What is your school affiliation and what year are you?
Junior in CAS
What is your major (if declared)?
European and Mediterranean Studies (but I don’t focus so much on the “Mediterranean” part)
What inspired you to study in Berlin?
Language practicality, really. I felt confident in my skills in French and realized that if I put my mind to it I could get the basics of other romance languages down pretty quickly, and I decided that I should do the same with a Germanic language. I had no idea that Berlin would be so eye-opening for me, I dived in head first with very little thought other than, “I’m going to make the best of this.” In addition I was on point about the language idea – I am determined to learn languages such as Norwegian and Dutch because I know my knowledge of German will make things significantly easier.
How was your experience? What was most inspiring, surprising, or moving about your time there? What did you find challenging?

The most moving moments of the 11 months I spent in Europe:
Traveling from Klaipéda to Vilnius in Lithuania, I sat next to a man born in 1932, the same year as my grandfather. He did not speak English, but spoke Russian and a little bit of German. His German, and his accent, were hard for me to understand, but somehow, after an hour and a half of communicating through limited German and hand gestures, I found out he knew someone (maybe a daughter?) living in Chicago, that he had three sisters, that he knew many a Russian drinking song, was named something that sounded like “Bratislava”, and he taught me how to say nose and eyes in Lithuanian, and he gave me a kiss goodbye. I’ll never forget him and our 90 minute conversation.
Best moment in Berlin: walking through the park near my apartment (I was living off-campus) at night in the late fall – it was dark, the moon and the lights reflected off the little pond, and there was a large group of parents with their small children. The children were around the ages of 1 to 3, and they all held these little lanterns and sang songs. I love Volkspark am Weinsbergweg, as well as Bartholdy-Mendelsohn Park, the two places I found the most peaceful the closest to home.
I understand that you started a student organization, Earth Impact Club, while in Berlin during the fall term, 2014. Can you describe why you did so? What is the club’s mission and vision?
I am involved with a couple of different student groups and campaigns on the NYU campus that have to do with environmentalism and I missed being a part of that culture. I also took a course on European Environmental Policy my first semester in Berlin and realized how many aspects of German policies are far more advanced than American policies, and how, on a local scale, Berlin is a decently sustainable city (at least in comparison to New York or Pairs or London and many other places). The point of the Earth Impact Club is to explore Berlin through its environmental and sustainable aspects.
There are many different components of the club that each group of students can pursue each semester: visiting gardens and parks, getting involved in the Berlin community to learn about how Berliners feel connected to their environment, understanding what the city is doing to promote environmentalism and sustainability, learning what we can take away from the successful environmental and sustainable aspects of Berlin, and figuring out how Berlin itself can improve. The most important question: what kind of attitude does it take within a community to make a city sustainable? How is that done, or not done, in Berlin?
Has the Earth Impact Club continued to operate even after your departure? Is it linked at all with similar groups in NYC or at other sites? Is collaboration across NYU’s global network on environmental issues something you see happening?
The Earth Impact Club continues to operate this semester and I certainly hope to see it continue in the future. This is one of the projects I will be working on in the future – how to create a sustainable network of student groups that reaches NYU’s global extensions. This isn’t just something I see being done, it is something that should be done.
The Earth Impact Club is not currently officially aligned with any NYU campus-based groups. I do not see the EIC becoming, say, an extension of EarthMatters, however I will put this forward: I consider myself a representative of Oxfam America at NYU and NYU Divest (from fossil fuels), an ally of EarthMatters, the Community Agriculture Club, and many other environmental and sustainable groups on campus. We can’t have small subsections of each individual group on study abroad campuses, however we can have one group that incorporates all these groups. Since these groups are all in coalitions at the New York campus, this is feasible.
I also understand that you won a 2015 President’s Service Award for your inspirational contribution to NYU Berlin’s environmental awareness through the Earth Impact Club. Congratulations! How did it feel to be honored in this way?
I am very thankful for the administration in Berlin. They have been so supportive as mentors and as friends, and it is the greatest honor to be recommended by any of them for anything. I am also thankful for the community that this initiative serves – the students I worked and continue to work with. They were the ones who shaped the first semester of the Earth Impact Club and provided a framework for the future. I am also incredibly impressed and excited as I learn what members are doing this semester. It’s not this award that matters – it’s the community’s participation, learning and gratitude.
Has creating this group and focusing on environmental issues in Berlin informed your thinking about your future plans? If so, how?
Yes. I have learned quite a bit about how I function as an organizer and how I perceive urban planning and environmental policy. I know that sustainable improvements to our society – including the way we think as individuals, communities and societies – is, and will be from now on, an important component of what I do.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your time in Berlin or while at NYU?
Ich vermisse dich, Berlin.