The past six weeks have flown by. Most days were filled with class and studying. On a typical weekday, we’d wake up and travel via bus to the Technical University of Berlin and have our engineering class in the morning. Then usually we had a good chunk of time to eat lunch at the school mensa, or we’d walk to a local restaurant. After lunch, we’d head back to campus for our German class. Despite the class having no grade, it was a daily struggle for me to understand what going on. But by the end of the course, I found myself able to understand a lot more German than I had anticipated. I’m still working on my conversation skills, but it was exciting to see definite improvements in my German. On weekends (which were Fridays through Sundays) we went to various German town across the country. My favorite trips were to Bremen, (a small, beautiful, historic town were we took a boat tour and where I bought my Birkenstocks) Heidelberg, (another historic city where we toured a castle and wandered around taking funny photos, picking blackberries and finding a beautiful bookshop) and Potsdam (where we visited a bunch of magnificent palaces and gardens). I’m so grateful for my time in Germany. Berlin now feels like a home away from home, and I look forward to returning.