Once in Germany, time to remember

My experience of being an exchange student at RheinAhrCampus has started on the 15th of September, 2019. As soon as I have arrived, we were nicely introduced to other exchange students and all of the activities aimed at making my stay here unforgettable. Before the studies officially started, we have taken a pre-orientation week, where we have learnt a lot about German culture, norms, and some aspects which could make life easier here. We have understood how German people act in certain situations, so it was easier for us to get over the cultural shock and invest in becoming familiar with the lifestyle here. The second week of my arrival was full of interactive activities, which helped me to meet a lot of German students and surely improve my German skills. With these activities, I was able to have fun and make new friends. Besides, later we have had classes together with these students and the second week has helped me to integrate into the classes without any problem. I would also love to mention the buddy system working at RheinAhrCampus. Since my arrival, a German student, who was studying here has been helping me with everything I needed. She was my buddy and her help, friendly advice and surely strong support have definitely made my stay amazing. Because of her, I was aware of every event which the student associations of the university had to offer. She has also helped me to understand the meanings of carnivals and their role in German reality. Exactly because of her, I have felt myself as a part of German society. The variety of courses offered at RheinAhrCampus is just magnificent. As most of the subjects are either 2 or 3 credits, I was able to enroll in more than 10 courses, which have been taught here. As all of these courses concentrated on different important issues, it was very interesting to attend them all. Because of the variety and quantity of subjects, I have increased my knowledge about many important things like Corporate Social Responsibility and others. These will definitely help me to achieve greatness in my future career. Some of the courses oriented on cultural competences of people, have taught me that perceiving cultural differences is totally normal and can be easily acquired if we know the basic rules of people’s behavior. Concerning the courses, it was a blast for me to understand that the university also offers some subjects, which last not more than one weekend but cover the same material as ones taught over the semester. These were intensive courses and they have been so interesting that I have stayed over the weekends at the university and listened to professors giving out an excellent presentation. I would also love to talk a little bit about the academic internship, which I have taken. This internship was one of the biggest challenges and surely motivators for me to improve. During the internship, some of the tasks I have done were even working on creating tests for fellow students and contributing to a higher standard of study. The internship has taught me to be more punctual than ever, to take initiative and love to be challenged, as the challenges are the ones that make us better day by day. All in all, I want to say that this semester was full of meeting interesting people and studying a lot, becoming more intelligent not only in retrospect of academic background but also towards cultural understandings. I will always remember the time spent in Germany, this one semester will be on my mind forever.