Translation … My heart remains in Berlin. 

According to California Alpha Dana Ritchie, her hardest breakup was leaving Berlin. “I love Berlin,” said Dana. “Germany has a sordid history, but the country today isn’t afraid to change. When you’re there you can feel the energy and how hard they’ve worked to make improvements.”

Dana, who spent one quarter of her junior year studying abroad in Berlin, recalled, “You can step out of your apartment and be anywhere great in the city in less than half an hour.” She appreciated how well the city is designed as well the amazing the art scene there. She was also quick to point out she would happily relocate there after graduation should the opportunity present itself.

“The German people are so nice and the language is beautiful,” said Dana. She loved the culture so much that upon returning to the Stanford University campus, Dana declared a German minor. But that’s not her only tie into the German culture.

Another passion of Dana’s is typography, which is defined as the study of the design of letters and letterforms and the history of the development of fonts and their impact on modern culture. She is doing a thesis on German typeface history and usage, tying her two passions together. “I would love to teach a class at Stanford about German design engineering and how typography blends it all together.”