It is not just German culture I am immersed in here. Jacobs University Bremen is truly an international environment, with the student body representing 91 different nations from all corners of the world. Just being on this campus is an exciting experience. I went to a celebration of the Chinese New Year with friends from Romania and India. That’s something one does not get to say very often.

I have been active in service work in the local community, another chance to use the German I learned at Lafayette and practice conversing with native speakers. I am also part of activist groups working on interfaith and intercultural development and even environmental stewardship and conservation, all things that fit right into my interests and allow me to work for worthy causes.

All 34 of us traveled to Brussels, where we visited the headquarters of the European Union and discussed the politics of Europe with diplomats, lobbyists, and members of the EU Parliament. It was an inside look at how the EU actually works, and we even had the chance to attend a committee meeting and see the interpreters all around the room simultaneously translating the discussion into 23 different languages. Experiences like this add an entirely new dimension to things one learns about from books and lectures. And the waffles in Belgium definitely lived up to our expectations!

My involvement in student groups and organizations has let me exchange laughs and jokes with fourth-grade kids at a community program, analyze trace metals in the environment on geochemical research projects, and learn about the important issues in places from Colombia to Kenya from students who were born and raised in these countries.

We have had many opportunities to see new places, explore new cultures, and meet new people from around the world. Studying abroad in an environment like this is a lesson in global awareness of the best kind.

Mickey Adelman '10 studied engineering and European history, culture, and politics with 33 other Lafayette engineering students in a semester-long, faculty-led program at Jacobs University Bremen. He’s a civil engineering major from Clarks Summit, Pa. This is taken from his dispatches from Bremen.