Crystal Jin

I wanted to study abroad coming into college, and I felt like summer after freshman year was the perfect time because companies don't usually hire freshmen for internships. I also wanted to fulfill breadth courses, and I felt like the FUBiS program had the best options to fulfill the requirements I needed. I liked that it was only 4 weeks, since it was my first time abroad and I wasn't sure what to expect, so I didn't want a program that was too long. Finally, Berlin was a place I have never been to but seemed really interesting and vibrant.

Going to the Berlin beer festival! I didn't really drink before coming to Berlin, but I felt like trying German beer was an experience I couldn't miss. At the festival, I think I tried 8 different types of beer (shared with friends! portion sizes were huge), and it made me really appreciate the subtleties of beer—they all taste a little to very different from each other. My favorite were the ones that are light but have a deep and rich taste. My parents also vacationed in Germany when I studied abroad, and now we can't stop buying alcohol free beer :) (yes that's a thing. my friends make fun of me for it because they say it defeats the point of beer)

I was a bit concerned about safety, in terms of traveling alone as a woman. However, this might just be my experience, but I felt so safe traveling alone—Berlin was such a diverse city that I felt like people respected everyone and kept to themselves. I would frequently walk or take public transportation well into the night, but never feared for my safety. In fact, the most crowded time I had ever seen the subway was one time when I left home at around midnight to go clubbing, because that was when many nightclubs opened!

I would get up early to take two busses to class. Then I'd take classes for 2 hours, hang out with friends and/or eat breakfast during break, take another 2 hours of classes, eat lunch with friends, and yet another 2 hours of class in the afternoon (but they were usually fun). After class, I would go to a different place in Berlin every day—usually a museum, either with friends or by myself. Berlin has so many places to sightsee that I didn't go anywhere else in Germany, and I still felt like I didn't have enough time in the city! I'd then get dinner and go home.

I took Popular Culture for my Social Sciences breadth, and Comparative Law for Philosophy and Values. I thought they were easier than Berkeley classes but also fun, which was nice because I was so stress-free and could focus on sightseeing.

Definitely the people I met! They made my study abroad experience so amazing. A particularly memorable experience was when I got together with two of my friends one night to try to go clubbing. That night, we got rejected from a club by a very nice bouncer because I was under 21, visited East Side Gallery at midnight, and instead of trying to get into another club, went to a release party and found a kebab shop in a random area and talked until 4 am.

Before I studied abroad, I had never truly lived on my own, since I'm merely about an hour away from home and would go home every other week or so. Living halfway across the world by myself for four weeks in a foreign country proved to me that I could truly be independent, and I feel like that experience matured me in many ways. I am also a very introverted person, but studying abroad has made me more social and realize that I really like meeting new people.

I think studying abroad was one of the happiest times of my life, because I was truly free from stress, and every day I could wake up early looking forward to doing something new. So my advice (though cliche) is do it, because you'll have the time of your life!