3 Challanging Experiences (Nikash)

 Meeting the local students at the University of Bonn challenged my viewpoint on how intense the curriculum and workload is; in addition, it also challenged my view on what their work life and personal life balance was. My expectations were always that university here would be much more intense then that of TAMU and they would rarely have any personal time but its quite the opposite!

I met Moritz back in the first week of being in Germany and seeing hearing about his experiences with the schooling system and the freedom that one has out here was crazy to me as when your 16 you can choose to still do school or go to do an apprenticeship and then once you graduate high school many people end up taking 2-3 years as a gap year! I also met Ariane who is a student in Belgium and hearing her experience with traveling to Australia for 6 months just cause and trying to get a job with sustainable energy was so interesting yet she emphasized heavily that school was simply supposed to be a chill time to enjoy and figure out who and what you want to do and be. It just surprised me how much more efficient and relaxed the schooling system is here and now I really wish I did start my life out in Europe. 

Everyone here is so kind and I feel as though these interactions always pay forward because I’ve definitely made friends that will last a lifetime out here and I really do appreciate the kindness and empathy that they share for someone who is not from where they are and they really are just amazing people. I think I reacted to their positivity with more positivity which allowed me to make the most of my trip out here and it brought light to me to show that even a small compliment or exchange of words can lead to a everlasting friendship!