I Didn’t Forget About This!

That’s right! While most study abroad programs are well underway at this point, I have yet to leave beautiful Wisconsin, all thanks to the German academic calendar. Rather than the Fall/Spring semester schedule that most of us are familiar with, Germany operates on a Summer/Winter schedule. However! In just a couple days I’ll be making my way out to Germany, specifically Bonn (pronounced “bawn”) where I will begin my studies. The first month of my program will consist of 68 45-minute lessons to help students prepare for German academics and culture. Meaning that my actual classes will not start until early April and will span to the end of July! Wild.

“Hey Quinn, so what have you been doing for the past 10 weeks without any class?”. A super valid question that often made its way into conversation when telling people about my program. To answer that, it’s definitely been weird. I basically set out to earn as much as I could before leaving, as my summer will only be a couple weeks due to the late end of my program. So, here’s a quick list of some work that I did in my extended winter break

• Assisted a wedding photographer
• Washed dishes at the Milwaukee Art Museum (for 5 days, I quit. Terrible job.)
• Watched a bulldog named Biscuit
• Took drone photos of a roof for an architect
• Packaged probiotic samples at an animal nutrition company
• Shot drone video for a documentary about gospel music
• Edited photos for the Medical College of Wisconsin’s yearbook
• Worked at my dad’s woodworking shop
• Worked at a dining hall

So that’s definitely a really unusual way to keep yourself busy while waiting for your program to begin. Can’t say that any of these are the weirdest jobs I’ve ever had though, filming the National Baton and Twirling Championship for a media company that I found on Craigslist takes the cake there.

Weird jobs aside, the nerves and excitement are certainly starting to kick in. My major concerns at this point is if my German ability will be enough to find success at the university level and making sure I don’t forget anything too crucial when I head out in a couple days! With that said, I should probably start packing…

Thanks for reading!

Here’s a couple photos I took from the last couple weeks, because 65% of us are visual learners!

Expect many more photos in the upcoming blogs!