Universität zu Köln International

Doing an academic exchange in Cologne has been one of the best of my life. My year there was wonderful! Cologne is a big intercultural city full of young and friendly persons. They are used to seeing people from all over the world and understood that not everyone can speak German perfectly, so language skills were never a problem, and they were also eager to talk in other languages, such as English, French, Chinese, and Spanish.

In addition, the University of Cologne has a great academic level. It´s rank sixteen of the best Universities in Germany and one of eleven Excellence Universities. The CGSP was perfect for my degree. I was studying International Relations, the program gave me the European view of different events.   It was a worthwhile adventure that made me improve my academic and personal level. I made great friendships and I could integrate myself to Cologne traditions in every season.

For example in winter, I visited the picturesque Weihnachstmarkt (Christmas markets) and tasted some delicious traditional drinks, such as Glühwein. I also saw the unique crazy   Karneval. It takes six days of the week, all the people were a costume and on Monday they made a big parade in which people gift caramels and flowers.
In summer not just the people change also the activities do. I swam on the Rhein beach, I drunk a Kölsch at the Aachener Weiher and at the university grass, and I also enjoy a mystical sunset on the Rehinboulevard in Deutz. For each event, the University guided me through the context, history, and development of it. These factors more the relationships I did help me to increase my energy and development in my classes and for consequences I get better notes.

In classes, I had classmates all over the world so when the professor asked us for opinions our different cultural ideas would make more interesting the lecture. No all of my classmates speak perfect English or German, so the professors would always make sure we all undestood. Moreover, they make us feel comfortable and confident while we were speaking and they persuaded us to don´t feel shame if we fail. We just needed to keep trying.

I consider my exchange year as an achievement in my academic, personal, and professional performance. It guided me to broaden my horizons, change my vision of the world, and believe more in myself. I enjoyed every second of that year, the experiences and challenges that I lived therein will always remind in my memory. Therefore, If I could choose a place in the world to travel after the pandemic, it would definitely be Cologne.

Jaquelin Alonso Martinez
University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Exchange winter term 2016/17

For futher pictures and information click here, to see a great pdf made by Jaquelin Alonso.

It was amazing to experience the life at the Uni of Cologne, one of the oldest of Europe. The city Of Cologne is beautiful, the public transportation takes you anywhere you want to go really fast and I could enjoy every part of it, visiting the Cathedral, the many parks, walk close to the Rhine River, and so on.
All my classes were interesting and the professors were always asking questions and engaging us to participate. I have learned a lot and the experience of doing presentations, writing essays and participating in class in another language were really enriching.
In addition, the opportunity to do the German course on the pre semester and during the semester was outstanding. It was really important to me to learn such an important language, one of the most spoken  in Europe!
And when you combine this with the possibility not only to travel a bit around Germany and countries close by, like Belgium, that the CGSP did a excursion in Brussels, and it was really good, but also, to get to know my classmates that were from a lot of different countries, like Japan, Korea, Canada, USA, Portugal, Hungary and even from Germany itself, it’s incredible. I got to know other cultures and learn even more! And make friends for life!
So, overall, I had a wonderful time during my exchange program in Cologne! Thank you CGSP and University of Cologne!

Juliana Baker

Exchange winter term 2019/20

Cologne is the perfect choice when  going on exchange: really incredible people from all around the world, rich and diverse study programs with excellent teachers, beautiful city, strategic location to travel Europe, breath-taking landscapes, a vivid memory of ancient Roman times, colorful celebrations...Cologne is a great place! People there are very nice.
During my year of exchange, I had the fortune to enjoy, and learn from all that. Not only I took many interesting courses and practiced German at the UzK, but I also  participated in a volunteering program in a NGO, and worked as a tour guide. I had all the opportunities I could have expected from a exchange. It was a big personal and academic challenge for me, but it was completely worth it.

Name: Cinthia Sánchez Campos
Home university: Universidad de Guadalajara
Country: México

Exchange winter term 2017/18

Thanks to CGSP Group, I had a great time studying and visiting. Professor Judith Berns was gentle and caring. She kept everything organized. Other teachers here were also nice and charming, not only did they teach us during class, but also organized plenty of meeting, parties to let us know each other better and enjoy our life in Cologne. Professor Benjamin Haas even planned a study excursion to Bonn. We visited Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations, it was quite amazing cause usually we won't have the chance to visit these places.

All in all, I'm rather grateful to our CGSP group. I do believe with so many great teachers it will develop better and better. Also I hope there are more students to join and enjoy themselves.

Ge HE

Sun Yat-Sen University

Exchange summer term 2019