Alejandro's year abroad at the Jade Hochschule

Der kolumbianische Austauschstudent Alejandro Garavito Arango berichtet von seinen Eindrücken

Every person at the beginning of his life, starts with some dreams and goals, some of them take longer than the others and such dreams and goals are being fulfilled with a bit of passion, hard work and persistence. In my case, it wasn't easy to think about the possibility of studying or even work in a country like Germany, because of its distance away from Columbia and its worldwide importance.

I was very interested in getting to know Germany, to get to know its civilization and to have a cultural exchange. As soon as I received a letter stating that I was being accepted at the Jade Hochschule to do a one-year professional internship at the IHA, I started to get everything settled to be able to visit Germany and be prepared for the trip, but nothing would prepare me for such a great journey.

When I first arrived to Germany, it was an amazing experience because of its inhabitant's nice hospitality, very good organization and its exquisite cuisine received me in the most magnificent way. The care, good work and affection of everyone at the university and specially at the IHA was amazing; they all tried really hard to make me feel comfortable, and I can happily say they did it. I couldn't ask for more, everything went just perfect.

It's been now six months since my arrival and I've learned so much, not just about Germany's strengths and weaknesses, but I've also got the chance to meet and work with extraordinary people and have gained new abilities and experiences that are contributing to my formation as a professional and human being. That's a very satisfying feeling for me because it's a onetime life experience, and a very valuable one.

I'm very thankful with Germany as a hole, it's just an incredible country filled with even more incredible people, and with everyone at the Jade Hochschule and the IHA for offering me such opportunity and making reality such a magnificent experience.