Expectation vs. Reality

Studying abroad is an exciting and transformative experience that offers students a chance to broaden their horizons and gain valuable knowledge and skills. For five Nepalese students, their upcoming semester at Jade University in Germany presents a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a new culture, learn from experienced professors, and connect with fellow international students. We had the pleasure of speaking with these students about their expectations for their upcoming stay in Germany, and we will follow up with them before they depart to see how their experience lived up to their expectations. In this article, we will explore their hopes, fears, and goals as they prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Deepali:

What do you expect from your stay in Germany?

What do you want to do while being here?

“First of all, I don’t want to fail in my German class. Besides that, I want to learn the art of cheap grocery shopping in Germany. I didn’t know, you could get cheap options on the lower shelves and look for discounts. I’m also planning to travel and be more “travel smart”. I have plans on visiting Amsterdam, Belgium, France, Poland, and the Czech Republic. I am very interested in German history. I want to visit the museums and also the concentration camps. I think we need to understand why this happened and how it shaped the whole country. “

Do you think there are things that you will struggle with while being here?

“I think I’ll be homesick. I will miss my food and the festivals we have back home.”

Eva:

What do you expect from your stay in Germany?

“I came here with as close to zero expectation as possible so that I can be open to new experiences. But I think I do expect to be at least a little academically challenged and to gain a few cultural insights. I also want to learn about the German education system, the culture, the language, and the food. I think I’m expecting to return with a lot more knowledge and maybe even with a better perspective on people and life.”

What do you want to do while being here?

Do you think there are things that you will struggle with while being here?

“The language. I’m already struggling with it very much. I think one thing I’m struggling with is the culture shock of timing. You’re very punctual. I am the least punctual person in the world. Also, the food is something I’m struggling with because nothing tastes like anything. Everything is just sweet.”

“I need to get used to the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses that have come up to me and told me to join their church. I had two people come up to me this morning. I definitely wasn’t used to it. I thought they were some really nice strangers wanting help, and I just listened so carefully and it wasn’t fun. They gave me a card and everything. They told me to join their church Sundays, 10:30 am.”

Krishma:

What do you expect from your stay in Germany?

“I expect to meet a lot of new people and make friends and also to learn new things here in Germany.”

What do you want to do while being here?

“I want to try new food because it’s totally different back home. I want to see if the food matches my taste because I tend to eat a lot of Western-influenced foods in Nepal as well. I also would love to use this exchange program as an opportunity to travel and learn a lot of new things. I don’t get the opportunity to travel a lot back home. I want to travel to Berlin and the rest of Germany. Then I want to travel almost all over Europe if I have time. Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome. Rome is a place I wanted to travel to ever since I was a child.”

Do you think there are things that you will struggle with while being here?

Kritika:

What do you expect from your stay in Germany?

What do you want to do while being here?

“First of all, I have to pass my courses to get my credit points. I want to learn the things that I haven’t been able to learn in Nepal, like the way of teaching, learning, the classroom settings, the food, and the recipes. I would like to share all of this with my classmates when I return to Nepal. I want to take a different perspective and utilize that in my classroom at Kathmandu University. Aside from that, I plan to travel. I want to explore the places. I would love to go to Berlin and Hamburg. I plan to visit the Netherlands and other European nations. It completely depends on my budget.”

Do you think there are things that you will struggle with while being here?

“I thought I would be the person who becomes homesick the most, but my flatmates are great. They never let me miss my parents, my old house, and everything. So, I really have fun living with them.

Regarding culture, I am not shocked in any way because of all the series and films on Netflix. I already had certain kinds of situations in my mind that I thought would be over here.

I think the most difficult thing to cope with in Germany is the language barrier. I found a few German people who spoke English well, but they didn’t like to talk in English. Aside from that, everything is going well.

In Nepal, we live with our parents until they get old. We are continuous with our parents. So, there are no such things as individuality in Nepal, but in Germany, I find it quite different. Everyone lives by themselves. They have jobs and they cook for themselves.

In Nepal, we kind of depend on our parents. We live with them. I will not be able to cope with it completely while I stay here, but life over here is really fun.”

Shruti:

What do you expect from your stay in Germany?

“I want to understand more of the culture here in Germany, how people live here, how people do their daily activities. I’ve already found a lot of differences. From my studies, I want to know more about the German media because I’m really interested in the TV media. So, I plan on knowing more about the media and how it works here.”

What do you want to do while being here?

Do you think there are things that you will struggle with while being here?

“The weather. So, my blood pressure is very low. I came from a 22-degree city directly to zero degrees. That has been affecting my health. I have been having low blood pressure and I’ve been feeling dizzy everywhere I go. So, that’s the most difficult part.

Also, the food, because I’m really lazy and I am having to cook new foods every single day because I cannot find the food we have in our country. I’ve been really trying to find a little spicy food because all of the food is sweet. Then the sides of the lane on the road because it’s quite opposite, you drive on the right and we drive on the left and the lanes are also exact opposite.”

If you want to have a look at the journalistic work in both countries, make sure to check the article „Fighting the Fakes“

More Information about Exchange at the Jade Hochschule

Interview by Celina Stolte 

Picture Editing by Neele Suckert