I feel like I am in a new life

Hello, my name is Mariane Castro, I am originally from Brazil and I am finishing my first semester as an Erasmus student.

Forrest Gump says: ”Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you are gonna get!” This quote could sum up my experiences here studying and working at RheinAhrCampus!

Undoubtedly, before traveling to Remagen I expected to get some international experience, but, to be honest, I thought nothing could be so “new” for me since it was not my first experience living abroad, because I am living overseas since 2016.

But looking back and comparing my two experiences as a Brazilian living in Portugal and now in Germany, for sure, I can say that only now I totally went out of my comfort zone and I am living the moment I always wanted immersing in a multicultural environment and learning new things every day.

Here I had the opportunity to make friends from different parts of the world, to work creatively (a totally new mindset), to learn new ways to communicate and work. The cultural shock was really huge for me, nothing was similar to my home University or my latest job: here I feel like I am in a new life!

From my experience of studying and working in the Sprachen/Internationales team, I discovered that I have a new goal for my life: I want to continue my career working in a company that can provide me with intercultural knowledge.

The Intercultural Communications class was very interesting and I also loved to work as Chief Editor of Absolutely Intercultural Podcast, so I want to thank especially Dr. Laurent Borgmann for giving me such an opportunity to unfold a new passion in my working life.

If I could give you a piece of advice, I would suggest: to get a bike, study German and open your heart and mind to this semester at RheinAhrCampus, for sure this will change your life for the better!