My first trip to Germany was in 1983 at the age of 12. I fell in love with it then; since then, I've visited and studied there multiple times. An AFS summer study abroad in 1987, my sophomore year undergrad (1991-'92) in Göttingen, a summer externship at the Munich Dental School in 1997, and several trips since have kept that love of Germany's people & culture alive. Remarkably, I've maintained a high degree of fluency in German and still enjoy reading & conversing in it, when the opportunity arises.