If your experience is anything like mine, meeting other international students will be the most memorable part of your time abroad. Building relationships with other exchange students is so unique because you are all going through the same things. You are all adjusting to life in a new city, meeting new people, missing home, and trying to experience everything that you can. Having these feelings in common helps you to build friendships for life. As sad as I was leaving Mannheim, I also knew that I could be excited to reunite with these friends again. I now know that I have couches to sleep on all over the world and I learned more from them about cultures and life than I could have ever learned from a semester of school.

other Americans

Having other Americans in my program made the first few weeks easier for me. They were missing a lot of the same food and American norms as I was. However, as the semester progressed, I realized that while we shared some things in common, there were cross cultural experiences among our American group of exchange students as well. I noticed that I found myself most comfortable with the other Americans from New England and New York. Most of the other American exchange students came from North Carolina. While some of them were like me in many ways, I was also surprised how different many of them were. Religion, food, and way of life in the south can be very different from what I’m used to having lived in Massachusetts my whole life. This gave me a new perspective on how people see Americans. While we all come from the same country, we can also be vastly different. My friends who grew up in New York City were vastly different from my friend who grew up in San Diego. This made me realize that I cannot make generalizations about the exchange students from other countries. While I may suspect that all German people enjoy bread rolls every morning, I cannot know that based just on my experiences with my German neighbors. Regional cultures within countries can make a huge difference in norms and cross cultural experiences. It was also really cool to meet so many Canadian students while abroad. Before studying in Mannheim, I had never really interacted much with Canadians. It was really funny to travel with them because when asked if they were American, they would quickly correct the person and proudly say Canadian. We would then usually look at each other and say, “so what is the difference anyways?” We realized that for the most part, Canadians are very similar to Americans. The only differences we noticed were some vocabulary differences and phrases. I’m glad now that I live so close to Canada and will be able to reunite with these friends much more easily than my European exchange student friends.

Karneval/ Frühlingsfest

One of my best memories in Mannheim was my trip to Cologne for Karneval. While I was fortunate enough to have a German friend living in Cologne, I was not the only exchange student from Mannheim making the trip. A lot of my other exchange student friends knew that this was one of those things that we had to experience in Germany. While most of the German students rolled their eyes and explained how tired they were of Karneval madness, all of the exchange students could not wait to experience it. Some of my friends just went for the day and night, while others spent the entire weekend there like I did. On the last night we all met up on the streets of Cologne to see the ghost parade at night. Everyone was dressed in ridiculous costumes and we followed the parade around immersing ourselves in the German tradition. These special German events are a really good way to bond and travel with other exchange students. These events sometimes don’t spark interest for the German students since their so used to them and can go any year. However as an exchange student you want to take advantage of all the German traditions and festivals that you can. Another festival that I went to was Frühlingsfest in Stuttgart. This was a small festival that felt like a combination of what we think of as carnivals (Ferris wheels, cotton candy, etc.) and Oktoberfest. There were beer halls and beer tents set up in the festival where they served large liter sized beers. I went for the day with a group of exchange students using the Baden-Württemberg pass by train. This was a really cheap way for all of us to go since we were in such a large group. We met a lot of German people there who were really excited to meet and drink beer with us. Seeing all of the lederhosen and traditional German food made us really feel like we were Germans for the day.

Weekly Dinners

I lived in Am Steingarten in Mannheim. This was a dorm-like residence building where many other exchange students lived. About half way through the semester, some of the exchange students began cooking big dinners for everyone. We started a rotation where we would switch off between American themed dinners, Chinese, and Norwegian. These dinners gave us something to look forward to and to break up our school weeks. It gave us a chance to be reminded of home by cooking dishes familiar to us and also gave us the chance to try foods and traditions from other cultures as well. We tried to cook fun American dishes such as sloppy joes, pancakes and waffles, burgers and hotdogs, and mashed potatoes. Although it was nice to eat these familiar dishes, it was nothing compared to the international meals we were treated to. The only Chinese food I had ever had was the greasy yet popular American version of it. This was nothing like the fresh and authentic Chinese food we had prepared for us. Our Chinese friends shopped for the freshest ingredients at a Chinese market and prepared some fantastic meals. Another memorable meal we had was created by our Norwegian friends. They prepared a traditional porridge for us which is usually served around Christmas time. They played us some soothing Norwegian music, and taught us about their traditions. They had hidden an almond in one of the bowls of porridge. The person who ends up with the almond wins a prize. In our case, it was a large bar of Norwegian chocolate, according to them, “the best chocolate in the world.” This was a really fun way to learn more about the cultures of the friends we were living with. The dinners were always a fun time and I highly suggest organizing something like this with international friends.  

