My Philly Exchange Adventure
When I look back on my time in Philly, I have mixed feelings. I have learned so much, whether it be academically, about myself, or about the country. I experienced the unfiltered everyday life that is, like for so many people in the U.S., in poverty or close to it. Also, my roommates told me a lot about the health care system and the supporting system of the government in case of unemployment, which is either very expensive or just nonexistent. Life there showed me the structure of the country in connection with its history, in the form of high crime rates, high poverty, structural racism, and poor infrastructure. All of this made me aware of my privileges every single day.
Anyways, I also gathered very nice experiences. I met lovely people from all over the world, whom I can now call my friends. We rented a car and drove to Cape May beach. On a few weekends, we made day trips to New York, which I enjoyed very much. I also traveled alone and went for an extended weekend to Washington D.C. by Megabus for example. For this, one should definitely plan enough time, as the Smithsonian offers a wide selection of free museums, all of which made me understand several aspects of museum conception. Each museum was an experience in itself.
Overall, the support from Temple University as well as specifically from our exchange program was very good and I never felt alone when I had problems. I was amazed by the size of Temple University and what it had to offer. The sports and the leisure options were endless, also from the “Global Programs” the equivalent to the German “Internationales Büro”. I regularly visited the swimming pool, which was free to use.
Finally, I would like to highlight a class: „Archives and Manuscripts“ taught by Margery Sly. At the beginning of the semester, it was very reading-intensive to get everyone up to speed. Throughout the semester, Margery provided us with case studies from various legal disputes always related to archives. These cases made us think about things in different ways and led to interesting discussions. Additionally, Margery had an incredible amount of knowledge and did not hesitate to share this knowledge with us. Her experiences drawn from professional life in archives and special collections were mostly very entertaining. The support from the teacher in this class, and overall, was more intense and more personal than what I experienced at German Universities. In this course, our exchange really felt like an exchange. We not only learned about archives but also had fun sharing cultural differences. The other participants were very interested in life in Germany. We talked a lot about German food, and they were quite shocked about „Mettbrötchen,“ the delicacy with raw meat and onions 😀
The exchange and my experiences there have definitely changed my view of the U.S. and the world in general. That’s exactly what I think abroad experiences are for: to broaden one’s horizons. I am grateful for the experience; without the exchange program I would never have been able to finance such a stay abroad.
My Philly Exchange Adventure by Anna Lena Kröger
