A Whirlwind of Activity within 152.184249 days

Hallo, wie geht's?

My name is Aytaj and I am 22 years old millennial who has been shaped by this amazing movement which I am going to talk about. As most of the people I was with the mindset that it will never happen. But now I am here in Remagen, studying at Hochschule Koblenz RheinAhrCampus 4.091,5 km far away from my home Baku, Azerbaijan for more than 5 months. I still remember the night, 14^th of September that I arrived. It was cold, no one was around and I was out of my internet. First lesson I learnt that day – being well organized and well prepared during this exchange for having better experience. I was thinking first few weeks will be somehow hard to get used to the new environment. But I was wrong. Sprachen/Internationales team were perfect supporters. Before coming I got an email about 1-week agenda including events, meeting and procedures that will be needed to do after coming. Agenda was well planned, everything went accordingly and with help of planned excursions, Rhine River clean-up day and this kind of events I was able to engage quickly with all exchange students. Also, the Orientation Week covered all the necessary topics about enrolment, campus, Mensa, insights into Germany, etc. helped me to adapt quickly my staying in Germany and at the university.

Long, rich and complex history of Germany conquered my heart so far and I lived real cultural diversity here and still trying to soak up as much information on German culture as possible. Studying in Germany and receiving a DAAD scholarship enabled me to traveling in Europe almost 15 countries and many cities. Even we did a sightseeing tour by car to Paris, Zurich and Milan with my friends. It was super fun!

In total, I have taken 9 different courses for the winter semester 19/20. All were interesting and taught me something valuable. Especially the course so-called Leadership and History is my favorite. This course was delivered by guest lecturer from Canada Brock University, Victor Thiessen and aimed to deliver the meaning and role of leadership in history. I do still remember most of the our interactive, intensive and history related discussions topics during this course. Besides countless courses, RAC also gave me a chance to be part of Sprachen/Internationales team. Academic internship helped me to improve my multi-tasking skill and practical experience while being charge of the different tasks like event organizing, marketing, etc. Taking a separate course on German language also increased my German language skills on elementary level for everyday life. That’s true that it is not an easy language, but it is possible to learn if you want. “Übung macht den Meister” (Practise makes perfect). Now I am able to speak some words and sentences to German people in German.

Today, I appreciate the opportunity my university gave me: it helped me not only improve my English skills but also evoked my interest for new cultures through travelling new countries in Europe. My memory box is full of unforgettable moments and I have one great, open and friendly international community now. And most importantly, I am happy that I will be staying one more semester in RAC. Because I am aiming to develop my intellectual abilities and personal skills and reach my full potential. Also I cannot wait to see how beautiful Remagen is during the summer.