Hallo!
Herzlich willkommen to my very first post on this blog! Although most of my posts will be about my one-year exchange at RWTH Aachen, I first wanted to make a post sharing about the three weeks I spent studying at the Goethe Institute in Dresden this summer.
The Goethe Institute program is a fantastic way to get German credit and to get a large amount of German experience the summer before the year at RWTH for students who are not yet confident with their German skills. It is available as a three-week program during all of the four months CMU students have for summer in multiple different cities!
I took the A2.2 course after only one semester of studying German at CMU, and although the class was fast-paced and intense, it was also a fun learning environment where you can make new friends and gain a new level of confidence in your German in just a few weeks. Below is a picture of me and my dear friend Hange who I met from my class:
There is also housing available through the Goethe Institute itself which mostly includes private apartment buildings at affordable prices. Below are a couple of pictures of my apartment, which came with almost all of the basic amenities (towels, bedding, dishes, laundry available for a fee, etc.). I've also included a photo of the gorgeous view from my window:
And now I'll address the most interesting part of this post: what is there to see in Dresden that makes it worth choosing over other locations?
One of my favorite attractions was the Dresden Zoo, a zoo and sanctuary right in Dresden with thousands of animals in the park. Seeing the sloth was my favorite part of this trip because it was outside of an enclosure climbing right above our heads! Hange and I also made it in perfect time to watch the koalas being weighed, so we got an up-close view!
Another one of the most popular and beautiful attractions in Dresden is the Dresden Frauenkirche. This is a protestant church that was reconstructed after the attack on Dresden during WWII that has absolutely gorgeous architecture:
Finally, Dresden has many beautiful museums and rebuilt palaces, and students at the Goethe Institute can borrow a pass to enter all of them for free. Shown below are just a few pictures from the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst, the Residenzschloss, and the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon:
Honestly, there were so many beautiful things to see in Dresden that this blog post feels too short to recap all of it. I had a wonderful time, and I can't wait to go back to Germany in August and make more memories. For any students who are considering the Goethe Institute program, I can definitely vouch that I highly recommend it and that I think Dresden is a fantastic location choice.
That's all for now! Tschuss!
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