On 23rd August, 2015 I embarked on a new journey to Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany for a semester thanks to the International Programs at Rollins College, who provided me with generous financial aid to make this experience a reality. It would not be an understatement to say that I prepared since the time I started school at Rollins for Jacobs. Some of the things I did at Rollins were take a German language class every semester starting my second semester. This has helped me a lot in going around, booking tickets, asking for directions, and making orders at restaurants and bars. Furthermore, I had been saving up for the entire summer so that once I get to Germany money would be last think to hold me back.
On 24th August, I landed at Frankfurt. Here is a picture of the Frankfurt train station which is also the wallpaper for my phone. It is like a memento that reminds me of the first day that I landed foot on German soil.
Unfortunately, I was not allowed to move in on the first day since the school/orientation started on the 25th of August. One thing I did, and would recommend to others in this situation, is to look into websites like couchsurfing.com where one can find hosts that are willing to let you stay a night or two for free. I met a host there who was really cordial and took me around the Bremen Zentrum. We went to a lot of places, but I cannot recall most of them because I was jetlagged and tired from my flight and train ride from Frankfurt to Bremen (Frankfurt airports are a lot cheaper and it might be helpful to look into this way provided time is not a constraint). Nevertheless, I still remember the Kunsthalle in Bremen Zentrum that we talked at lengths about while reviewing German history, the statue of a rooster on top of a cat, on top of a dog, on top of a donkey.
On the next day, I said goodbye to my hosts and made way for Jacobs University. It has been a little more than a month now and I believe that the next few months are going to be fun until the end.