This place has got a piece of my heart

Hello,

I am Ashlin K Jayan, ERASMUS exchange student from India. I am doing my Master’s in Business Administration at Pondicherry university. For me, the exchange opportunity in Germany came as a blessing during the online classes of the pandemic.

Though, I was in very confused state at first when I applied for the opportunity at RAC thinking that what if I get selected, there will be opportunity cost involved in that. A lot of ‘what if’ came to my mind when I got selected for the exchange opportunity. Decision is hard to make but once we make it, then it will push you to go forward putting your best in everything as it goes. Yes, then I got the josh to prepare and build myself for the internalization journey.

My semester abroad is a phase came out as discovering phase of myself more and realised what I am and what I want to seek. This would be definitely the best learning part of my life in all aspects-the phase I unlearned and relearned too.

Back in India, we believe and rely on interdependence upon each other but here I realised how prolific it is to be independent, making your own a home, starting from cooking, shopping, laundry, cleaning etc.  Paramount and inevitable values like money management, planning and organisation became a part of daily life during my stay here as an Exchange student. In the beginning, it was overwhelming for me to process lot of information on the go but everything became a part of my life so agile.

Remagen literally became my home itself. The place became so dear to me with its calmness and peaceful atmosphere away from all hustle and bustles. The banks of the Rhein river turned out to be my favourite place to chill out and to have a peace of mind. The satisfaction and happiness being there for a while always helped me relax myself

The excursions the Sprachen internationals team organised really helped all of us to integrate to the group well and the opportunity to meet students from around the world helped me develop new perspectives about the world and to know how people behave in each situation and how they deal with different situations.

I learned a lot from each of us, on how to be more confident, how efficiently one can work and dedicate each time of the day, how to organise, manage and prioritise well with the works we do. Interacting and learning from each other instilled in me a zeal to do well in all that I am engaged in.

The bond with the other international students just did not confine to classes, excursions, and internships. It continued beyond that with movie night, Iftar Dinner and birthday parties etc. These unofficial events really helped us get close to each other and created beautiful moments together which could be cherished forever.

The best part was about the travels we planned and went together. Around Europe with different people and different sights, different cuisines are all flashing like a jovial dream and being in those places which we always dream about was a cloud nine moment for me. Those travels are the treasured moments of my life which I can be proud and contented at the same time.

The academic internship and the tasks which I have taken up really helped improve well professionally. It has enhanced me in many ways literally. Working together in a diverse team is a very open platform to explore and get to know things. It was amazing to know how people think and deal with the situations differently. A diverse is always creative and add well to the teamwork that can enhance better results to the work.

It’s been four months here since I reached Germany, and I can’t think of how fast the days passed. I have had many beautiful experiences as well as learning within these days. And I will be always grateful to all people who were a part of my life here during the stay and also to my family, friends, home University, and the team of Sprachen/Internationales who stood as a support for making everything so smooth

It was one of the best decisions of my life to make use of this opportunity to stay abroad as exchange student and to make a diversion in the path. It is worth than you can think of. It will make you realise how big this world is and discover that we have miles to go before we reach our destinations.

Ashlin