My Mind-Expanding Life Experience

Hello All,

My name is Aytaj and I am from Azerbaijan where is bounded by the Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains, which span Asia and Europe. I am an exchange student at RheinAhrCampus, and this summer semester was my second semester here in Remagen. I have already posted about my first semester’s experience and shared most of the things I have done during the first semester which you can find among other experience reports.

The second semester was totally different for me. For first time, I have experienced online semester which was truly successful than I expected. Most of the classes that I signed up have taken place and contributed to my professional growth and enhanced my academic experience. I was able to have an access to all study material online and quickly which made the life easier. In my opinion Zoom classes worked effectively, but it's not the same as being in a lecture which helps you to concentrate more.

For first time, RheinAhrCampus held Digital International Week which was very effective that I want to mention in my report. International Week is a collection of many workshops where several partner associations talk about scholarship, internship opportunities, some intercultural topics and advice for studying abroad. In International Week 2020, up to 40 people from different countries have participated very actively in each session. Personally, I got a lot of information about study abroad and different other opportunities which I will definitely benefit from it for my future life.

During the first semester, I was able to travel a lot and experience new things. This time I spent most of my time in peaceful Remagen where I feel very safe. All my exchange friends and Spachen Internationales team were perfect company and supporter for those days. After restriction to meet with many people has been removed, my few friend and I as a small group started to travel within Germany. We did 4 days’ trip to southwest of Germany, to the Black forest which is called Schwarzwald in German. Those densely wooded areas, Titisee lake, Schluchsee lake, a university town Freiburg made me experience a real fairy tale beautiness. While swimming in the lake we engaged some local people there, and they suggested us to go to Schlossberg in Freiburg and try a beer there. We followed the advice of locals, and hiked up through the woods ride to Schlossberg mountain to the lookout tower where we enjoyed views of the city, and drank a glass of beer in the biergarten (a beer garden) was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Additional, I got a chance to visit Amsterdam again and went to Van Gogh Museum which I could not buy ticket last time. I can say it is very good place if you want to see Van Gogh’s life with his works and arts. All the paintings were more astonishing in real life.

Since last semester, I was planning go to Berlin, capital of Germany before leaving and finally this semester I got a chance to visit Berlin, and to see many touristic places there such as East Side Gallery, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag Building, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and some beautiful parks. There is an ideal place with a rich history, remarkable sightseeing and museums.

At the end, I honestly without sugarcoating can say that my exchange experience was again super intensive and worthed to experience it.