by Megan Kropf ’20

Along with many other changes you face when you study abroad, food is something that you have to consider when moving to a completely new country. At Dickinson, we have many different on-campus food options that are included in our meal plan and most of them are open all day, every day. It is not difficult at all to find prepared meals that are basically already paid for with swipes or flex points. At Uni Bremen, however, we have the Mensa, or main cafeteria, (in addition to some smaller on-campus cafes) that offers lunch from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm Monday-Friday and there is no pre-paid swipe system like Dickinson’s meal plans. So what do you do for breakfast, dinner, and weekend meals? You cook! It depends on the person, but some students prefer to cook most of their meals, while others enjoy cooking some and eating out at restaurants for others. But while it’s nice to go to restaurants and eat delicious German food, it’s not exactly realistic to rely on that for every meal.

Luckily, Dickinson arranged a cooking workshop where we learned how to cook easy and cheap, yet healthy recipes. Together we made smoothies, pasta salads, chicken curry, and quinoa dishes. I personally love cooking and trying out new recipes, so this workshop gave me new ideas of dishes to prepare. It was also helpful to talk about shopping for ingredients and how to get the most out of your groceries. Produce and fresh food is relatively inexpensive in Germany and it’s easy to make meals using organic fruits and vegetables. In addition to learning how to cook in Germany during this workshop, we all had a great time cooking and eating together!