6 Countries in 15 Days!

Hello everyone,

My name is Igor and I'm an exchange student from Maceió, Brazil at Hochschule Koblenz - RheinAhrCampus in Remagen. During the few months I've already spent in Germany, I was able to uncover a previously unknown desire for travelling, meeting new people, visiting new places and having all kinds of different experiences. Thankfully, I was able to put all of that in practice during the two weeks of break over Christmas and New Years - in this short time, I was able to visit 6 different countries! The experience was amazing and I realize now how much I was able to grow and learn from everything.

Left to right: Igor, Kalvin, Vitor, and Manoel

Brazil is a very big place, and living there I am used to travelling far distances to get to other cities in the same country. Although there is cultural variation among different regions in Brazil, it amazed me when I arrived at my first stop, which was Milan, Italy. It was incredible to see how a city that to me is so close to Germany (less than two hours by plane!) can feel so different, have such different architecture, people, food and behaviours. After 4 months in Germany, I was already used to doing things in a very German way (such as waiting before crossing the road if the traffic light is closed for me even if there are no cars coming, something Italians definitely don't do). This was also my first time doing a big trip with my friends - I was accompanied by Vitor and Manoel from Brazil and Kalvin from Australia. We had a fun time discovering interesting things to do in Milan, taking lots of pictures making fun of each other and unraveling the Italian language and way of life together. Traveling with friends is very different from alone or with family. I am sure the experience brought all of us closer together and I hope I can do this type of trip more often.

Leaving Milan, I made my way to London, United Kingdom, where already in the airport I met my parents and younger sister, who had all just arrived from Brazil. Me and my family hadn't seen each other in 4 months and after a long hug right in front of the border checkpoint, we started our adventure in London, in which we visited many historical and touristical landmarks: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben, a Christmas Market in Southbank and multiple neighbourhoods. One thing that surprised me in London was the food: usually, the United Kindgom is not very well known for its cuisine (it's true that you can find fish and potatoes anywhere), but something about the food there, mostly in everyday things such as cheese, fruit or cake, was very captivating to my taste. On the last day of the year 2019, we watched an amazing live musical in the theatre called "& Juliet" (a modern reimagination of the classic story of Romeo & Juliet) and then spent the turn of the year 2020 in our hotel room watching the London Eye fireworks on television - certainly a very different New Years day from the previous 22 of my life, which were all spent at the beach!

My family and I

Our next stop was Paris, France, where we saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, crossed under the Arc de Triomphe, climbed the Eiffel Tower, had trouble getting to places as much of the public transportation system was on strike, and practiced our rusty French with natives. During this time, a family trip which would not have happened had I not been already in Europe, my parents could comment on how different I was from when I left Brazil, 4 months ago. My exchange semester has made me grow as a person. I am now more mature and culturally aware, am able to deal with situations I could not before, and have gained knowledge that I could not have otherwise. I believe this time here has made me become a better human being, and I do not want to step back from any of these changes. Also, I am now noticeably much more resistant to cold temperatures than them!

After a quick stop in Brussels in which we bought Belgian chocolate and commented on how the country of Belgium is the same size as our home state of Alagoas, back in Brazil, we took the train back to Cologne and then Remagen, where I quickly found out how much I had missed Germany during the time I was away. Now, I was no more in the position of a tourist as I knew my way around the city, where we could find any store or restaurant we needed and could speak enough of the language to communicate with the people. I showed my family around RheinAhrCampus and was able to introduce them to some of the amazing friends I've made during my stay - I'm not usually a show-off, but this time I certainly did feel pride in showing how I had lived my life the past few months and what I had achieved with it. Two days later, we took a train to Amsterdam, a city where I already had been before and was already fond of, but unfortunately had to end my trip earlier than my parents and sister, as I had to come back to Remagen and my duties as a student the next day! My family wanted me to stay longer with them, but I assured them I will have more time for that in the future. Travelling a lot is fun, but also tiring, and it feels good to be back in a comfortable home.

After this trip, I was asked by a friend what I liked the most about everything I had just done. I told him that, to me, the most interesting experience is not to visit touristic places such as museums or landmarks. Of course, doing that is very enriching - there is only one London Eye and it's in London, and seeing historical art in the Louvre is a dream of many people, but it is not surprising to do any of those things, as everyone knows that they are there. The real gift is to be surprised by how different people's lives are in different places - what food they eat every day (and how the United Kingdom food is surprisingly very good!), how they commute to work and school (and sometimes jump in front of green traffic lights!), what they like to do for fun (musicals are very entertaining!) and how accessibility for handicapped people works in London's ancient underground lines or near Amsterdam's canals. Of course, there is only so much you can learn by spending such a short time in each place - I visited 6 countries in only 15 days. I definitely want to go back to each of these places in time, perhaps with a different approach, less tourism-oriented and more focused on the people and their lives, as that is, to me, the most valuable of it all.

- Igor