In 2007, I completed my B.A. at Vanderbilt with a major in German, a minor in English, and an odd assortment of physics and math courses. During my time as an undergrad, I experienced both the Mayfield and the McTyeire living/learning environments. In the spring of my junior year, I went to Regensburg for a semester with the Vanderbilt-in-Germany program.

 

After graduation, I spent a year in Germany as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant. My assignment was in the town of Rendsburg in Schleswig-Holstein. When I wasn’t busy admiring the Schwebefähre, I was assisting with the English instruction at the Berufliche Schule Rendsburg – Gewerbe, Technik, Landwirtschaft (roughly translated: occupational school for trade, technology, and agriculture). Yes, they have a model road-construction room with a dirt pit.

 

Following my year abroad, I entered the graduate program in German at Vanderbilt. I received my M.A. in my second year and studied abroad in Berlin at the Humboldt-Universität in my third year. As of this writing, I am in my fourth year of study and preparing to take my prelims. My interests include Kierkegaard, Kleist, Kafka, Kuchen, and selected other things that begin with K. Some German words that I like are: ‘begeistert,’ ‘skurril,’ ‘erfreulich,’ ‘zerstreut,’ and ‘schriftlich’; or, for other sorts of occasions: ‘verschlagen,’ ‘ungebärdig,’ ‘unheilschwanger,’ and ‘vermaledeit.’