This year, the director of the School in Germany hosted the mid-year conference of directors of Middlebury Schools Abroad in Berlin. In our endeavor to incessantly improve our students’ learning experiences around the world, we got together for individual meetings and lively group discussions covering every aspect related to directing and designing study abroad programs focused on enabling students to effectively immerse themselves into their host culture, to improve their language skills and develop their skills at creating more and more independent academic and private lives during their time abroad. We also were happy to have Janice Abarbabanel, PhD, as our guest speaker, who joined us to share her Expertise on how to deal with the stress of shifting cultures. Time went by so fast, and we were intensely busy, but did have some time to sample some goodies and Christmas atmosphere in the heart of Berlin.