My first post!
Hey, everyone!
After I've been to Maine for 1 1/2 weeks now, I decided to make a blog which I use to tell you about the experiences I make while living, training, and studying abroad! (I'm sorry for every weird language I will use)
Where should I start?
Most of you probably know me but I will introduce myself nonetheless:
My name is Anna, I just graduated High School this year, and I come from Moers, Germany. (I try to write this blog in English, so my American friends will understand what I'm saying). After graduating high school, I've decided to come to the US to study here.
Why did I choose the US, I mean education is REALLY expensive here...?
- Well the US has the advantage that school and sports are combined. In Germany it's different: we have club sports, so after graduating I probably would have give up track and field - and I wasn't ready for that :) I mean I still could have done track but my major is pretty specific ("Molecular and Cellular Biology", or in Germany I would have studied "Humanbiologie" or "Molekular Medizin") and most universities in Germany that offer this major are not close to clubs who offer track at a competitive level.
So, with coming here I got the amazing chance to not only improve my English skills, but also to combine studying with continuing to do track and field.
What did I do in my first week here?
I got here at August 22nd, after I travelled through New England with my parents for 2 weeks (we went to New York, Cape Cod, Boston, and the White Mountains - more to follow about that trip). During the first three days we had an "International Orientation" where all international kids - exchange students and freshmen - needed to go. It was really nice getting to know so many new people from so many different nations, who all went through the same thing with going away from home. Our schedule was pretty busy and we did a lot of fun and informative stuff. We learned a bit about college in the US, what was expected, and other informations which should prepare us a bit for our first week. - This might sound a bit boring, but we also went to Target for dorm room shopping and paddling with locals.
During these first days the campus was pretty empty because no-one else was there. But at Friday (August 25th) all other freshmen came - Friday was the Move-In Day (and I'm really happy that I moved in Tuesday, it was really packed).
And that was the day where I finally met Emma - my room mate. We met over Facebook and decided to room together because she is on the cross country and the track and field team.
During the weekend everywhere on campus were some fun events you could do, like stand up paddling on the river, ice skating, events with your dorm halls, and so much more!
It was a great weekend, a great possibility to start into this new life because you could meet people everywhere. (That's something I really like about college, you meet new people everywhere, you can just go to people and talk to them. And that's is something I never would have imagined doing this.)
But after this fun weekend the real life - school - started. I was really excited to see how school would be like here. And after one week I can say it is pretty different form Germany, especially from everything that I've heard about German colleges.
I am really lucky because most of my classes are really small, and lots of them begin with stuff I've already done at Germany high school (e.g. Maths, Chemistry). But nonetheless, I have to do lots of homework for each of my classes, homework that is graded - it reminds me a bit of high school.
And we won't have only final exams but tests or midterm exams too. It will be a lot of work with school, homework, and practice for track but I think it will be possible to deal with the work once I'm used to everything.
And there is one class that I'm super excited about: BMB150! Most of you probably won't have any idea what this is, so here is what we are doing during the class:
We are going to extract bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria, SHOUTOUT to all my BIO LK people !!!) and if they weren't discovered yet we will name them and sequence their genomes next year! I'm just starting college and already contributing a little part to research!
Okay, let's get to my last topic for this entry:
My new surroundings. It is a real beautiful place here, the environment is different (especially the weather) but not too different. Right next to campus we have a little forrest where you can bike, run, and in the winter walk through (with special equipment). We have the Stillwater River close to us - where we did the paddling - which is really beautiful. Last weekend I used my chance and went swimming in the river because it will get cold soon!
And I really look forward to the fall, which is also called Indian summer. It should be really beautiful around here with the leaves turning red and yellow 😍. And I look forward to the winter - having a real winter since the last five years. I probably regret saying this because the winter is not only beautiful but also freaking cold (!)
And the weather is a bit awkward around here - in the mornings and evenings it is really cold and during the afternoon sometimes hot. I'm just used to the German weather where the temperature doesn't really change over the day.
Okay, I guess I'm finished for today. I hope you liked my first post. And I really hope that I will actually come to post things over the time. If you want to contact me just leave a comment or write me an email.
