Stay Connected or Re-Establish Ties with Long-Lost Friends

“I had no idea just how transformative my time in Heidelberg would be. I had studied German for a few years and felt confident in my ability to live abroad comfortably. I was entirely mistaken. Within minutes of landing in Frankfurt Airport I realized that while I could discuss the nuances of Sturm und Drang literature in German, I had never actually learned the words for things like “passport” or “ATM”. My academic German ran into a startling reality check and I had to quickly learn how to navigate the real world as easily as I had navigated literature and art history in German. AJY proved to be the perfect marriage of the practical and the enriching when it came to my studies in German. Catching up with friends in other study abroad programs, I realized that many of them interacted almost exclusively with other Americans and rarely left the study centers and cafeterias where English was spoken and the foods were familiar. AJY facilitated my entrance into academic programs and internships far beyond my comfortable bubble of American friends. I had the opportunity to pursue an internship in the home of Weimar Germany’s first president and was allowed to enroll in Heidelberg’s illustrious College of Judaic Studies. This latter experience was made possible by the director of AJY recognizing my passion for Yiddish literature and personally making the necessary contacts for me to be the first AJY student to ever enroll in the Judaic Studies program. I was hardly a unique example. Owing to AJY’s small size, every student was given the chance to engage with their own niche interests in this way. Some of us pursued literature and philosophy, one student in my group even secured an internship brewing organic beer! AJY provides precisely the right amount of scaffolding to make students comfortable (but not too comfortable) in their year abroad. The level of individual attention and program customization is unparalleled in my educational experience and I remain in regular contact with friends from AJY a decade after my semester in Heidelberg. For students looking to go hands-on and experience Germany in a way that isn’t just pretzels and lederhosen, I cannot recommend AJY highly enough.”