We Will Definitely Meet Again!

My name is Dirk Fraterman, I’m 22 years old and I’m from the Netherlands. I study Hotel Management at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Apeldoorn. I came to the RheinAhrCampus to study abroad, because it’s a part of my study.

To be short: my time here at RheinAhrCampus was great and above expectation! I’ve met dozens of great people from Germany and countries across the world. It was a great experience for me to spend a semester here in Germany.

In the months prior to my semester abroad, I got in touch with Dr. Rajah. She helped me a lot during this time. She helped me with finding a place to stay during my semester abroad, getting my learning agreement signed and answering questions about my study abroad and living. Also, during this semester, I could always ask Dr. Rajah about everything according to the courses and my stay here in Remagen. She definitely did a great job helping me and all my fellow international students with all of our problems!

All the international students who were studying at RheinAhrCampus this semester were great! There were students from Korea, Azerbaijan, Portugal, the USA, Canada, Italy, Spain and even more countries! We bonded very well since the first day we met and we’ve become great friends. We hung out a lot with each other at the university, Baracke, Irish Pub or even at each other’s homes. Some students were celebrating their birthday while studying abroad, and we celebrated all birthdays with them!

Also, we went to a lot of places with each other. In the first week here at RheinAhrCampus, we went to Cologne with Dr. Borgmann. This was a very nice and interesting trip! Dr. Borgmann, Sebastian and Christopher planned the whole trip. We climbed the Kölner Dom and they taught us a little bit about Cologne’s history. Some international students and me also went to Bonn and Koblenz, just to look around in these cities. This region is so nice, because of the Rhein river and the hills. Way better than the Netherlands!

The courses that I took here at RheinAhrCampus were very interesting! I’ve learned a lot about cultural differences, working with refugees, corporate social responsibility, organizational development and learning and marketing. The greatest thing about all these courses at RheinAhrCampus is that they were all aimed at the international market. All the teachers here at RheinAhrCampus want us to internationalize ourselves and become a professional in intercultural communication and business.

All the teachers were great as well! I couldn’t have imagined how nice and hospitable they were. If I didn’t understand something or something wasn’t clear to me, they took the time and effort to explain everything to me.

All the international students were involved in organizing international events at the RheinAhrCampus or in Remagen. I loved the way how the weekend course “Managing Cultural Diversities” was organized, with guests from Denmark, India, France, Hungary and more countries! We also organized several events for the refugees here in Remagen. Our best event was the International Dinner, where we all prepared a typical dish from our home countries and served it to the refugees.

To be concluding: my time here at RheinAhrCampus was great! Time flies when you’re having fun, my time here in Remagen is almost done. I wish everybody the best and we’ll definitely meet again!