Orientation in Germany

My first week of orientation began this week, where we met the other exchange students studying this semester in Konstanz, Germany. All 51 of us, most of which only knew a few others from our home university are from 21 different countries from all around the world, ranging from the United States, to Hong Kong, Korea, Finland, Austria, South Africa, Columbia and many more.

HTWG (Hochschule Technik Wirtschaft und Gestaltung), or in English, Konstanz University of Applied Science, is located by the entrance of the Rhine river to the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz). Approximately 5,000 people, this school, located on the south side of the Rhine River, and bordering Switzerland, is my home for the next 5 months.

Most of the orientation involved preparing paperwork for our stay in Germany, along with a few fun activities as well as lunches and dinners where we could get to know one another. Its been a very busy week, with late nights and early mornings. Wednesday some of us spent the evening at a local bar where we chatted and got to know one another. Thursday we had a photo city scavenger hunt where myself and the three other students from Clarkson University got to explore the city.

Friday evening, most of the exchange students headed out to the old town of Konstanz where the university has scheduled our very own pub craw, where we split into 2 different groups and got to visit 3 different bars within Konstanz and had fun while getting to know each other and the town.