Picture the Foss Hill dormitories perched on the apex of our campus, gleaming with all their modernist boxy-ness. They’re certainly not classically beautiful, but their relative drabness is offset by their proximity to the splendor of Beckham, College Row, and Olin.

Now imagine a university campus built entirely in the style of the Nics and Westco, change the brownstone to concrete, and the mental image you produce will probably look something like the University of Regensburg, the Bavarian university where I have been studying for the past three months.

My fellow American exchange students and I first arrived at “die Uni Regensburg” for a tour of the campus on Jan. 20. It was a snowy, freezing morning, and the off-grayness of the mammoth, rust-streaked concrete buildings and gravelly cobblestone quads mirrored the color of the overcast sky and the trampled snow underfoot. There we stood on that cold morning, in an unfamiliar country, being spoken to by tour guides and professors in a language that was still only semi-familiar. At the time I felt cold, overwhelmed, and as far removed from Wesleyan’s brownstone buildings and Neo-Gothic College Row as one could get.

However, I tried to stay in good spirits. While Uni Regensburg may leave something to be desired in terms of aesthetics, I told myself, surely it has a lot to offer in other areas. Indeed, what else would explain the droves of happy-looking German students we passed as we made our way through the grounds?

Later I asked one of the younger professors who had given us our tour whether students at Uni Regensburg had a lot of pride in their school. My question was met with laughter, and an answer that went something along the lines of, “Not in the same way that you American students do.”

In addition to Uni Regensburg being opposite from Wesleyan in terms of appearance, the experience of the Regensburg student is in many ways opposite to that of the Wesleyan student. Wesleyan prides itself on its vibrant campus community as a small liberal arts college. The student body is small, as are most of the classes. There are a plethora of extracurricular activities associated with or funded by the college, the campus is structured around a grassy main quad, and students are encouraged to live on campus—so most of the partying happens there. On campus, we study, work, collaborate, and play together, and, as a result, many Wes students harbor some degree of what one might call “Wesleyan pride.”

In contrast, Uni Regensburg is big (17,000 students), with many large lecture classes and an emphasis on research. Students can’t live directly on campus, as there are no dorms. Rather, the school subsidizes numerous apartment complexes throughout Regensburg’s neighborhoods. While its hallways contain numerous postings for plays, musical performances, and political demonstrations, the student groups that post these notices aren’t subsidized by the university and don’t necessarily operate on campus. Hence, students see Uni Regensburg more as a place to study and less as the amalgamation of their main social and entertainment outlets.

Instead, the life of the Regensburg student centers on the town of Regensburg, a three-minute bus ride from the University. Indeed, a common love of the town is what really unites the student body. Regensburg’s stunning medieval architecture, which is interspersed with Roman ruins, more than compensates for what Uni Regensburg lacks aesthetically, and its numerous bookstores, cafes, cultural attractions, bars, and nightclubs render it a quintessential college town. Locals and students alike allege that it has the highest density of bars per capita out of any German city, although to my knowledge this has yet to be confirmed. When walking the streets from Thursday to Saturday, one is sure to encounter flocks of partying students on their way from one venue to the next—a similar scene to what one might see on the Wesleyan campus during those same nights of the week.

I can’t conclusively say which set-up I prefer, as both have their relative advantages and disadvantages. To me, there is something both convenient and comforting about having everything immediately accessible within a less-than-ten-minute walk at Wesleyan. Furthermore, I enjoy knowing a high percentage of the people in my community, and I absolutely miss events like dodgeball tournaments, all-campus barbecues, and Spring Fling, where a large portion of our campus comes together in celebration. However, because Wesleyan is so campus-focused, it is also, in a sense, insular—a ripe environment for daily drama concerning the wording of housing policy, the names of arts festivals, and WSA presidential elections to become overblown as we lose perspective and let our emotions lead to irrational judgments.

Right now I find my new university life refreshing. I appreciate the sense of independence and anonymity it affords me, in addition to the respite from some of the stresses and distractions from my life at Wesleyan. I feel like I have gained a new perspective since studying abroad, and I hope I am able to carry it with me after I return.