Adventure is the best way to learn!

My name is Mariami, I am 21 years old and I’m from Georgia. Semester at RheinAhrCampus was already my second exchange program in Germany and I believe this shows how much of interest I have for this country. Germany has always been an ideal country for me to study in, with its rich and complex history, an invigorating culture, fun-loving people and something every student looks forward to in a new environment. In order to get here, I had to go through a huge competition. Hundreds of students from my university are eager to spend at least one semester abroad and intensive selection process in both, home and host universities, makes it even harder. But here I am, enjoying a semester abroad for the second time. During these last 5 months, a lot has changed in my life and RheinAhrCampus was the reason why. Here I was able to experience a high level of international education and was granted the opportunity to completely immerse myself in English and German languages. RAC opened a new door for me and gave me the chance to leave my comfort zone, stand out from the crowd and challenge myself. Even in the very first week of the semester, I was encouraged to deliver a presentation in front of everyone in the huge auditorium full of Germans. There is no place I will be afraid to perform after that. During this semester I got acquainted with a different method of teaching. In Georgia, classes are all about gaining theoretical knowledge, while here we focused on practical experience more. We were doing assignments, making presentations, planning excursions and all of this made my student life at RAC way more delightful. One of the highlights of this semester was an academic internship that RAC offers to every exchange student. What can be a better opportunity to experience studying and working in the German environment at the same time?! Therefore, I tried to enjoy every perk of this exchange semester and be involved in every activity that this university offers. I volunteered to be a course assistant on one of the courses Intercultural Communication, I got acquainted with different learning platforms such as Moodle, Olat, TYPO3, worked with professional software Photoshop, was in charge of the specific part of student blog and also for the experience reports for exchange students, planned different events and excursions. All of this helped to discover my strengths and weaknesses and therefore, overcome those weaknesses. During this period of time, I became more mature and independent in terms of the personal and professional aspects of my life. I am not afraid to take new responsibilities anymore. Another big benefit of this exchange semester is that I have new friends from all over the world. What can be better when there are 10 people in a room and all come from different backgrounds? Getting to know their country, culture, language, and traditions was a very special moment for me. But besides the opportunity to communicate with students, I also had the chance to interact with professors from all over the world. I could never imagine that I would attend classes conducted by Georgian professor here at RheinAhrCampus. Another highlight was participating and planning the most international intensive seminar Managing Cultural Diversity, which was attended by people from 18 nationalities. This seminar not only helped me to meet new people but also to understand the perspectives of people from all around the world. This exchange semester has been a wonderful adventure for me and those 5 months spent at RheinAhrCampus will definitely stay with me forever.