University of Wisconsin–Madison

Germany: Malachi Clark

Program: CIEE Berlin Open Campus, Semester

Malachi’s Major: Computer Science and German

Malachi stands in a narrow room with crumbling, red brick walls and a large, rectangular window.
Here’s me exploring the Beelitz Sanatorium located on the outskirts of Berlin. This location was once one of the German Tuberculosis treatment facilities, now it’s a lovely location offering tours and glimpses into history.

What is the moment you are most proud of?

Anyone learning a language knows that at the beginning of the language learning process, you spend a lot of your time and effort trying to connect another language to your mother tongue. You spend majority of your time translating, in your head, making sure you can understand everything, or most of everything, coming your way. One of the moments I was most proud of was when I got over that hump, being able to stop translating from one language to another to just understanding it. I remember I was sitting in one of my classes, tuning out (shh don’t tell anyone). But that was the moment where I caught it, I was full processing information in another language without any effort. It was insane and still is kind of a bizarre experience.

To be unashamed of who I was, or even who I wanted to be. I’ve started being more confident in being an outlier or even looking weird in my clothing choices because that’s what I want to be, and I owe myself to be.

 What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience?

Berlin is a location that is kind of known to be ‘alternative,’ where everyone there is obsessed with wholeheartedly being themselves. That’s exactly what I learned to be while I was abroad. To be unashamed of who I was, or even who I wanted to be. I’ve started being more confident in being an outlier or even looking weird in my clothing choices because that’s what I want to be, and I owe myself to be.

How did your identities impact your experience? What advice would you give to students with similar identities who are considering a similar experience?

I didn’t expect being an American to impact a lot of my experiences, but it did. Being here in America the identity that I’m usually being identified for is being Black, in Europe, it’s always American first which was a strange experience I will admit. Europeans have a bunch of preconceived notions about Americans in general and all of those stereotypes are placed on you the instant they see you, for better or for worse. For people who share the American culture and may not even ‘look’ American (whatever that means), don’t let that be one of the main things that people see you for – you’re much more than the nation you’re from.