November 18, 2009

Study Abroad Preparations

Study abroad preparations are stressing me out a bit, because there's simply not much I can do before winter break, and after winter break I don't have all the time in the world left to turn it in. Yes, there's plenty of time, but I'd rather get a super early start and make sure everythings going to be perfect. I need to learn how to go with the flow more. I think it's something every serious traveller has to learn, but maybe I'm starting a bit further back than others, thanks to my own family's habits of booking trips months and months in advance, et cetera. Now I'm just trying to find a middle ground. I went to see all the study abroad advisors last year and they said it was great that I was already thinking about it, but that they didn't want to see me for about 12 months. So, I came back this semester and was able to get a bit more information, and they didn't seem as surprised to see me, but it was still all very vague. I know most of the deadlines are in February, but it looks like you can't reall get started working on the paperwork and things until January. Ah well.

Anyway, in my case things are trickier than normal because I am studying abroad for three semesters in three different countries, all three exchange programs (the best type! :D But also the most work for me). Basically, in an exchange you are admitted to the host university. You apply and they accept you. Okay, so they're very likely to accept you because of the exchange agreements and stuff, but there's still a lot of paperwork involved. And, they don't let you know about their decision until pretty close to departure time, and you need their acceptance letter to get a student visa. Why is this fun for me? Well, I won't get my acceptance letter for Pamplona until next fall, since I'm planning to study in Pamplona next Spring. And next fall, I'll be studying in Bonn. It's very possible that I'll have to return to the U.S. to get my Spanish Visa, something I'm not particularly eager to do - I'd rather spend my breaks travelling Europe than dumping 2000 dollars into a round trip to go home and wait in embassy lines.

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German Recommendation/Interview

Anyway, one problem I thought I might have has more or less been solved. I've always known that I would go to Spain - I'm a Spanish major, after all. I'm doing that through the J-School and I'm pretty confident about my Spanish, there's really no issue there. Norway intimidates me even less. I can chicken out and take all my classes in English, or I can go for it and take some or even all of my classes in Norwegian. I'm going to look into how much my grades matter before I call that one. ;) I would know enough Norwegian to manage in everyday life even if no one spoke English there, and, well, everyone does.

Germany, now, is the wild card. I picked German last, impulsively, because I wanted to go one more place and I couldn't pick between Finland, Italy, Japan... really, anywhere. When I randomly and maybe even accidentally managed to ace the German placement test, I suddenly realized that if I could pass Intermediate German II, I would meet the bare minimum requirements for an exchange program in Germany. This was a deal clincher - as much as I would enjoy studying in Finland or Japan, my Finnish and Japanese are nowhere near good enough to take my classes in those languages, so I wouldn't be a true exchange student by my own feeling and definition, and I would gain only rudimentary language skills. If I went to Germany and was permitted to take my classes in German, I would come out of it fluent. It was an opportunity that I knew instantly I wouldn't be able to pass up.

But, it scares the shit out of me just the same. My German is terrible. I sort of manage with every aspect: reading, listening, speaking, writing... but I excel at none. I sort of stumble around, knowing that I'm just mocking the language with my horrible grammar. Norwegian helps me in the passive skills but hurts me in the active ones - for every time I magically understand a word thanks to Norwegian, I accidentally say 'verden' instead of Welt. This never happens with any other pair of languages that I speak - not even Italian and Spanish, which I think are even more similar. But it happens.

Still, I think I can handle it. I'm scared and I think I'm an idiot for going to Germany FIRST, instead of after having had experience in Spain and Norway, with languages I'm a bit better with. (I'm going to Germany first out of purely logistical reasons which I won't get into here... basically madness about which schools will take exchange students in fall vs. spring semester and so on). But I guess that after just jumping into it regardless, I'll be ready for anything. I know I can advance quickly, especially linguistically, when the need arises. What really terrified me was getting admitted to the program. How would I prove my language proficiency? A multiple choice test I could possible pass. An essay I could labor and deliberate over until it was perfect. I could get a recommendation - for some reason my teacher last year thought I was brilliant. None of these were especially calming options - I fervently hoped that they would just accept my German 2260 credit and call it good - but I had heard mention of an interview, and that, I knew, I would fail. Miserably. I would get nervous. I would speak Norwegian. It would be bad. (I'm actually very good at interviews normally. You know, in English).

Yesterday I met with the German head of department. I meant to ask her ab0ut getting a minor in German, since it was looking possible. Of course part of that discussion was that I would study abroad, so we chatted about that for a few minutes. And then I asked her about the recommendation letter that I'd heard about. The problem, I explained, was that I'd only taken one semester of German at Mizzou so far, and my teacher had left.

"Ah," she said. "Megan! She's in Germany."

"Yes, I know. But I'm wondering if it would be possible to contact her for such a recommendation?"

"Well, you could. But it's not a very big deal. I could write the recommendation for you myself, just based on your record. It's more about the responsibility and maturity of the student than anything else - they don't want to admit people who are just going to get drunk and blow off all their schoolwork."

"Oh! So nothing about language proficiency at all?"

"No, that's different. After you are admitted to the program, you'll just have an interview with me... or maybe with Olaf. (that made me happy, I know Olaf. :D) We'll just chat a bit in German and help you decide what level of classes you should enroll in when you get to Bonn."

"After I'm admitted?"

"That's right!"

"Excellent."

So, it's not stressful, it's not pass fail, it's honestly to help us get placed into the right level. That's such a comfort. I'll want to brush up before I go in, of course, because I haven't spoken German in a year and I don't want to be placed so low that I'll be bored in my class after one week in Germany, catching up, but if my admission isn't riding on the outcome of the interview, I won't freak out either.

Things are going well. :)

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