Bye 👋🏽
Anna
After I've been to Maine for 1 1/2 weeks now, I decided to make a blog which I use to tell you about the experiences I make while living, training, and studying abroad! (I'm sorry for every weird language I will use)
Where should I start?
Most of you probably know me but I will introduce myself nonetheless:
My name is Anna, I just graduated High School this year, and I come from Moers, Germany. (I try to write this blog in English, so my American friends will understand what I'm saying). After graduating high school, I've decided to come to the US to study here.
Why did I choose the US, I mean education is REALLY expensive here...?
- Well the US has the advantage that school and sports are combined. In Germany it's different: we have club sports, so after graduating I probably would have give up track and field - and I wasn't ready for that :) I mean I still could have done track but my major is pretty specific ("Molecular and Cellular Biology", or in Germany I would have studied "Humanbiologie" or "Molekular Medizin") and most universities in Germany that offer this major are not close to clubs who offer track at a competitive level.
So, with coming here I got the amazing chance to not only improve my English skills, but also to combine studying with continuing to do track and field.
What did I do in my first week here?
I got here at August 22nd, after I travelled through New England with my parents for 2 weeks (we went to New York, Cape Cod, Boston, and the White Mountains - more to follow about that trip). During the first three days we had an "International Orientation" where all international kids - exchange students and freshmen - needed to go. It was really nice getting to know so many new people from so many different nations, who all went through the same thing with going away from home. Our schedule was pretty busy and we did a lot of fun and informative stuff. We learned a bit about college in the US, what was expected, and other informations which should prepare us a bit for our first week. - This might sound a bit boring, but we also went to Target for dorm room shopping and paddling with locals.
 |
| The traffic at the Move-In Day |
And that was the day where I finally met Emma - my room mate. We met over Facebook and decided to room together because she is on the cross country and the track and field team.
During the weekend everywhere on campus were some fun events you could do, like stand up paddling on the river, ice skating, events with your dorm halls, and so much more!
It was a great weekend, a great possibility to start into this new life because you could meet people everywhere. (That's something I really like about college, you meet new people everywhere, you can just go to people and talk to them. And that's is something I never would have imagined doing this.)
But after this fun weekend the real life - school - started. I was really excited to see how school would be like here. And after one week I can say it is pretty different form Germany, especially from everything that I've heard about German colleges.
I am really lucky because most of my classes are really small, and lots of them begin with stuff I've already done at Germany high school (e.g. Maths, Chemistry). But nonetheless, I have to do lots of homework for each of my classes, homework that is graded - it reminds me a bit of high school.
And we won't have only final exams but tests or midterm exams too. It will be a lot of work with school, homework, and practice for track but I think it will be possible to deal with the work once I'm used to everything.
And there is one class that I'm super excited about: BMB150! Most of you probably won't have any idea what this is, so here is what we are doing during the class:
We are going to extract bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria, SHOUTOUT to all my BIO LK people !!!) and if they weren't discovered yet we will name them and sequence their genomes next year! I'm just starting college and already contributing a little part to research!
Okay, let's get to my last topic for this entry:
My new surroundings. It is a real beautiful place here, the environment is different (especially the weather) but not too different. Right next to campus we have a little forrest where you can bike, run, and in the winter walk through (with special equipment). We have the Stillwater River close to us - where we did the paddling - which is really beautiful. Last weekend I used my chance and went swimming in the river because it will get cold soon!
And I really look forward to the fall, which is also called Indian summer. It should be really beautiful around here with the leaves turning red and yellow 😍. And I look forward to the winter - having a real winter since the last five years. I probably regret saying this because the winter is not only beautiful but also freaking cold (!)
And the weather is a bit awkward around here - in the mornings and evenings it is really cold and during the afternoon sometimes hot. I'm just used to the German weather where the temperature doesn't really change over the day.
Okay, I guess I'm finished for today. I hope you liked my first post. And I really hope that I will actually come to post things over the time. If you want to contact me just leave a comment or write me an email.
Bye 👋🏽
Anna
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| Dorm room shopping with my parents |
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| The welcome ceremony |
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