BIG STEP FORWARD

Hello, my name is Katarina Medvedeva, and I am the first student from Latvia. I will not go into details about where it is because easier for you is just to Google it :) I am from the University of Latvia studying Business administration and now I am an exchange student at RheinAhrCampus for almost 5 months. Most of my stay here now is gone and I would like to sum up everything that I had been through.

Before taking part in the exchange semester, I was thinking a lot about whether to go abroad or not. I just moved to another city in Latvia and almost settled down. And one more step of moving somewhere was not a good perspective for me. And I am very thankful for myself back in time that I made the right decision.

My journey started in March. I was nervous and felt the new part of my life at the tip of my nose. The same day as I arrived, I met Selsela. I was impressed with how hospital she was. And later during my stay, I knew that in any case, I could rely on the International Department of RAC.

The beginning was hard for me, as for everyone. You are in a different country, in a different environment, and speak the language which you have learned for many years, but never used. During classes, we work a lot on ourselves and our skills. Then I started to track my changes and write insights about my stay in Germany. I have written down crises and personal achievements. Now I can see the way I have done it and what person I become. All the lecturers I studied with were open and friendly. I would say that in RAC you can have a closer connection with them. With some of them, we were having dinner, with some of them we were travelling together.

Of course, my stay would not be that incredible without other internationals and RAC students. I am happy for having each other. We were traveling around Germany and Europe a lot. Before going here, I did not think that I will visit Turkey, Spain and so many cities in Germany. We collected fantastic memories and our phones storages is full of thousands of pictures (I would suggest preparing your phone storage as well :)), and we did such excellent work together.

I started living the life of my dreams. And I would say that it is a really good time to focus on yourself, to start understanding yourself better, and to set goals and make a plan for the future. Remember the popular quote “Carpe diem” that translates as “Enjoy the moment”. I suggest you make your moments enjoyable and enjoy them as much as you can.

Best wishes,

Katarina