Back to SummaryLauren Turpin - Student Profile

I had wanted to go to Spain to make use of my previous study of Spanish, but because there was no such program offered at the time by Stanford and because I was set on going to Europe, Germany seemed like the perfect place to go. There was no language requirement (which was good for me because I had never before studied German) and the classes seemed interesting, so it seemed that the decision was really quite easy. I applied to study abroad in both fall and winter quarters of the following year and was accepted, which left me with a summer to figure out how to prepare for six months abroad.

I first arrived in Berlin bewildered, confused, jet-lagged, and excited. I can honestly say I had no idea what I was getting into. After a cab ride to the Stanford Villa, I was stunned. So, this was the Stanford away from home. I was ushered through several rooms, met with each staff member to get a sense of the academics, the living arrangements, and the opportunities in and around Berlin, and after a short dinner and a bit of conversation, my host mother and I made our way to the place I would soon be calling home.

The Stanford Campus in Berlin is an extraordinarily large house, really— so when I began taking classes, the environment instantly felt more intimate and open to casual discourse than any classroom at Stanford. The professors and staff were always accessible for questions, and because you were likely to run into them around the house (their offices are on the second floor of the villa) it was easy to stop by and chat, and listen to their amazing stories.

My previous knowledge had been limited to studying World Wars I and II, so I was excited to learn more of the history and become acquainted with more than horror stories. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. Germany is a place that is finally able to begin to form an identity as a country somewhat apart from atrocities in the past. For this reason especially, I think that Germany is one of the most interesting places to study. How to balance the past and present is a difficult topic to be sure, but with classes on architecture, history, culture, and economics, my professors were able to show me just how far the country has come in the years since World War II and the steps it is taking in moving towards the future.

After my first three months abroad, I decided that I actually wanted to stay in Berlin for the entire year, and there was still enough room for me to do so. In addition to my studies, I also interned in Berlin in the summer, so I was able to cheer and get rowdy with people from all over the world during the World Cup, work at the largest textbook publisher in Berlin, and see the beauty of the city in the summer.

I loved the Bing trips that allowed us to explore other cities in Germany, the Will trips that exposed me to such countries as Latvia, Turkey, and Bulgaria, and my own travels in and around Germany. I have a better sense of the world and my place in it, and although with each trip I realized how much more I have left to explore, in Berlin it was never a question of “if” - it was simply a question of “when”.