Meeting other international students while traveling

As an exchange student you will do a lot of traveling. Most of the trips that I took were with my American friends. We noticed that as Americans, we felt like we had to take full advantage of seeing all of Europe that we could. Our European friends did not share the same urgency which we did since they live on the same continent. Also, many of our European friends had already seen most of the major cities which we wanted to see. When visiting other cities, hostels are a great place to meet other international students. When a group of us visited Prague, we attended a few of the activities that the hostel offered for free. One night they offered a free beer tasting to introduce and teach us about some beers from the Czech Republic. Not only was this a great way to learn about beer, but also a great way to meet new people. At that event there were students from all over the world. We got to talking to them and ended out sightseeing with them the next day. Some of the students who were studying in France actually came and visited us in Mannheim. If the hostel that you’re staying at doesn’t offer any events, check to see if they have a bar. Some of the best nights and bars that we experienced while traveling where right in the basement of our hostel. The bars usually offer cheap drinks, but more importantly a relaxed atmosphere to meet new people. If you have the chance, I suggest visiting some of your international friends in their home cities. I never got to visit any of my exchange student friends, however I did spend a weekend in the home of my German friend. Being a guest in a German home was a really special experience and helped me to see what German home life was like. Her family spoiled me and cooked me amazing meals and didn’t let me help with anything. They were excited to hear about my experiences in Germany and taught me some of their customs as well.  

International Dinner

International Dinner

The international dinner was a great way to interact with other exchange students. During my time in Mannheim, there were two international dinners. One was at the end of the winter academy, and the other was during the regular semester. You are asked to register for these international dinners, and specify what you plan on bringing. Each student brings either an appetizer, entree, or dessert from their home country. I attempted to make buffalo chicken. Even though it didn’t come out quite like home, it was still a treat for myself and other Americans who were missing the dish. When we arrived at the dinner we were overwhelmed by the food and the enthusiasm. Everyone was so excited about what they cooked and wanted everyone to try it. It was really nice to see everyone genuinely excited to try and learn about food from other cultures. Pastries from France, salsa from Mexico, and freshly baked pretzels from Germany were just a few of the authentic dishes we were able to sample. Everyone loaded their plates and sat down to enjoy the meal together. As the dinner progressed, the drinking games slowly began. Each group of international students from the same country showed us the games they play while they’re hanging out and drinking with friends. Although drinking games are certainly not the most important facts to know about other countries, it was a really fun way to learn something new. It was a way for us all to bond and connect with each other as young people. We all realized that no matter where you’re from, playing games while drinking beer seems to be something that reminds everyone of home. This night was so memorable, not only because of the delicious food, but because of the amazing conversations too. Everyone was so excited to talk about what they cooked which made it so easy to start conversations.

Class

In most of my classes, it was difficult to distinguish international students from the German students. This was because most of my classes were large and conducted in English. However, in my small seminar classes, I noticed that teachers really embraced the international presence and used it as learning examples. I took a class called Media and Democracy which was a very small seminar of 5 students. There were 3 American students, one Dutch, and one German. The class was focused a lot on American politics and media. However, most classes left plenty of room for discussion. Hearing from the two non American students was really interesting. I felt as though I already knew a lot of the core materials of the class, so hearing how politics differs in the Netherlands and Germany was really cool. We came to the consensus that the US has too little political parties, and the Netherlands has too many (they even have a party for animals.) In another small block seminar that I took used the international examples for learning as well. The class was about service dominant logic management. I was the only American in the class, and had no idea that there was a difference between American service logic, and the rest of the world. On the first day of class, we learned that there are three main types of service logic, Nordic, American, and French. The type that we would be learning about in class was Nordic service logic. At first I thought that this was going to be pointless for me to learn about, but then I realized it was quite a unique learning experience. I don’t know when else I could ever learn about a different type of service culture. Listening to the other exchange students’ experiences was a helpful tool for me to understand this type of management.

                In my large classes, I found it helpful to surround myself with other international students in class. Since we weren’t used to the norms of German university lectures, it was nice to have each other to learn with. We were all a bit confused when the other German students either clapped or knocked on their desk at the end of class, but by the end of the semester we were used to it. University life was an interesting conversation to have amongst the international students. I learned that multiple choice Scranton tests are not used everywhere. My exams in Germany were all 90 minutes and hand written. My Norwegian friends explained to me that their exams are usually about five hours long and they are expected to produce a text regarding one question or topic.

