Traveling Across Europe

By Aimee Squires, Foster Undergraduate who participated in an exchange with WHU in Vallendar, Germany 

One of the best parts about studying abroad was the opportunity to travel, especially being in Germany since it is so centrally located. The way that classes are structured at WHU, each lecture is 3 hours long, but only meets once a week and there are not normally classes on Fridays, similar to Foster, or classes on Mondays, so there is a lot of time to explore different parts of Europe. I was fortunate enough to make it to 16 different cities and I absolutely loved them all. I really love European culture in itself and I love going on new adventures and exploring different cities, so all the traveling was amazing. My favorite places were Dublin, Berlin, Ibiza, and Brussels. For the most part, prior to this semester, I had only really traveled by myself and done a couple of road trips with my family, so it was a whole new experience to travel so often and with all of my friends, something that I believe should really be taken advantage of when abroad. Trust me, you will have time to take classes and travel, even if it seems overwhelming before going. I took 8 courses, the equivalent of 32 UW credits and still was able to go to so many places and still have fun on the weekends that I stayed in Vallendar. Anyone interested in studying anywhere, especially in Germany, feel free to reach out about travel, airlines, places to stay, etc. Europe has so much to offer and is so different from what we experience in the States that traveling became a huge part of my experience abroad!