Being “home again” never felt so different, so strange, so marvelous. Having spent ten consecutive months in the US, especially at an Ivy League college, I got used to a lot of things that I can no longer take for granted in Germany. A year ago, when the first people asked me how different the US was from Germany, I used to answer: “Not much. The devil is in the details.” Months later, I do not have to revise this statement, but there were so many devilish details to be discovered that they make a holistic difference. Now I just answer: “A lot.”
The winter in rural New Hampshire, where Dartmouth is situated, was rough. There were three entire months of snow and ice, with temperatures of –20 °C (I never really got used to Fahrenheit, but for you dear American readers, that’s –4 °F), “frat flu” was on the rise, as was COVID, and I had tons of work to do. I took a class in Object-Oriented Programming (the widely feared CS10), Brain Imaging with fMRI, and Experimental Study of Human Interaction. Academically, this was the most intense term in my entire life. While many people say classes are easier in the US, that was not true in my case. I can confirm grades being better, but that is just because daily and weekly homework counts more. Hence, with a lot of diligence and “busywork”, failed exams would not hurt one’s grade as much. With my study groups, I spent days and nights coding and analyzing data.
As much as we suffered together, we laughed together, ate together, and faced the hardships of winter, playing or watching ice hockey, going skiing, watching sports, and partying. At the Dartmouth Skiway, I gladly and finally learned how to ski. When I told my classmates that I was German, 24 years old and a bloody beginner, people gave me blank stares, uttering, “I thought every German kid learned how to ski!” Every Sunday, a stereotypical yellow school bus picked us up in front of the library and drove us to the cute, but crowded piste. By the end of the term, thanks to the patience of my instructors and the cheering of my friends, I became a keen skier, unafraid of moguls or ice. I also moved into the “German Living Learning Community”, where I participated in such activities as watching Tatort, German trivia, karaoke nights, and going ice-skating. Living slightly off central campus forced me to be outside for a couple of minutes more per day, but this reminded me of a world outside well-heated dorms and cozy libraries, a world that one preferred to avoid but that yielded pretty, frosty scenery.
Spring term was a stark contrast to winter term. Trees, bushes, and grass on campus took their time to flourish, but when they did, they rendered an explosion of green. I was reminded of why Dartmouth is also called the “Big Green” and not the “Big White”. People became happier, the days grew longer, and with the first rays of warming sunshine, people sat on the Green, soaking it in like dry sponges. For me, however, spring term started with a ten-day isolation due to a COVID infection. This rendered the first week of classes extremely stressful, since most professors had stopped offering hybrid teaching at this point and I had not made a final decision on which classes to take. Social life was also revived without me. Due to this, I was eager to make my last term memorable. Energized by spring, I once again challenged myself academically taking classes in math and machine learning, went outside as much as possible, and made as many friends as I had during the previous terms.
A day trip to White River Junction turned out to be one of the most wholesome experiences at Dartmouth besides kayaking after a busy week of classes and a Friday night out. As the days got warm and even hot, students started gathering at the Connecticut River, kayaking, paddling, or even dipping in the icy water, and so did I. These were the happiest times, reminding me of the many hours I’d spent in my hometown of Würzburg on the Main River.
During all terms, I got up early every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to practice German with students. I enjoyed seeing their progress, their diligence, and their interest in German language and culture. Oftentimes, they detected rules and exceptions to those rules faster than I did — and I reckon there are a lot of them in German. I got involved in the German Club as its vice-president and treasurer, helping to get funding for events like talks, outdoor activities, and festivities (such as Easter brunch and an egg hunt). The Fulbright foreign language study assistant Carla and I organized a talk by the Atlantische Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz and another on fraternities in German-speaking countries.
I will miss all those opportunities and events, the tight-knit community, the young and vibrant students with a constant thirst for knowledge, challenges, and contact.
I am very grateful for this unique opportunity provided to me by the Federation of German-American Clubs! I learned so much about US culture, and I not only learned to live in it but also to like it. Furthermore, I am more aware of what it means to be, think, and live German. In the beginning, I questioned a lot about the things that people in the US do. Now I do the same back in Germany. This exchange shifted my perspective.
I’m also taking away so many great and diverse friendships. Thanks to Dartmouth’s international student body, I now call people from Lithuania, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Thailand, and last but not least the US my friends. I feel that this exchange has contributed not only to my understanding of US culture, but also to my awareness of the commonalities and differences of many cultures. And it’s occurred to me that we have so much more in common than what separates us.
