Studying world issues as a high school student, she realized, “The world is so big, and mine is so small.”

Laura McGee, an associate professor of modern languages, studied French in high school and aspired to study abroad in France.

Getting an acceptance letter back, she was told France was full and had to choose from a list of other available countries.

She randomly chose Germany, though she was blinded by her lack of knowledge of the culture and language.

At a ripe age of 16 McGee boarded an airplane. The Berlin wall was still in place and Bonn was the capital.

“That was 30 years ago,” McGee said.

Since then she has revisited Germany about 30 times.

“Some friends say that I know Berlin better than they do,” she said.

Taking students to Germany this May term will be the third time she has provided a 102 language course a chance to be immersed in the culture.

“I want to make students feel safe and comfortable, using public transit not charter buses,” she said.

“We travel like locals, and eat like locals,” she gleamed.

Having traveled to Germany on school trips twice with her, Morehead senior George Eklund said McGee provides a next-to-citizen view of the city.

“When students say to me they have a life skill gained through traveling with me, it’s what makes it worthwhile,” McGee said.

If her students have trouble understanding the language, she may throw out the lesson plan for the day to help them; she recognizes those moments and builds from them, Eklund said.

“Her teaching style breaks up the mundane task of day to day language learning,” he said.

Although German is the language she says she is best at, she adds Spanish as second best, with some French under her belt.

When it comes to studying abroad she has kept in contact with her past friendships and host families throughout the years.

Of her host mothers, she holds one very dear to her heart.

“Hildegard,” she mused.

She grabbed a tissue as she spoke of her.

“She passed a couple of years ago.”

If you spend a lot of time traveling, you get a sense of “I want to just go home now,” and you wish for a clean and safe place, a home away from home, McGee said. She had found that place.

“I would call and she would say, ‘Your bed will be ready,’” McGee said with a smile.

The most important experiences she said she gained were the wisdom of living and learning German.

“I sort of live between cultures.”

In the southeastern U.S., people are very indirect when they speak. Germans can be very straightforward and honest, McGee said.

She recalled what friends from Germany have said when visiting her home, “If you want me to load the dishwasher just tell me,” instead of dancing around the issue.

She claims to have learned to navigate both cultures.

“Germans have the same needs and interests we do,” she said.

If it were up to McGee, she would teach all of her classes in Germany.

“I enjoy helping make my students’ world a little bit bigger.”