living

I lived in a dorm-like building called Am Steingarten. I had my own room, but shared a kitchen and bathroom with 8 other people. My other floor mates were from Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain, and France. While this was cool to be living so closely with different cultures, it also was challenging for communication. I could hardly use my kitchen because it was so filthy and the bathroom was often dirty as well. I was intimidated to speak to some of my neighbors about it because of the language barrier. I eventually got over my fear, and was relieved that they all spoke English. However, the cultural differences still remained. They didn’t find it necessary to clean up after themselves and thought it was acceptable to smoke and leave cigarette butts in the kitchen. Also, quiet hours were different as well. At UMASS, for the most part, my experience in the dorms was quite civil. We had quiet hours and most people respected that. However, the students from Spain tended to be very loud very late at night. When I asked about why this was, they explained that it is just their culture. Very late night parties is the norm. My German neighbors were very neat, but very reserved. A German boy lived next to me, however, never spoke more than a “Hi” to me. I swear for the first 3 months I lived there he would run away anytime we were approaching or leaving the building at the same time. My German neighbors were very quiet and liked to keep their doors closed, whereas I kept my door open whenever I was home. I think that the other exchange students were intrigued by this and I noticed that they would often poke their head in my room to say hello when they walked by. I felt very fortunate that English was my native language since even though we were in Germany, everyone spoke English as a default. Anytime I held a door open or waved, I always got a “thank you” or “hello” instead of a phrase in German. I was sometimes envious of my friends who lived in suite style dorms. I felt as though they had more interaction with their neighbors and were able to build closer friendships with these international students that weren’t here for just one semester.

international VISUM parties

Weekly parties

Beginning a few weeks into the semester, VISUM throws international parties on Tuesday nights. Each week has a different international theme, like “English night” or “Scandinavian night.” They play dance music from these cultures and sometimes do some other special surprises as well. Although I was disappointed that they never hosted an American night, these parties were still fun to get into. Lots of students would dress with the colors representing their countries, or paint the flags on their faces. These parties were a cool way to hear new music and meet new international students. These Tuesday night parties were a lot of fun and helped the week to fly by!

L3

L3

One great way to meet international students was the Monday night stammtisch at Bar L3. Every Monday night the bar/café right across from the school hosts an international stammtisch. This is an awesome way to meet other exchange students. It’s a very small and casual bar that is usually bustling with international students. There is usually a theme every week that helps break the ice for conversations. Since it gets harder to attend Monday night parties as the semester progresses, I highly suggest going to these parties early in the semester.

VISUM

VISUM

VISUM is an organization for international students in Mannheim. Some of my most memorable experiences in Mannheim were from events put on by VISUM. Beginning in winter academy, VISUM representatives would come into our class everyday to let us know about excursions or events that they were putting on for us. This was so crucial and helpful for everyone since we had just arrived. With everyone living in different areas, and enrolled in different levels of classes, these VISUM events helped us so much to get to know each other. They also organized helpful tours of Mannheim and trips to IKEA to help us get situated and make Mannheim feel like home.  VISUM organizes weekly parties, local outings, weekend outings, and many other specialty events. They post all of these events on facebook and make it very easy to participate. All of the VISUM representatives were very friendly and willing to help you in any way they could. They were all genuinely interested in connecting the international students with the rest of the students, and also showing us a really good time. VISUM’s weekend trips were a very affordable way to travel. They offered two trips during the semester, one to Hamburg and one to Vienna. I did not participate in the Hamburg trip, however after hearing about it, I decided to go with VISUM to Vienna. Since VISUM brings such a large group of students, they are able get good discounts on busses and hostels. My weekend in Vienna was very affordable and I would not have been able to go that cheaply traveling alone. It was also nice that VISUM set up an itinerary for us, however it was totally optional if we chose to participate or not. They organized a city tour and some nightly activities to get our nights started. It was also nice to travel with other students so wherever we ended up going felt like a party. Unfortunately, some of our scheduled events were rained out in Vienna, but some of them sounded really cool. VISUM had organized a BBQ with another international student organization in Vienna. I think that this would’ve been a really fun way to meet even more international students and share some of our experiences. It was also really nice to have an entire trip planned for you. After doing a lot of independent travel, having the transportation and hostel booked for you was really refreshing. Another great VISUM event was the pub crawl. The pub crawl was a very memorable night for everyone. When we first arrived to get our t-shirt and pub itinerary, we were all a bit put off by the fact that they were randomly placing people in teams. We had all expected that we could pick our teams and be with all of our friends. It actually turned out to be a really good idea that they selected the teams because it forced us out of our comfort zone and to interact with new students. I met students that I had never even seen before and it helped me to realize that there were a lot more international students than I had realized. I forgot about those students that had already been in Mannheim for more than one semester. These students didn’t participate in some of the introduction events, however they participated in the pub crawl because they already knew how fun it was from experience. After the pub crawl was over we arrived at the school for the weekly parties hosted there. Although we were all kind of embarrassed to be showing up with face paint and tee-shirts on, we all had such a good time and had made so many friends that we decided it was okay to stick out as exchange students. Join the VISUM group on facebook before you arrive in Mannheim and you might have the chance to meet some new people before you get there!

