Semester Exchanges Blog

I finally am back in the Sates, and it feels so good! I’m soooo happy to be back with my family and friends. 6 months doesn’t sound too long, but the last two weeks just waiting for your flight home feels like forever. It’s nice to have my own bed again, my dogs, friends, iced water, and home cooked meals! I also missed our groceries. It sounds like such a silly thing, but I didn’t realize how lucky we were to have such variety with our groceries. I can find strawberries, asparagus, spinach, and all other sorts of foods again! I never thought I would miss the Houston heat and humidity as much as I did. Looking back on it, it was a good idea to come back right before school started. I missed having structure and a semi daily schedule while in Germany, so I’m “excited” about school starting again.

But my last few weeks in Europe were amazing. I went to some of the most beautiful places. My favorite was most definitely Stockholm. There’s just something about Stockholm and Sweden. The buildings were beautiful, and of course you can find these old style buildings almost anywhere in Europe, but the atmosphere in Stockholm seemed to be a little different. There’s everything-outdoors, food, night life, swimming, hiking, music. It was also nice being able to visit one of my best friends from Germany. She’s from Stockholm so she was able to show us the insider, local things to do!

We also made it to Copenhagen, which is such a cool place! So colorful and lively. We were able to visit friends who studied at A&M last fall, so we got another real local experience in Copenhagen as well. It’s not too big so were able to see almost everything. We went to the Carlsberg brewery, took a boat tour, went to this delicious food area on the water. There’s this really cool hidden place in the middle of the city-Christiania. It’s almost like their own city within the city. From what I understood, squatters took over this abandoned area a while ago and turned into their own little neighborhood; the sell drugs, jewelry, live there without paying rent, and apparently the cops kind of turn their heads. But it’s pretty neat. And of course, we made it to the famous street with all the colorful houses-and it’s as cute as everyone says.

One of my best friends from home came to visit and fly home with me, and so we made a little circle. We started in Strasbourg, then to Luzern, and finally back to Stuttgart. Strasbourg is so cute and quaint. I was a little hesitant because I heard there wasn’t much to do there, and just really similar to Germany. But I disagree. Strasbourg is very small, but there are such cute areas and streets to walk through. It is one of the cutest cities I’ve seen. We also saw this unique water show that happens once a year. It’s very french. And there was also an awesome light show on the cathedral at night. I wish I could explain it better, but I can’t. It was amazing.

We finally made it Luzern, and it is just breathtaking. The weather was also perfect, finally! Sunny and perfect to sit by the water. Our first day there we hiked Mount Pilatus-we could only hike the beginning of the trail and then we took a cable car up to the top. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy, but that didn’t ruin the view whatsoever. It was also a nice surprise that Switzerland wasn’t THAT expensive. That’s all I heard about Switzerland before we went to, but it wasn’t horrible. Restaurants were a but pricey, but that can be anywhere so you just have to deal with that.

And finally-home! I will always love Germany…but I’m glad I live in Texas.

Overall, my study abroad in Norway was fantastic. Not only did I have the opportunity to study in a different country and culturally enhance my education, but I also met a lot of people from all over the world in the process. Moreover, being able to travel to nearby countries made it even better. I would definitely recommend this program to any management and marketing major that is looking to combine a fun way to learn and make connections. Although the title of the class was Intercultural Management, about half the class was over marketing material, therefore this should definitely be taken into consideration.

As far as the social aspect for this program, it is extraordinary. The program had a lot of social activities planned to make sure you had the opportunity to do everything there is to do in Norway. For example, we had a shrimp cruise, a rafting trip with lunch and diner included, social events at the school, and guided tours of historic buildings in Oslo. One definitely gets a lot in return for a small social activity fee. You are also given a lot of free time in order to travel through Europe, which is a plus. BI Norwegian Business School is a very well designed campus, as you can see in the picture, that you will be proud to call your school. I have provided some pictures from my study abroad in Norway to give you an idea of how life changing this trip was.