Kilian Stenzel
Nominated by the International Women’s Club of Würzburg
Being “home again” never felt so different, so strange, so marvelous. Having spent ten consecutive months in the US, especially at an Ivy League college, I got used to a lot of things that I can no longer take for granted in Germany. A year ago, when the first people asked me how different the US was from Germany, I used to answer: “Not much. The devil is in the details.” Months later, I do not have to revise this statement, but there were so many devilish details to be discovered that they make a holistic difference. Now I just answer: “A lot.”
The winter in rural New Hampshire, where Dartmouth is situated, was rough. There were three entire months of snow and ice, with temperatures of –20 °C (I never really got used to Fahrenheit, but for you dear American readers, that’s –4 °F), “frat flu” was on the rise, as was COVID, and I had tons of work to do. I took a class in Object-Oriented Programming (the widely feared CS10), Brain Imaging with fMRI, and Experimental Study of Human Interaction. Academically, this was the most intense term in my entire life. While many people say classes are easier in the US, that was not true in my case. I can confirm grades being better, but that is just because daily and weekly homework counts more. Hence, with a lot of diligence and “busywork”, failed exams would not hurt one’s grade as much. With my study groups, I spent days and nights coding and analyzing data.
As much as we suffered together, we laughed together, ate together, and faced the hardships of winter, playing or watching ice hockey, going skiing, watching sports, and partying. At the Dartmouth Skiway, I gladly and finally learned how to ski. When I told my classmates that I was German, 24 years old and a bloody beginner, people gave me blank stares, uttering, “I thought every German kid learned how to ski!” Every Sunday, a stereotypical yellow school bus picked us up in front of the library and drove us to the cute, but crowded piste. By the end of the term, thanks to the patience of my instructors and the cheering of my friends, I became a keen skier, unafraid of moguls or ice. I also moved into the “German Living Learning Community”, where I participated in such activities as watching Tatort, German trivia, karaoke nights, and going ice-skating. Living slightly off central campus forced me to be outside for a couple of minutes more per day, but this reminded me of a world outside well-heated dorms and cozy libraries, a world that one preferred to avoid but that yielded pretty, frosty scenery.
Spring term was a stark contrast to winter term. Trees, bushes, and grass on campus took their time to flourish, but when they did, they rendered an explosion of green. I was reminded of why Dartmouth is also called the “Big Green” and not the “Big White”. People became happier, the days grew longer, and with the first rays of warming sunshine, people sat on the Green, soaking it in like dry sponges. For me, however, spring term started with a ten-day isolation due to a COVID infection. This rendered the first week of classes extremely stressful, since most professors had stopped offering hybrid teaching at this point and I had not made a final decision on which classes to take. Social life was also revived without me. Due to this, I was eager to make my last term memorable. Energized by spring, I once again challenged myself academically taking classes in math and machine learning, went outside as much as possible, and made as many friends as I had during the previous terms.
A day trip to White River Junction turned out to be one of the most wholesome experiences at Dartmouth besides kayaking after a busy week of classes and a Friday night out. As the days got warm and even hot, students started gathering at the Connecticut River, kayaking, paddling, or even dipping in the icy water, and so did I. These were the happiest times, reminding me of the many hours I’d spent in my hometown of Würzburg on the Main River.
During all terms, I got up early every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to practice German with students. I enjoyed seeing their progress, their diligence, and their interest in German language and culture. Oftentimes, they detected rules and exceptions to those rules faster than I did — and I reckon there are a lot of them in German. I got involved in the German Club as its vice-president and treasurer, helping to get funding for events like talks, outdoor activities, and festivities (such as Easter brunch and an egg hunt). The Fulbright foreign language study assistant Carla and I organized a talk by the Atlantische Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz and another on fraternities in German-speaking countries.
I will miss all those opportunities and events, the tight-knit community, the young and vibrant students with a constant thirst for knowledge, challenges, and contact.
I am very grateful for this unique opportunity provided to me by the Federation of German-American Clubs! I learned so much about US culture, and I not only learned to live in it but also to like it. Furthermore, I am more aware of what it means to be, think, and live German. In the beginning, I questioned a lot about the things that people in the US do. Now I do the same back in Germany. This exchange shifted my perspective.
I’m also taking away so many great and diverse friendships. Thanks to Dartmouth’s international student body, I now call people from Lithuania, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Thailand, and last but not least the US my friends. I feel that this exchange has contributed not only to my understanding of US culture, but also to my awareness of the commonalities and differences of many cultures. And it’s occurred to me that we have so much more in common than what separates us.
Kilian Stenzel
Nominated by the International Women’s Club of Würzburg