Hallo Studenten!
For my Fulbright proposal, I had to demonstrate that I knew some basic features of the city where I was planning to stay. These included geographical location and the age of the town. I also had to be able to describe any major shifts or changes that had happened to the city over time. Specifically, I had to become knowledgeable about the history of the town of Greifswald being untouched from World War 2. Since the town had been unscathed from the wars, the famous Dome still remained as one of the oldest buildings. In my efforts to how to have an ambassador mindset, here are some of the topics I wish I had spent more time on:
History of the Country
One of the most significant shifts in German history was to do with East and West Germany before and after the Berlin Wall came down. The city where I lived, Greifswald, was originally on the East side of the Berlin Wall, and this impacted how the older generations received foreigners. Soviet graves and landmarks were present in the town, and even the social dynamics were different compared to what my fellow Fulbrighters experienced in Berlin. The English language was more welcome in the larger cities compared to small towns like Greifswald.
