By Dylan Meyer, Media Production, Management, and Technology senior 

Dylan Meyer was one of 15 students who participated in the Globalizing American Sports study-abroad program from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, held Nov. 1-6, 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany. To read other stories from the program, visit here.

Weeks leading up to the flight to Frankfurt, I was excited and anxious about what to expect. I didn’t know how close I’d get to the group of 15 students, or how well I’d adapt to the time change. I was also unsure of how I was going to balance my other schoolwork throughout that week while we were away.

However, reflecting on my experience, it was one of the best trips of my life. The group of 15 students did everything together, day and night, and most of all, I got to watch my favorite NFL team — the Miami Dolphins — take on former MVP and Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

When we landed in Frankfurt, I immediately felt the cold breeze hit my face and looked around the beautiful city. I noticed the NFL gear Germans were wearing all over the streets preparing for the big game on Nov. 5.

I was quick to learn that I was going to be eating different foods than I was used to, and I was totally fine with that. Having Media, Production, Management, and Technology Chair Roxane Coche, an incredible mentor, professor, and an even better person, lead the trip made it more memorable.

One of the days, we toured the DOSB, which is Germany’s Olympic Committee Building, where we got to speak to two professionals on how they manage sports being played and covered in the country. The next day, we toured the Frankfurt newspaper’s building. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is like the New York Times or the Washington Post. It is a leading newspaper in Germany. We saw how their newspaper articles are written and how it compares to the United States, and we spoke with multiple sports writers about the sports culture in both our countries.

As someone who was born and raised in South Florida, it was always a dream of mine to watch the Miami Dolphins play football in another country. Lucky enough, I was fortunate to be selected for this unforgettable trip with an amazing group of people.

Looking back on the experience, a few of the improvements I would have made include capturing more footage and content during game day. Prior to the game, there were tons of activities for fans to come together and experience something like never before. There were wide receiver challenges, quarterback challenges, vertical jump challenges, field goal challenges, and so much more. Here is a video of me doing the vertical jump challenge. The festivities were so special to see thousands of fans come together for one big game in the city of Frankfurt.

A few of the non-sports challenges included ordering at restaurants, making sure they understood me due to the language barrier. However, with the help of our tour guide Christian, it ended up not being a problem. I was also able to learn a few German words which I’ll never forget.

During this learning experience, my global perspective had grown even more, as I was able to understand how the German culture works. Hearing their national anthem at the NFL game, talking to locals about their football knowledge and how they feel about games being played in their country, and trying different foods helped expand my international perspective and overall knowledge.

The course’s objectives encouraged me to use equipment I wasn’t used to using and put myself out there to conduct interviews and gather b-roll footage for the content of my final project.

Overall, Nov. 1-6, 2023, were a few days of my life that I’ll forever be able to look back at pictures and videos of and I am proud to call each of the students a part of this trip good friends of mine.

Posted: December 14, 2023
Category: CJC in Frankfurt, Sports, Study Abroad Projects
Tagged as: Globalizing American Sports, sports, Sports@CJC, Study Abroad, Study Abroad experience