Jeremy Brown, Bremen UAS

University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA


I enjoyed my stay in Bremen and I don’t regret my decision to come here one bit. I was a last minute substitute for someone else and I decided to come here within a day or two. One would say that is very brave, but for me, I like adventures and I am always looking for a new and exciting opportunity to take advantage of.

I really appreciated the student help that I received when I first got here. Ilka, Sarah, Claudius, etc. helped me get settled here when I first arrived. Whether it was by taking me to get residency, or helping me set up my bank account and insurance, it really helped. I think it would have been difficult for me to do that on my own.

My goal when coming to Bremen was to learn German and learn about the German culture. Now, unfortunately I really didn’t have as many chances as I would have liked.

Also, being an international student and studying with mainly, if not all, international students, I just had little access to German students. And it’s not that I’m not approachable or didn’t make any attempts to find German friends, it’s just a little intimidating for someone like me to go up to German students hoping that they speak English. It would have been much easier if I had studied German in high school and college but since I studied Spanish and French, I spent the majority of my time with those students.

As for the classes, the classes were ok. The only thing I am worried about is how much they are alike the courses that I am getting credit for back in Wilmington. I am afraid that I missed a lot of information, just based on different curriculums and areas of study (not quality of education). I had to get several teacher signatures before coming here without any course description. For someone like me, I would have preferred less business courses, and more language courses. ….

The only other nerve racking part was finding my own internship. It wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t do it, it was that I was told I would have one waiting for me after the first semester. Whether it was a mix-up of information between the Hochschule and UNCW, or someone made a mistake, it doesn’t matter. Everything worked out though. Just as long as the next students don’t have to worry about that, that is all that matters.

As for a recommendation to the Hochschule and the incoming students, I would try and set up a student or two for each incoming student. That way, the UNCW student could immediately meet new German people and make friends early. I think it would really benefit them in the long run. Plus, these students could help show the lay of the land, good places to go to (and those to avoid), etc. Ilka really helped and befriended me.


Contact Jeremy via UAS Bremen's International Office: sgonina@verw.hs-bremen.de