Natalie Heaman - Germany

Study Abroad Spring 2018 - Darmstadt Germany 

 Darmstadt is a nice small city, it’s vey easy to get around in and close to Frankfurt for that big city fix. Between the Darmstadt main train station and the Frankfurt airport it’s a really good location to travel from. When I first arrived it was so cold and we even had snow! Thankfully the temperatures have started to warm now. Language is actually not a huge problem, I’ve been learning German but once it’s clear that your German is poor people will generally switch to near perfect English. Though the biggest test of language will be when my design classes start, as those will be in German!

 Aside from language, one of the biggest shocks to the system here is having so much free time. Our regular design classes don’t begin until April, so March has mainly been orientation events, school organized day trips, and German language classes. I’ve met many other international students from around the world, Korea, China, Ireland, Spain, and Hungary, to name a few.

 Right now I’m really looking forward to the regularity my design classes will bring to life here. It also feels like it’s been so long since my last semester at Cap ended, I’m feeling ready to get back at it. The design building has great facilities for printmaking, typesetting, and book binding, things that Cap doesn’t have, it’ll be great to experiment with new methods!
So far in the first month some highlights have included going to galleries, special events like Luminale, which lit up Frankfurt with projections and art installations, exploring new nearby cities and towns, and doing some of the planned activities, like the Kletter Wald “Climbing World” in Darmstadt which has obstacle courses in the tree tops. I’m looking forward to finding out what the coming months have in store!
Between all this travels and attending classes at h_da in Darmstadt I’ve been learning more about history, art, and myself! Now I only have just  over a month of class left and then a summer full of adventures, I’m looking forward to seeing what else I’ll learn in the next few months.
And of course I had to go to the big German city: Berlin. Most places I’ve been to in Germany have a similar feel, but Berlin was different. It felt like a city that never stops, not even for Sundays (Sundays in Darmstadt are extremely quiet, I’ve learned a lot of businesses need to get permits from the government to be allowed to be open on Sundays!). There I went to some of the usual tourist traps but also explored less known areas and went to my first live jazz show!
Natalie, 




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