What this semester was about…

Leaving home for a semester abroad was not the easiest thing even if I was « just » flying to Germany. The first days I felt alone, I knew no one here and it was quite depressing. But then the german courses started and I met a lot of new people and made really good friends. We discovered the city more and more every day, visiting museums, walking in the center, bathing in the Englisher Garten… This whole semester was about discovering: discovering new places, new people and new school. All these discoveries were interesting and made me grow in a way. Now I can say that I am more autonomous than I used to be in France and I am less shy, I am able to make friends easier.

Photo: Pierre Ripoll

Being far from home helped me becoming more autonomous, it is sometimes hard to do all by yourself in a different langage. It also helped me fighting timidity and making a lot of new friends. But the hardest part was at school. I had all my courses in a different language, which was unusual for me as I only had one class in english in two years in France. I also discovered the german university system, and the way the courses are taught in Germany is way different from the French system. All my teachers here asked students to read one or two texts each week before the course, and we spent the whole courses discussing about these texts.

In France we also have to read texts, but they are most of the time shorter and the discussion about them only lasts half an hour and then we have presentations and the teachers explain us clearly concepts and theories. Here in Germany the courses are all about discussion and presentation, teachers don’t really explain what it is about clearly (in all the courses I chose maybe not in all courses). And student’s presentation don’t follow a clear methodology, they give a general view on the topic but they don’t problematize it. This semester gave me the conviction that in my school they give us a very good methodology!

Photo: Pierre Ripoll

But more important than discoveries, this semester was all about memories, memories I created with all these new friends I met. Bathing in the Englisher Garten, going to the mountains for a hike, lake days at Chiemsee or Ammersee, castle visits at Neuschwanstein and Nyphemburg, Oktoberfest drinking beers, dancing on tables, having the scare of my life on attractions, « grown-up » diners for birthdays and Christmas, clubbing in the center of Munich, a lot of brunches, movie nights… A thousand of memories I’ll bring back with me home. Now the semester comes to an end I feel both sad and happy, sad because of living this new life I have built in 5 months but also happy to go back home with friends and family, starting new adventures!