In the beginning of this exchange I did know what to expect from it, so I wasn’t even nervous for moving to a foreign country and environment. I already had everything what I needed for this experience. Flights with couple extra luggage, and place where to stay in Hannover. So, ya-ou-let’s go.
First weeks felt like movie. I was thinking only that now I live in different country and I have a shared flat with Malaysian guy. First weeks of studies was only intensive course for German language. It was super and also really good prep if you want to learn language quickly. And of course make some friends. At the beginning me and my room mate got really well along. We had a long chats on the kitchen and it lasted until the end of my exchange. He has been my mate/lad/mara through this exchange.
Studying at first was little bit different with English and I felt that all the others have already studied with English. These courses were the first courses in English for me and for others the whole studies are in English or at least couple courses already. But out of sudden I started to master my English and German and it got all the time easier. In the beginning I studied English every day. I studied the whole time in here German and it helped with travelling because in some places people don’t speak English at all. So I did some room reservations and all the interaction in restaurants in German, if I had to. Also Duolingo was a great help to learn German.
I studied here intercultural management, lean management, product development and emergence process, high voltage fields and English & German of course. In general all the courses has been great. Intercultural management was one of the greatest things in here. It was a one week excursion course to Harz union. I made so many new friends and learned about myself. Teachers are highly educated and theirs English is just great. Also I hope I’m going to pass all there courses. On January we have exams and I only have three, because I already had 5 exams before Christmas.
On my free time I traveled A LOT!!! And you should also if you are going to exchange and you have read my blog this far. I also love to do sports so I’ve been working on a CrossFit gym usually on Wednesday evenings and training everyday when I’ve had time. It’s fun, good balance for studying, and really great practice to master your English. Also we have been in every attraction in Hannover with my buddies.
For instance, once we went to sauna, because you know, I’m Finnish and we love sauna. We didn’t knew at first that usually the saunas are nudist saunas XD So all of us were wearing swimsuits and one of the workers came to us to say that “swim wears are prohibited in here, so if you want to enjoy our services, you need to wear nothing or only towel”. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. We took of everything and just enjoyed the saunas. There were also some sauna rituals. But better to have some secrets what you can experience by your own. Note to myself and maybe to you that it’s common in central Europe that there is nudist saunas. And saunas where u can use swimwear, those are called textile saunas :).
This period has taught to me about new cultures, languages, I’ve made me long term friendships, and the most important part to get to know myself more deeply. Great time, but everything comes to an end and so nice to come back home.
So many more stories to tell… But clock goes, so time to rush.
Niilo Peuhu
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