Berlin Study Abroad Experience

Cooper Robards March 17. 2023 Blog 5      Since coming to Berlin my German has improved a lot and come in handy in many situations. However while it is nice to have some German skills here in Berlin, I have found that just about everyone in Berlin speaks fluent English, or at least knows a few phrases.  It is often humorous watching Berliner's reactions to my strong American accent and somewhat weak German. For instance, I often try to order or pay for things in German (like at my favorite Donner place), but in most cases the workers will immediately recognize my American accent and switch to English. Many Berliner's I have met or interacted with seem to be proud of their English skills or even eager to practice, often using me for practice or to flaunt their skills. one German word I have grown to enjoy is "genau".  It is essentially an affirmative response, like exactly or precisely. If you walk down the street or through a train station you are bound to hear it at

 Cooper Robards March 4, 2023 Blog 4     This past week our program went on a week long excursion to Paris.  We all had a great time and were able to really enjoy the city. We obviously saw all of the big highlights, like the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, but were able to see many other unique and slightly less touristy things on the trip as well. My personal favorite part if the trip was going to Villa Savoye.  I had studied the building and Le C orbusier's architecture before but it was an entirely different experience to be inside and study the home. It was actually one of the first buildings I ever had to draw in an architecture class, which made doing on sight sketches even more fun. We visited another house designed by Le Corbusier in the same day which was also amazing. While I enjoyed the aesthetics of Villa Savoye, it was not incredibly functional. There was a good flow and relatively intuitive use of the space but the home failed at its main goal. It was created for the Savoye