I had started the Global History MA program in Berlin with the intention of immediately following it up with doctoral studies in the US. After Berlin, I was able to gain admission to a number of schools, including my top choice, NYU. In this basic way, the program was an obvious success for me as it helped me pursue my desired path. But the graduate program in Berlin gave me much more than this. I will point to two particular aspects. First, the convivial nature of the program and the faculty-student relations allowed me to smoothly transition back into academic life after a few years of working as a journalist. Second, the program’s intellectual focus on the field of global history—demonstrated both in the commitments of its faculty and in the academic events it hosted—equipped me with insights and literature familiarity that continues to aid me, sometimes in surprising ways.