Living in another country can change your life. For Acadia University students majoring in German, a year in Europe is all part of the package.

Amid the red-tiled roofs and cobbled streets of Freiburg, Germany, Kira McLean and six other third-year Acadia University students are immersed in a culture whose roots lie deep in antiquity. Freiburg, a 900-year-old university town on the edge of the Black Forest, is home to one of Germany’s oldest and most respected universities.

Acadia students who major in German spend their third year studying at the University of Freiburg. If they’re high academic achievers before they go, they may also find themselves in line for substantial financial help.

McLean, a double major in German and Chemistry, is the recipient of the prestigious Baden-Württemberg Scholarship worth 5,000 Euros (CAD$6,400).

“Because we compete with Germans and other international students for this scholarship, it’s quite an achievement,” says Dr Thomas Voss, Coordinator for German Studies and the Canadian Year in Freiburg in Acadia’s Department of Languages and Literature. Kira McLean is the first double major from Acadia to receive the scholarship, and he wants other students to know about it and to compete for it in future.

Acadia’s requirement that German majors study abroad is unique in Canada, says Voss. Acadia is also one of the few universities to allow double majors across faculties, for example in Arts and Sciences. “We currently have [German] double majors with Business, Chemistry, Biology, Political Science, English, History, French, Music and Environmental Science,” he says.

Life changer

For McLean, being in Freiburg is already a life-changing experience.

“I’ve only been living here for two months, but it really has changed the way I think about things,” she says. “I never really appreciated living in Canada…, but after being away from it for a couple of months I really realized how lucky I was to be part of such an integrated community and university.”

Besides making her appreciate Canada more, coming to a different culture has made her want to see even more of the world. “One of the coolest things about Europe, I think, is how little you have to travel to experience an entirely different culture and cuisine,” she says.

The culture in Freiburg was more different than she expected, although many elements were the same as at home. She found Germans to be more direct than North Americans, which took some getting used to. She was also surprised that almost nothing in Europe is open on Sunday.

“On the plus side,” she says, “I had heard food was cheaper in Germany, but I was really surprised by just how cheap. You could easily eat for a week on 20 Euros [about $25.50].”

Well-planned exchange

Under the exchange agreement between Acadia and Freiburg, Acadia sends its own students and others from Canadian universities who wish to participate. This year, two students from Dalhousie University (King’s College) took part, bringing the total to nine. Next year, possibly ten students will got, five of them from Acadia.

Acadia hires qualified academics in Freiburg to teach six courses to the Canadian students. “It’s very, very prestigious,” says Voss. “For these nine students, you have your own instructors for 18 credit hours.”

The program includes German-language courses as well as courses about German film, culture, and history, says McLean. “There’s also some room for electives in the program, so I’m taking a couple of other literature and foreign language courses. All of them are taught in German,” she says.

A coordinator in Freiburg takes care of the students, helping them with their student residences, open bank accounts, and generally get settled.

They start in September with a four-week German immersion course, and then go to Berlin for five days. Excursions are all part of the program, says Voss. In mid-October, the regular university semester begins.

Scary? Worth it!

The students remain in Freiburg until the end of July. By the time the summer semester starts in spring, their German is good enough that they can take any courses that fit with their Acadia studies.

Studying abroad can be scary at first, says McLean, but it’s definitely worth it. “Someone told me, before I left, not to let all the little things bother me. That was probably the best advice I got and would pass on, especially to students moving to Europe… You’ll probably always feel like a foreigner, but accepting the differences makes it a lot easier to get settled.”

Would McLean recommend the program to prospective students? “Absolutely. It’s the best thing you can do to experience the world,” she says. “You can’t always just move to another country. Studying abroad is the perfect opportunity to try it out.”

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