Categories
Graduates 2016-2017

Shihao Du ’17 Senior Profile: German Studies

Shihao DuMy name is Shihao Du, a German Studies and Linguistics double major. To be honest, four years ago, when I just embarked on my journey at W&M, German Studies was not one of the subjects, that I was considering to major in. Back then the only experience I had with Germany and the German language was a ten-day exchange in a little-known town near Stuttgart and four months of language course at Goethe Institute. But still, the tiny spark of interest was strong enough to urge me not to sever the connections I had with that part of the world even if I was studying in an American college. It was at the very moment when I was kayaking together with my host parents on the breathtaking Templiner See during the summer program in Potsdam that I finally discovered the secret passion inside of me for this country, which had always been there since the beginning. And then came the one-semester exchange in Münster, where I found my true love… The bond between me and Germany is now really inseverable, and I believe it will be further strengthened when I go back to continue my studies there.