I became much more open-minded and outgoing to meet new international friends

I have spent an extraordinary and evocative time in my exchange semester at the University of Bonn. Time flies and I can’t believe the 6 months have already passed.

Introduced by my home university’s German tutor and being curious about what it is like in the former Western German capital, I have chosen he University of Bonn as my host university. Thanks to the step-by-step email guidance and timely assistance from he University of Bonn's Global Exchange team, I did the application and administration work e.g. getting health insurance and the city registration smoothly. Special gratitude goes to my Study Buddy, Leonie who helped me a lot upon my arrival. She not only picked me up at the airport but also offered me her home for accommodation for the first few days as there were some problems with my dorm move-in. In the next week, I finally managed to move into my room. With a shared kitchen and toilets, I got chances to mingle with my flatmates who came from a vast array of countries. They are friendly and fun! We loved playing Werewolves together at weekends.

In March I attended the intensive pre-semester German language course. It was my first time being in such an international class. In breaks, we shared a lot of our cultural insights. The scene I remembered the most was, we wrote each other names in our languages e.g. Chinese, Russian and French. Moving on to the semester, the international club and study buddy committee organized various events for us which helped me to connect with other exchange and German students. Although I was not so active in joining those activities, I was able to stay closer to the German students.

In the following months, I spent a lot of time travelling around different German cities and European countries like Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, the Czech Republic, etc. As an Asian, seldom did I get a chance to visit all these breathtaking places, so these were certainly my once-in-a-lifetime experiences! If I study abroad again, I would have allocated more time in the city where my university is, developing a deeper relationship with the people there. 

In a nutshell, these 6 months were like a dream to me. I become much more open-minded and outgoing to meet international friends. I also become more independent, knowing how to take good care of myself and having my culinary skills improved. I definitely miss the people I met, the freedom and private space I had in Bonn. I am ready to go abroad any time again.