By Jack Hildebrand, AYF 2010-11

I arrived at Frankfurt international airport and quickly made my way to the baggage carousel to claim the belongings that were to last me through the year.  These consisted of a large backpack filled with my computer and books, a roller suitcase with all my clothes, and a cardboard box the size of a doorframe, which held a disassembled bicycle.  The route to the city’s Hauptbahnhof was simple enough, just a couple stops on the airport shuttle train, but became an hour-long geometric challenge to fit everything I had through turnstiles, escalators, and crowds of commuters.

By the time I arrived on the platform, my breathing was asthmatic and my clothes saturated in sweat.  Lugging everything into the closest wagon seconds before the doors closed, I grinned stupidly at the only other person in my compartment.  The man didn’t return the smile, but coolly informed me that I was actually the first-class wagon and, maybe not so politely, that my journey was not quite over.  Navigating down the narrow aisles of a few second-class wagons and a couple bruised elbows later I finally found an empty seat.  I’d made it to Germany.

Travel is like that—unexpected trials, confusion, and ultimately the destination. The year that followed was a pivotal point for my academic and personal interests.  Through the AYF program, I became immersed in a new cultural platform for sharing knowledge and ideas.  However, the events, lectures, excursions, day-to-day activities, and even breaks in between language classes formed a broader curriculum. I was learning how to be part of a larger international dialogue, how to be successfully accepted into a society and also contribute to it.

Upon returning to the US, I not only became one of the obnoxious people who responded to everything with, “yeah well in Gerrmannnyyy…”(proceeds to explain how everything is infinitely better in Germany), I also returned with the intent to play an active role in preserving this dialogue.  Starting at Madison, I became an advisor for University’s German and Austrian programs at the International Academic Programs office.  After graduation, I then moved to Vienna to teach through the Fulbright Program in Austria and pursue a Master’s Degree in Environmental Technology and International Affairs from the Vienna University of Technology.

Returning to the United States again, this time after almost five years abroad, I arrived in a place more foreign than anywhere I had traveled in Europe.  My home state of Wisconsin had become plagued with closed-door politics and closed-minded beliefs regarding the environment and refugees.  While trying to do my part working at the American Refugee Committee, I continued to look to Germany as a role model for humanitarian relief and reflected on my own experience in Freiburg, a place where I had been welcomed by an overwhelmingly open society.  Even at my current position at the UMN’s Rosemount Research Station, I gain insight to my own research by maintaining a personal interest and relationship with my German counterparts (see CA Hallman’s insect biomass study).

I believe participating in the AYF program not only provides the skills necessary to succeed in the workforce, as a German teacher or foreign affairs officer, but also a true understanding of the need for and benefits of maintaining a personal relationship with Germany. Equipped with an international mindset, I believe future AYF students will be able to strengthen US-German relations even more and foster an international dialogue that advocates scientific research, democratic values, and sustainability.  When I see the posts on Facebook now from current AYF students, it’s hard not to remember the hectic beginnings of my time in Germany, but what I find myself reminiscing about most is the calm ending.