Part of the reason I chose Salzburg College as my study abroad option was because of its location in a German-speaking country. Having lived in Germany before and learning the language all through high school, I wanted to expand my knowledge. As Northeastern does not have a German minor, and in order to graduate in a timely manner I need to just take classes for my major/minor, I have not been able to practice my language skills while living in Boston. For this reason, I was not ever scared of the language barrier, but rather excited I could learn and improve through daily contact with native speakers. I was also required to take a class for the first quarter, along with every other student, meaning I got at least a little more formal education in addition to what I would pick up on the street.
Because every student is required to take a German course, even those with no knowledge of the language do not have to worry. It might be a little scary at first, but you can pick up the basic language pretty fast and before you know it, order your favorite strudel at a restaurant with no problem. German in particular, I find, has a lot of similarities with English.
What I have sometimes struggled with has been traveling outside of Germany. Luckily on some of those trips, I have been with people that speak a similar language, for example using Russian to get by in Slovenia. However, for Spring Break, when I went to Greece and then Cyprus, I spent two weeks only interacting in English and hoping that the other person knew at least a little bit. English is a common language, however there are still many people who cannot speak it and frustrations may arise. All of this is a learning experience however. I certainly find it fun to pick up a few words here and there that are helpful (for example, most means bridge in Slovenian and utca means street in Hungarian.)
