The Berlin Lens

I have always loved traveling. I’ve never been to Berlin and I’m excited to study in a new space. I decided to study abroad because my Gender in a Changing Society Professor spoke about this trip highly and it sounded extremely intriguing. I also really enjoyed the Gender course that I took so I thought this would be a great opportunity to take another one. This also fulfills one of my requirements as a Human Services major and I’ve always wanted to go on Dialogue.

I expect to be changed by my experience because I will be exploring a new space and learning about a topic that I have basic level knowledge on. I hope that my ideas change and that any preconceived notions I had about Berlin and the topic that we’re studying change as well. I also believe that it takes time to develop and change from an experience like this. First you have to be present and fully immerse yourself in the environment that you’re in. When you’re reflecting, that’s when I believe is the time to notice where you have changed. I hope to gain a sense of independence by being abroad. I hope to get know to know the subway system in Berlin and be able to walk around and be familiar and comfortable in the area we’re living in.

My goals for studying abroad are being able to immerse myself in a new environment as well as apply classroom concepts to our travels. One of my goals for this experience is to be able to compare and contrast our experiences with gender norms to that of the cultures in Istanbul and Berlin. I have taken courses such as Gender in a Changing Society (GCS) and Counseling in Human Services that will be able to help me see these two cities from a lens that is different from my own. I take a specific interest in the different roles that men and women have in different cultures. In GCS we discussed issues around masculinity, male dominance, and what it’s like to be a woman in modern day society. I can compare and contrast what I have learned with the new understandings that I come to through this dialogue. When I travel one of my many goals is to always to get the most, culturally, out of my experience.

I expect to achieve these goals by always keep an open mind. When entering new spaces it’s extremely imperative to always be open to new things and new ideas. At times, people can feel uncomfortable when they are faced with the unknown. I am hoping to do my best at fully getting to know a new culture by asking a ton of questions and not feeling afraid to leave my comfort zone. I also expect to achieve any goals that I have by not being afraid to ask questions. This is a skill that I learned at co-op. Being afraid to ask questions only makes learning harder for yourself. Once you can get over that fear, it will be easier to acomplish any goals you may have!

A fear that I have is that the language barrier with get in the way that I interact with the people in Berlin. I do not speak any German so I am worried that I will not be able to communicate with fellow Germans because I do not speak the language. Language barriers can at times make people feel extremely isolated. I will walk around with a language book to do the best that I can at communicating in simple German. Although this is a fear that I have, I am going to do the best that I can at making sure that I am constantly putting in effort into understanding others.

I am most looking forward to getting to know Berlin. I have heard amazing things about this city and I’m excited to explore and get to know new people. Something that I am also looking forward to is going to the Holocaust Memorial. This is a site that I have wanted to visit since I was a little girl and I hope that we get the opportunity to see it. I am also extremely excited to get to know my fellow peers. I believe that since we all decided to pick this Dialogue we all have something in common. It’s important to interact and get to know people on the trip, I believe that this plays a role in how we will grow over the next month.