In the summer of 2024, Isla DeBarros (11) packed up her life in East Lansing.
Her destination: Berlin, Germany.
After her parents taught music and foreign language at Michigan State University for 10 years, they decided to take a sabbatical.
They chose to go to Germany due to her dad having friends who lived there, ultimately leaving on July 15.
For DeBarros, this wasn’t easy.
“I didn’t know the language. I was there for about a month and ten days before school started without knowing anybody,” DeBarros said. “It was isolating.”
Before she started school, she stayed inside a lot. She recalled her parents doing a lot of excursions to see the city. She wasn’t very interested in that.
“I was scared to explore with them because I didn’t know anything about the city,” DeBarros said. “[But], they did have a lot of good flea markets in Berlin, and I actually went to a few of the events.”
In her spare time, DeBarros did lots of research on the school she was to attend and tried to learn some German on Duolingo. Still the transition wasn’t easy.
“It felt weird,” DeBarros said. “I didn’t know what to expect, so I was lost, especially on the first day. [However], I was put into a class with mainly new kids, so it was comforting that we were figuring it out together.”
Her school was an international one, where everyone had to at least know English, but taught students from all over the world. Unlike at home, her day at school was different because her schedule was always changing. The school day would end at 3:50 pm Monday through Wednesday and at 4 pm on Thursday and Friday.
“I learn better when I’m writing on paper [because] it makes me feel less stressed out,” DeBarros said. “Nothing was due at 11:59, it was due the next day.”
DeBarros mostly stuck with the same 20 people everyday, besides her elective classes, and made close friends with four girls who were also new to the school.
“I had a few friends that knew German, their names were Noella and Ella,” Debarros said. “[Noella] was super helpful and would always translate for me. Ella was super patient when I was learning the language. The teachers didn’t really translate, but those friends really helped.”
DeBarros said her friends helped her adjust, but the school year itself brought surprises. As it drew to a close, her family began thinking about when they would return to the U.S.
“We were actually planning to leave in June, because that’s when we thought school ended,” DeBarros said. “When we got there and [after] researching the school, I found out that it ends a lot later. We had to change our plans [then].”
Even with friends by her side, she admitted it often felt like there was too much to catch up on in such a foreign place.
“Me and my friends all had too much to catch up on,” DeBarros said. “There’s still so much that some people don’t know about my experience there.”
