Studying in English at a German university

Sarah Duke. Photo: private collection

When Sarah Duke saw the Reichstag in Berlin, Germany’s parliament, she quickly fell in love with the country. “This is not New York,” she recalls her reaction. “There is so much culture here, and so many things that existed way before the United States was even conceived.”

She was visiting at the time, and her adventures got her thinking: “Could I come here to study?”

 
Another love – this time the human kind – made the appeal even stronger. During her freshmen year in college at the University of Miami, she met her now-boyfriend, a native of Germany. For several years Duke led a long-distance relationship, flying back and forth across the big pond. But during her junior year she realized that “there’s a way to change this situation.”

And so she made the decision to move to Germany.

Via the internet Duke managed to get in direct contact with several professors at different universities across Germany. An English major with a focus on American literature, Duke was particularly interested in studying at the university in Mainz. 

But wait a second? Was it really that easy? Could I simply transfer to a German university and continue studying what I was studying back home? In my own language?

It was exactly that easy. And luck would come Duke’s way in the form of an invitation to visit the university that topped her list of favorites. Just before heading off on one of her trips to Germany to visit her boyfriend, a professor from Mainz encouraged her to drop by the campus and get a feel for the place. “During my visit the professor explained everything to me, and that was really, really helpful,” recalls Duke.

Bye-bye, Florida! Hallo Deutschland!

Wasting no time, she applied to the school, got accepted, and with a year left to go at university in sunny Florida, Sara Duke – 21 years old at the time – packed her bags in April 2004 and headed over.

Even though the program would be almost entirely in English, Duke was still required to complete a mandatory year of learning German first. Only then was she allowed to formally enroll at Mainz’s Johannes von Gutenberg University, where she is now pursuing a Magister degree (the German equivalent of a Master’s degree) in American Studies.

 
Wandering over campus, Duke, now 23, seems like your everyday student – one of 33,000 at the University of Mainz. But she’s not quite like most of the others: With nearly all of her classes taught in English (only her phonetics class is a mix of German and English), she is part of a very interesting minority on campus. 

While it may seem like an unusual situation for some people, it has become a completely natural way of learning for the young Florida native. A big plus is that – at least outside of the classroom – she gets the chance to learn German. Over the past two years Duke’s knowledge of the language has increased in leaps and bounds.

She quickly points out, however, that studying in English is her preference, and she’s glad that such an opportunity exists. “It is certainly easier because you do not have to think so hard. It comes natural to me. It’s my language.”

One language, multi-cultured

In her program, Duke shares a classroom with Germans, Bulgarians, Romanians, and Russians – to name just a few nationalities. It’s a fun and very interesting experience, she says. “I like to hear what others have to say, to get other world views and see how my country’s [culture, history, and politics] is taught. In return, you can give people a new perspective, too.”

With the United States – especially its foreign policy – often the target of scrutiny (Duke admits she is also not much of a fan of the Bush Administration’s foreign policy), the multi-cultural classroom discussions tend to get heated at times. That’s especially the case in classes such as culture studies where the students discuss the status of gay rights or African-Americans in US society, for example. 

But the intensity of discussions always stays within reason, Duke explains. “As long as you remember that these are all people’s opinions, and as long as you respect one another, it works out just fine.”

Looking ahead

Duke is scheduled to graduate late next year with a degree in her major, American Studies, and two minors, in English and Cultural Anthropology. Looking ahead, she is not yet sure where the future will take her, neither professionally nor geographically.

“I know that I’d like the chance to go home to the States and work in the publishing world,” says Duke. “But if that doesn’t work out, teaching would be something I would also really love. For that I would like it to be here – Germany needs good American Studies professors,” she adds with a chuckle.

Even if this young American eventually heads back to her native soil, one thing is for sure: She will always have a soft spot in her heart for Germany.