The Longer the Better

Hi! My name is Marina and I am from Spain. This is the second semester that I am in Remagen, I thought that it would be more of the same, but I was wrong. The winter semester was really good I traveled a lot around Europe. But the summer semester is awesome, there are a lot of festivals around the area, Rhein in Flames in Bonn, the Pride day in Cologne, the Altstadtfest in Koblenz… Most of them without entry fees. I also wanted to travel this semester but at the same time I did not want to miss what it was happening here. There was something happening every weekend.

In summer the weather changes, it is really nice outside. We are out all the time enjoying the sun. I personally like to ride my bike a lot, and Remagen it is the best place to live if you like the nature. You can go everywhere by bike, you can even go to the next town, Sinzig by bike. I like to have a walk along the river. The views are awesome. Also, with your semester ticket you can take a ferry to go hiking in Erpel Ley.

I am glad that I stayed a complete year here because I can appreciate the changes and the different activities, for example in summer semester the pool is open really soon, also you can play volley-ball in the volley-ball court in the afternoons. People make BBQ all the time, if you live here, you will probably be invited to three BBQ in the same week. (But do not forget that you have to bring your own meat). In addition, I personally enjoyed going to the campus in Bonn and playing games with my friends when the weather was nice. Also this semester I volunteered to work as a bartender in Baracke, the student bar in Remagen, where I have had the chance to make a lot of friends from the area. This helped me to improve my German. Moreover in the internship I took different task so I was still learning new things. I was advertising International week, on Facebook, in the classes, it was a really rewarding experience.

I also traveled to differences places in Europe and traveling during summer is incredible, I went to Prague, Karlov Vary, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Oporto, Madrid… Maybe It does not seems like a lot of places, but I have traveled so much in the first semester that I did not have a place where I have not gone already! People are so much friendly in the summer, everywhere I went I made friends from different countries, and I love that everyone tells you something about your country.

Going abroad is an experience that I will never forget, and I recommend everyone to do it at least once. We need to explore more the world and knowing people from different countries gives you a different perspective and opens your mind. This is not my first experience abroad and I know it will not be the last one. But so far it has been the most important, Remagen is a very special place for me and I believe I will come back here again.