Winter Academy

During my first few days in Mannheim, I will admit that I clung mostly to the other American friends that I had just met. When we started classes in the Winter Academy, I was very excited to meet other students and become closer to those who I had already met. However, I was first very disappointed to realize that my situation was not going to be typical. Most of the other exchange students had either no previous knowledge of German, or were highly advanced in the language. I was caught somewhere in between as an intermediate German speaker. The Winter Academy struggled to place me into a new class, so I ended up joining a class with one other exchange student that had already begun. When I walked into the class I was shocked to realize that the majority of the class was older adults. The other exchange student, Kaitlyn, and I were also the only Americans in the class.
I found this to be very frustrating at first. While all of the other exchange students were growing closer and spending lunch breaks together every day, I felt like I was missing out. They were all doing homework and projects together My class also started 30 minutes before all of the other classes and was on the other side of the school. This meant traveling alone to and from class, and sometimes missing out on exchange student outings. However, once the first weekend passed and I realized there were other times to socialize, my unique class allowed me to see international students in a whole new light. When I had previously thought of international students, I only thought about the students who were my age and also studying at the university.  I soon began to realize that all of the people in my class were international students. They were from countries all over the world, trying to learn German just as I was. The other students were from China, Columbia, Serbia, Argentina, Albania, Iraq, England, and a few others that I cannot remember. They were mostly middle age students here because they have a German spouse, or were here to work and needed to learn the language. I think that because of their age, and more urgent need to learn the language, my class was taken more seriously than others. Most of the other exchange students were hardly studying or every doing German work, while I felt like I had a lot of work. These people pushed me to be prepared for class every day. I felt like it was my responsibility to work harder to be able to contribute in class and help their German even more. I learned a lot from these people. It was very interesting to me that there was such a difference in the German that we knew. Although it was both intermediate, we spoke very different German. My German grammar was much stronger than the others. However, their speaking and listening skills were much better than mine. Since they had been living in Germany longer than me, they felt much more comfortable speaking. They also knew more useful vocabulary words than I did. They could speak about day to day activities like ordering at the butcher or bakery, while I only knew random vocabulary from previous chapters I had learned. This encouraged me to try harder to speak in my daily activities and to become more comfortable with it. They taught me that there is nothing to be embarrassed about when trying to learn the language. Trying to speak German may seem intimidating, but once you get over the initial fear, it becomes very comfortable. This experience in Winter Academy helped me to see exchange students in a new light. Not every student in Mannheim was there on exchange, people from all over the world and all ages were there to learn German and try to eventually immerse themselves in the culture.

Meeting international students is one of the best learning experiences you’ll have abroad. Since other international students are in the same situation as you are, you’ll find that it is very easy to make friends. Before I arrived in Mannheim, I expected to make lots of German friends. Although I made a few German friends, my strongest relationships were with other exchange students. Sometimes I think that I might have learned more about the cultures of my new friends than I did about German culture. Being an American has positive and negative effects on your experience. It is extremely convenient and comfortable that the default language amongst international students is English. At most events everyone is speaking English. At times I would often forget that English wasn’t the native language of most of the students. I definitely learned to appreciate the fact that my native language was spoken everywhere and taught in my classes. I have a whole new respect for the other international students who wrote our exams in English. I also thought it was really cool that my international friends would speak English to make me feel more comfortable. Even if I was the only American with a group of my Norwegian friends, they would usually speak English the entire time. We would all try out our German as well, but English was easier for almost all of the exchange students. Another positive aspect to being American was that everyone knows so much about your culture. I was shocked how much everyone knows about America. Although this is very convenient, it also gives you a responsibility. I often found myself trying to dispel myths about Americans and defend my country. Also I knew that I had to keep up to date with news and happenings in America, because other international students were interested in talking to me about it. Other international students really enjoy talking about American politics, and they expect you to as well. I noticed that my other exchange student friends were much more open about discussing their political views. As an American, I felt as though my political views were my personal opinion and that I didn’t have to share them. This was a cultural difference and was hard for some of my friends to understand. I found one of the negative aspects to being American was that other international students were slightly skeptical about Americans. Some students told me that Americans made them uncomfortable because of their “fake” friendliness. I was also told that Americans are seen as superficial. One student told me that when we first met he thought that I was very egotistical because I hardly spoke. Because he had the prejudice that Americans are superficial and self centered, he confused my shyness for egotism.