Last week was International Day here at Hochschule Bremen, and it was huge. There are about 130 exchange students this semester, and I would like to think we are all the reason why International Day was so great, but in reality, it is because many majors at Hochschule Bremen are required to study abroad for their major (e.g., international studies or international business). Regardless, it was a ton of fun!

Just a few of the Spanish students at International Day

Classes for the entire school were canceled and each country set up a booth with maps, flags and (of course) food! China was making Chinese dumplings and writing people’s names in calligraphy, and South Africa had traditional food and instruments to play. Even one of the exchange students from Chile did a traditional Incan dance. For the USA booth, we had ‘homemade’ cookies and brownies. The other students from the U.S., two girls who studied in the U.S. for a year, and I basically just talked about our home universities and played games with people about U.S. geography. By the end of the day, we had all eaten so much food and talked to so many people, it was like a mini trip around the world.

For the past few weeks I have been so busy, it has been as if I hardly have time to breathe. Between an internship interview, labs, weekend classes, an exam, three presentations, a paper and International Day, it almost felt like a few weeks back at Mines. I managed to survive my first exam in school, thanks to the teacher, who ever-so-kindly wrote it in English for me. The rest of my tests are not until February. My interview did go well, too, so I’m proud to say I will be interning with Bosch next spring in manufacturing engineering!

Chinese Calligraphy at International Day

Chinese student writing names in calligraphy at International Day

One of my classes is about manufacturing technology, and for the past few weeks we have been doing lots of labs. They are all about the theory and mathematics behind different sorts of machining. Each week we have a different lab: milling, lathing, soldering, and hardness testing. We had two weeks on different types of welding techniques. Honestly, I was not meant to be a welder. By the end, the teacher accepted that I did not understand what he was yelling over the machine in German, and he just started doing it for me. Despite my struggles, it’s been quite fun to try something completely new to me.