We’re happy to hear for the first time from current grad student Jacob Hoffman and to know that cultural immersion adventures still thrive:

“This past summer I went to Baden-Württemberg, to a small town called Scheer, where I worked on an organic farm for about three weeks as part of a program called WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). I had already been in Germany for a month before this, and decided I wanted a break from jumping between cities to really immerse myself in local culture. The family who runs the farm housed and fed me in exchange for six hours of labor per day on the farm, and the experience was amazing! Good, honest work under the sun in a beautiful landscape, and always eating organic, wholesome meals. During the day I pulled weeds, fed the cows, helped fix machinery, and cleaned out grain silos. Also, I learned a bit of the Schwäbisch dialect during my stay there, and they named a newborn calf after me! Along with walking the "barna ösvény" in Budapest (a gorgeous tourist trail from the St. Matthias Church all the way to the Oktogon in city center), this was one of the absolute highlights of my trip!”