Hello, my name is Jaquelin Alonso. I am 22 years old and come from Guadalajara, Mexico.
I have chosen the University of Cologne (UoC) for a study abroad because at my university in Mexico we receive a lot of students from Cologne and they told me about the interculturality of the city and that it is a nice spot for students.
I was interested in learning German and therefore the UoC, as it has a partnership agreement with my home university, was the best option for me to come here.
When I got accepted at the UoC I was told that I had two options, to study either at the Faculty for Management, Economics and Social Sciences or to participate in the Cologne Global Study Program (CGSP). I preferred the CGSP because of its diverse focuses, such as history, economics and culture. In Mexico I study international relations, thus the wide range and diversity of the courses offered by the CGSP seemed to complement my studies in a profitable way.
One of my favorite classes was Comparative Environmental Law, which consisted of many interesting academic main focuses. There were also offered classes on the cold war and the division of Germany in the context of the political division of the world. I had class-mates from many other countries, as for example from Latin-America, China and also from Germany. This fact gave the opportunity to complement the classes in matters of opinions and positions.
I also liked the excursions offered by the CGSP, for example the trip to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. The other excursion I liked was the trip to Bonn to the United Nations. It was great to gain the possibility to go there and to link the content of the lectures with the excursions. We also have seen the historical places, where Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel started their political career. The excursions were great to establish social relations to the other students as well as to the lecturers. The lecturers stressed the participation of all students, no matter from which culture they came from. There were quiet and shy students, but the CGSP-lecturers were interested in tearing down those psychological barriers.
The team which is working for the CGSP is very frank and helps you with everything regarding the stay and study in Cologne. The team always brings along a possibility to fix everything, even if you think that everything is going to be chaotic.
When I arrived to Cologne, little by little I started to meet people and to find friends. The people in the streets are always concerned with helping you, even if you do not speak well German. My course schedule allowed to travel and to see a lot of different parts of Germany, besides of Cologne.
The wintertime was really nice. There were many little Christmas markets and people drinking “Glühwein” all over the town. In comparison to other German cities, Cologne is very open-minded and intercultural. People from Cologne try to integrate you into society and you do not feel excluded. The Germans may be more reserved, but in my experience they were really friendly and tried to help me in every situation.
A big advantage is the student semester ticket which permits you to use the entire public transport services within North Rhine-Westphalia. You can go to see the castles in Düsseldorf, in Brühl and in Bonn, for example. You can travel to the Belgian and the Dutch frontier without supplementary payment.
All in all the CGSP is a good program where you gain introductory knowledge about Europe in various fields, for example European politics or European history. Depending on the courses you chose. I had the impression that the other students, although they might have courses of study which are not strongly connected to the CGSP, really enjoyed this program. If you succeed in the CGSP you get a special certificate in the end which proves that you gained basic knowledge in contemporary European studies .