Hi! My name is Jose Cruz, and I am currently an undergraduate at UT Austin pursuing a double major. One in Architectural Engineering, and one in German (fingers-crossed). I was initially introduced and fell in love with the German language during an exchange year abroad with the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program. I had wanted to take a gap year after high school and chose Germany after being fascinated by its rich culture and history. Here, I assimilated into German life and a host family for 10 months. I quickly picked up the language and worked hard towards fluency by studying it. Moreover, I developed interpersonal connections with my host family, community, and other exchange students. I built a broad support system and additionally learned a little more about what engineering in Germany looked like.
Thus, today, with a deep love for math, creativity, German, and knowledge, I ended up at UT Austin. At UT, I aspire to engage in a future where I can combine my different passions. Shortly thereafter, I discovered the TGDP within the German department. As a Texas native, I was intrigued to come back to my home and simultaneously be able to immediately involve myself with something I had grown to love. At TGDP, I aspire to revitalize and preserve integral parts of Texas and German history within.