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Name: Melanie Schmidt
Home country: Germany
I am Melanie Schmidt, a 25 years old Fulbright student from Germany. I spent my first 20 years in Hildesheim, which is near Hannover (where we speak high German). However, after my "Abitur", I decided I needed to see more of Germany and therefore, moved to Southern Bavaria (Passau). To be honest, I also thought I should bring some high German to the Bavarians. :) There, I first majored in Law. Like the young Goethe, I soon discovered that Law was not really a fun thing to study. Consequently, I dropped out of Law School, having in mind that what did not harm Goethe, might also not harm me. This way I started majoring in American Studies (which I have not regretted at all so far). Following Goethe's path even more, I then transferred to Leipzig University, which is in the former east of Germany. There I spent the last two three years before I came to the University of Maryland. In Leipzig, I am socially active in the local LEO Club, where I was elected on the committee as secretary last year. My research interests are a cultural comparison of the United States and Germany. Furthermore I am very interested in contemporary immigration to the US, in the question of American identity and in ethnicity. In Germany, my minors were Cultural Studies and Political Science, however, here in Maryland, I plan to focus on immigration, identity, and ethnicity