Traveling is like reading a book: there is always something new to learn. This is my fourth time in Germany, and Freiburg differs in many aspects from other cities I’ve visited in this country. With one exception, all of my previous trips to Germany have been as a tourist; actually trying to assimilate into the German lifestyle is a little tougher than I originally thought.

After studying abroad in Senegal last semester, I learned that the best way to understand a culture is through full immersion. Nevertheless, this experience will definitely be harder to accomplish this time. Living with a host family in Senegal allowed me to practice the six years of French I had learned as that was the only language they spoke. Before this program, I had only had six weeks of German, most of which was forgotten while in Senegal.

My living situation in Freiburg is much different than in Senegal. I am living in an apartment style dorm with other students. I have six suitemates: one American, one Costa Rican, one Turk, and three Germans. They are all older than me (except from the American that is in my program), and they are all working on their masters. While I haven’t been able to hang out with them as much as I would like to, we have had a few conversations about Germans, Americans, our school lives, and habits. As my German is lacking and English is a common language for everyone, I have found it a little harder to practice my language skills.

The first week of classes here were very busy. It was dubbed “intensive week” by the staff and I found that to be an apt name. Every day, I would have three hours of political science class learning about the history and structure of the EU, a short break, and then two hours of German. At the end of the week, we had to take a test in the political science class.

Since college habits are hard to break sometimes, as a typical American, I decided to study for my first test at Starbucks, taking notes on the readings that had been assigned. I was aware they closed at 9:00 p.m., but since I was sitting on the couches outside of Starbucks, I wanted to take advantage of the Wi-Fi and stay for a little longer. As 9:30 p.m. approached, the lights in the train station begun to turn off, so I was upset that I would have to leave soon. Suddenly, the restaurant in front of me turned into a dance club, and two seconds later, there were at least 10 couples dancing to Latin ballroom music in the middle of the train station!

I was so excited that this was happening before my eyes. While I was prepared for a “normal” night of studying, there were couples joining the dance floor right in front of me. Somehow, instead of distracting me, it was motivating me to continue studying and was putting me in a good mood. I’ll admit: I would look up here and there just to be impressed by all the couples dancing in unison. It was almost like a modern fairy tale.