never wanted to leave.

Unfortunately, those three weeks went by in a moment, and it was time to head back to America. I was so nervous that when we got back things would go back to normal, and I wouldn’t see these friends every day. That was far from the truth. We started doing weekly dinners in one of our apartments, bringing us back to the feeling of cooking together in our little German hostel once again. 

If you have the opportunity to study abroad, do whatever you can to take it. It will change your life in the most unexpected ways.