A European (Society) Student Takes New York City

My first couple weeks at NYU were a whirlwind. Fun events and programs like Welcome Week and adjusting to my classes kept me busy. Settling in included setting up regular phone calls with my mom back in Frankfurt as a six-hour time difference required some planning. During these calls, we went through all sorts of updates from both sides. For example, I told her about my classes, my professors, and all the exciting things I planned to do in New York City. She told me about the events in my hometown, like the new farmers market and preparations for the German holidays, and the latest updates on our family. Those calls made me realize that, within all the events in the past few weeks at NYU, I had not made time to connect with my roots. 

After voicing this concern to my friends, they convinced me to attend Club Fest, the exhibition of all the clubs at NYU. I was immediately surprised by how many clubs and organizations there really are here. Going there with the mission of connecting more with my cultural roots, I quickly found the table for the European Society. Within two minutes, I met members from four different countries and was yearning for more. That’s how my journey with the European Society began.

The European Society has weekly events with their members and sometimes even collaborates with other clubs. I was quite nervous to go to the first event. So I convinced a friend to come with me even though she is not European. But there was no reason to be nervous. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, and we bonded over Belgian french fries in a matter of minutes. From then on, I attended every European Society event that followed. For example, I went to student mixers, trivia nights, and collaborations with other clubs. The European Society Thanksgiving is my personal favorite. It’s a potluck dinner where everyone brings their favorite homemade European food. I hadn’t cooked anything from my culture all semester long, and eating everyone else’s Ukrainian, British, Belgian, and Spanish—you name it—plates was an incredible experience.

However, while the food was great, the members really made me stay. They seemed to get me: my occasional feelings of homesickness, the trials of adjusting to US culture, and the yearning for little European traditions. I felt understood and validated. The members slowly became my friends, and now I cannot imagine my life without them. We started spending time together outside of the weekly meetings. Attending each other’s birthday celebrations, going on European food crawls, and having little picnics to celebrate our successes all contributed to these former strangers turning into my little overseas European family.