When I spontaneously decided during my second semester of third-year to study abroad, the idea of going to the U.S. felt like a far-fetched dream. Living on campus, attending college football games and experiencing the infamous frat parties seemed like something I could only experience through “Legally Blonde.”
But what if the American college dream, the epitome of a European student´s fantasy, shaped by movie clichés and campus stereotypes, was what awaited me on the other side of the world? When I got admitted to Duke, I knew I was about to find out.
Upon my initial arrival, I was greeted with one of the most breathtaking sights I could have ever imagined for a college campus. The vast stretches of green, the towering and charming Gothic architecture of West Campus and countless stadiums for all kinds of sports left me in astonishment wherever I chose to look. My first months were particularly filled with awe, unable to believe what was about to be my new reality for the next year. Am I really that lucky?
My personal Roman Empire in the first week of class was my corporate finance professor asking me where I was from. When I responded that I came from the Free University of Berlin (FU), he looked at me in surprise and asked why I would leave such a prestigious university for Duke. I was quite shocked and honestly in disbelief hearing that statement when I realised he wasn't joking. I was absolutely falling in love with Duke more and more day by day — the vibrant Duke culture, the incredible orientation week I had just experienced and most of all, the people.
Academically speaking, the gap between Duke and FU couldn’t have been bigger. In Germany, students apply directly to a major and are thus much more limited in the courses they can take outside their field of study. Here, I suddenly had the flexibility to explore minors, certificates and a variety of electives beyond my major. I am currently taking U.S. Arts Policy, which couldn’t be further from my business major at home. I also absolutely love that, in contrast to my home university, I didn’t have just one highly theoretical final that would determine my grade for a class. At home, I would be stressed out to study each time, even though straight A’s are more of an exception for German students. Instead, Duke greeted me with a mix of midterms, quizzes, presentations and participation that would flow into my grade, which made my day busier, but my finals less stressful.
The only thing I truly started to miss was our voluntary attendance for every lecture and discussion-based classes (if they even existed). I mean, why was I supposed to show up for classes and why did teachers take attendance? I felt like I was in high school again. The concept of FLUNCHing professors, sending them a quick WhatsApp when you run late for class or being invited to their home for a party was one of the biggest culture shocks I had. Are you trying to tell me that your professor talks to you about anything but your grade, and you have their number and socials saved in your contacts?
Beyond having to worry much less about my grades and having the most amazing professors, I was amazed by Duke’s incredible sense of community. At Duke, living on campus all of a sudden meant fully immersing myself in student life, something I had never gotten to experience before. College sports, particularly basketball and football, were more than just games, they were part of Duke’s culture, and you were Duke’s culture.
Writing a test to answer Neal Begovitch’s prom date dress’s color just to get into Black Tenting for Duke basketball while competing against over 2,000 other students and being lucky to tent for three weeks (nominal—realistically much less due to the freezing weather) is a very niche experience that I was able to experience here.
But it didn't just stop here, no. Writing even another test, decorating tents with the craziest names related to the players like The Konstitution or The Ten Khamandments to get a good spot in Cameron, just for game day to be rocked by students dressed in groups in terms of their tents, this was just a culture you wouldn’t get in Berlin. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t get this anywhere.
Now let me take you to the other side of the Atlantic — no school colors, no mascots, no chants. Just the city. Let me immerse you in what I was used to before Duke, in a version of college that breathes spontaneity, thrives on independence, and lives outside campus gates.
Being a student in Berlin means spending an hour and a half on public transport just to attend a two-hour lecture before heading right back home because you don’t have anything else to do at university. It means deciding on a whim to go to Berghain on a Thursday night because, honestly, no one is checking attendance the next morning, or the morning after if you're really in party mode. It’s dropping into the library to see if your friends are studying, debating whether to join them or head home to tend to everything else but studying. Or maybe taking a detour to a café in Mitte instead, visiting Hugendubel to roam the halls for hours because you’re currently looking for your newest read.
It’s working part-time as a barista, at a consulting company, or remotely, because most students balance jobs alongside their studies or even work full-time. It’s engaging in student clubs on a much smaller scale, perhaps visiting companies after class for networking events if you are in such a club, and sometimes accidentally stumbling into an environmental protest or an open-air party at Warschauer Straße metro station on your way home, and sometimes staying just because.
Berlin hands you art on a silver platter. Museum Island, underground exhibits and a thriving cultural scene become part of your daily life when you're not in university, which you mostly are not. The city offers endless creative spaces, from abandoned airports like Flughafen Schönefeld, to hidden clubs where DJs play until noon the next day, which are places you randomly find out about on your way back from university. And if you ever need to escape this bustling city, you can hop on a 14-euro flight and find yourself in another European city for the weekend, or weeks or months, and return just in time for exams — because, in Berlin, university is more of an occasional fling, while at Duke, it’s a long term relationship.
Berlin also gives you the perfect space for ventures. In the evening, you might go back to university as your school is hosting a game night where all your major’s students play Mario Kart, sing karaoke, and play beer pong in your hallway — just remember to show up to your classes tomorrow. Or not — no one cares. In the mornings before lectures, you can join a running club and grab breakfast immediately after in Kreuzberg from one of the dozens of amazing restaurants - Turkish, Arabic, Italian, Nigerian — you name it, Berlin has it.
Berlin is when your tedious morning metro ride to class is accompanied by a live band that you wish would’ve jumped into another wagon, or a super obsessed calisthenics guy showing off his newly learned skills, or unfortunately both at the same time. Berlin is when you go to Schöneberger Bierstube or Schwarzes Café and somehow run into half your university. Berlin is doing nothing all semester and then, two weeks before exams, deciding to cram like your life depends on it, because you only have one grade for the class, and the class average is probably a C-.
But you get it. And Berlin gets it. And Berlin gets you. Berlin welcomes everyone, and I believe the liberty to do anything and everything is what makes Berlin irresistible.
At its core, Berlin is spontaneous. It’s independent. It’s free.
Duke, on the other hand, is structured. It’s immersive. It’s a tightly-knit community.
Berlin is where you carve your path, where freedom pulses through the city and independence is your compass, it is a place that challenges you to write your own story. Duke, on the other hand, is a force that sweeps you up, a community where every moment feels connected, where the campus and its people become the heartbeat of your own experience. Here, togetherness is the rhythm, and it’s impossible not to be swept into the flow.
Experiencing both cities and universities has made me realize that neither is inherently better or worse; they both simply offer different kinds of growth. And fortunately, between those two extremes, I have found myself.
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Lisa Maria Stirbu is a Trinity junior on exchange from Berlin.