My professional skills have improved dramatically

I can’t believe the time has come. In one week it would have been one year since I packed my bags and left Australia.

Studying abroad was always a driving motivation for me during my studies and deciding to study at RheinAhrCampus was a decision I made in a day. I knew I wanted Europe and Germany as my destination and RheinAhrCampus turned out to be my home away from home.

My first semester was full of meeting new people, travelling, starting a new internship, learning in a new environment and the scariest, living by myself. However, once I was able to settle into everyday life, I was able to make Remagen my home and feel comfortable being independent. So comfortable in fact that I had to stay an extra semester.

The support here at RheinAhrCampus was great and really came in useful when I felt homesick. As RheinAhrCampus is a medium-sized university, it is less anonymous, many students know each other, and my friends became my family.

My internship, which is part of the English Programme, was also a major part of my life here in Germany. At the beginning of my internship I was asked to think about what I would like to achieve through the experience and to start with I was really quite unsure. After a few introductory internship meetings I decided that my three main goals for my year-long internship would be:

1. Expand my computer knowledge using online platforms and more advanced software
2. Create, modify and organise necessary documents for the Sprachen/Internationales team
3. Become not only a student assistant, but a tutor available to students that need any help to do with the course, or with their English etc.

The internship has been an amazing opportunity for me, as I have already learnt so much and continue to learn new things every day. I am glad to be able to say that I have definitely achieved my original goals and conquered a lot more. I was able to manage an intercultural blog, develop the department’s use of social media, organise two major events on campus and also participate in and contribute to concepts of an award-winning podcast “Absolutely-Intercultural”.

My professional skills have been dramatically improved in a nurturing environment, where everyone in the department was happy to help. I would encourage anyone that has the opportunity to participate in such an internship, to take it - because not only will your CV grow, but you will personally as well.

More information of the campus internship.

Also in closing, I would like to thank every single person that made my stay in Germany and at RheinAhrCampus unforgettable!

Bis später,

Lucy