Studying abroad was always a dream of mine

Studying abroad was always a dream of mine and when my home university opened the postulation to do it, I did not doubt it and applied. In my home country, Chile I am studying to become an English language teacher and while searching for the best place to study relating to the language, I decided that I did not want to go to the obvious place, The United States, so I started to search universities around Europe. Germany had plenty of good universities but when I read about University of Bonn I was very excited to apply for it. It is a really good university academically, located near other countries and had a really good international community.

When I was officially selected to study abroad, the preparation and organization was a little stressful because I had to figure out how to make the money transfer to pay the Semester fee and accommodation. Besides that, the webpage of the university was very helpful to navigate and get information. The Mobility Online page was also very useful to upload all the documents and get information back.

My welcome at the university was very nice, I was part of the ‘study buddy program’ so I was able to ask all my questions to my buddy who was the most kind and nice person I met here. I was lucky to get accommodation at the Studierendenwerk-Bonn because many people told me that it was difficult to get a place to live. The place was close to the city center and university facilities, it was really nice and I had enough space to live the 5 and half months of my stay abroad.

At the beginning it was difficult for me to choose the right courses that could be acknowledged at my home university, but I finally found some that my professors back home approved. BASIS was also a big help because all the course details were there and it was easy to decide according to the description of them and the language they were taught. I only took courses in English because my German is very basic. One big difference between the University of Bonn and my home university Universidad de Talca, were the course evaluations. At my home university we used to have evaluations every month for every course and at the University of Bonn the exams only take place at the end of the semester and you also have to register to take them.

For me it was a little difficult to make friends in class because everyone already knows everyone and the classes are big, which was different for me because at my home university we used to be no more than 20 students in each class. Despite that, I was able to meet some students because we had to work together on some assignments and they were very nice to me. You can also make a lot of friends and meet people going to the International Club and ESN activities which are very fun. Bonn has a lot of things to offer and I personally think it is the best place to live.

I really enjoyed my time abroad and I would love to do it again because it really helps you to get to know different realities and get to know yourself. One thing that I really regret is not knowing the language because I think that way, some things would have been easier for me. However, I really recommend that you take the courage and study abroad because you learn so many things you couldn’t imagine you would.