“The Drury Experience”, that is the name of my blog. But what does it stand for? It means a lot of things but right now it is the codeword for having to write a blog at midnight after studying for an exam for three hours and doing homework all day. But is that all it stands for? Of course it’s not! It also means meeting many great people, dedicated professors and to be able to be part of a great community. Today I was invited to a dinner at President Todd Parnell’s house. The remarkable thing about this is that Todd Parnell remembered my name. I could not imagine the President of my university at home to remember anyone’s name. In fact I have never even spoken to him…

But let’s start from the beginning! I am Maris-Anna Lustig, 21 years old, born and raised in Bremerhaven, Germany. I have lived in Minnesota my junior year of high-school so now I have practically two families: a German and an American family. It was always my dream to come to the United States to study and play college tennis but when it was time for me to apply to universities I basically chickened out. I was scared to leave my family and friends again so I decided to go to a school three hours away from home: Lueneburg. It is a great town and I have found many friends, both in school and in the new tennis club. But I always knew that I wanted to come back to the U.S., I knew I was missing something. So when I found out that the Leuphana University of Lueneburg has partner Universities in America I got excited and applied for Drury. I was lucky and got chosen to stay a full year- and now I am here!

I have put a lot of thought into deciding what I should be talking in this blog. And honestly? I don’t know what this blog will turn out be like. What I do know is that I will be writing about things that affect my life. Things that make me cry and things that make me laugh. About experiences I am going to make and people I am going to meet. Is it a scary thought to not know what lies ahead of me? Yes and no (in German “Jain”, Ja und Nein)! Obviously I seem pretty independent to go to a different country by myself, leaving the surroundings that I know so well. This doesn’t mean that I am not horribly insecure at times and wonder about if it was the right choice to come here and what I will do with my life. I am the most indecisive person you will ever meet. And I think things over and over and over.

The other day I talked to a friend and he said: Everything happens for a reason. Although I have heard this so many times before, it suddenly made sense to me. This experience might change my life. I might meet someone. I might be able to stay here and finish my degree. Am I scared about my uncertain future? Heck yeah I am but I wouldn’t even be having this blog if I had stayed at home with mommy and daddy to hold my hands. I would like to give people impulses, to do something that isn’t easy. To go for dreams even though there will be many obstacles in their way. I also want to create something I can look back at and say: This was me at 21 in Springfield, Missouri!