So Why did I come to Germany?

I've been stuck with my thesis for several days. In my flat, sitting in front of the computer for most of my day. Boring, right? Yeah, it's a bit depressing that I have no contacts out there in the city at this time, and that I have to stay inside all day, but it's actually fun to get to know new stuff. Although it's taking lots of time to write a 20 page thesis (not so long after all, right?), I guess I'm enjoying myself, learning about how new stuff that I'll never get to learn after I start working. And yeah, "How I met Your Mother" is still hot, I've watched 2 seasons in 4 days, during my breaks writing my thesis! So all I've been doing is watch a TV show, Movie, or write a thesis, for the past several days, except for Christmas eve, when I met my friends in Cologne for dinner.

So, yeah, back to my topic. A friend of mine asked me "Why did you decide to come to Germany?" on twitter today. I thought about it for a while, and thought it was a good idea to post this here on my blog, so that I can share my story with my friends.

So, where should I start with? When I was in highschool, I needed to choose a 2nd foreign language to learn. I could have picked from Spanish, Mandarin, German, and French; I chose French, not German. At this time, I was dreaming of living in Paris someday. Yes, I was pretty much obsessed with the classy image of France at this time.

After I went to the Uni, I continued on with my French. I was wondering if I should take a shot at a studying abroad program for 1 year, but... this wasn't possible because of economic reasons. Studying abroad for 1 year usually means 1 years of College of Japan (credits are not fully recorded, and you miss the job-hunting process), which meant another 3 million yen of expenditure, which my parents didn't have for me.

So I waited and waited, until I found this 1 month program during the spring vacation in Sciences-Po, a great university in Paris. Since this was related to my studies as well, I took a shot at it, and I made it. This is how I got to live in Paris for a month.

After I got back to Japan, I entered this program called the "Professional Career Programme"; a university program that runs in English. I joined because of two reasons. 1) because it was a good opportunity to keep up with my English, and learn how to explain what I studied at the university in the international language, and 2) because it had an exchange program to HEC for one semester. In my mind, my plan was to get all the credits I need in the uni until the 7 th semester, and spend my last semester of university in France.

I did everything I could do to make that come true. I studied French hard, I have the B1 certificate, and can probably speak B2 depending on the context. I did well with my courses with a good grade, so that I am likely to be chosen, and did well with my job-hunting; successfully received an offer from GE, an international firm operating in English. I thought that all I had to do is wait until May, 2010 for the application of the HEC program to start. Everything seemed to be going okay. But life's sometime weird, and things don't always go the way you want it to go.

So, on May 2010, the PCP office started to announce its exchange program. And then, I was informed that the HEC program is not open this year, and instead, they were looking for applicants for the new Cologne program.

I thought a lot if I should apply for it or not. But studying abroad was one thing I've always wanted to do. Yes, I had experience in Paris, but 1 month wasn't enough. I thought I really needed to experience things in a foreign country at the daily level, as a resident, to get exposed to the different values out there. So, this was the time when I decided to apply for the Cologne program.

Surprisingly, I was chosen, despite of the fact that I knew no German. Lucky me! So, I studied German for several months, and flew to Germany for my last semester of my moratorium.

This is the story behind me coming over to Germany. But then, thinking back on it, I think it was a good choice. I already kind of experienced Paris, and here I am experiencing Cologne and the international diversity of the ERASMUS.

It's not a cool story like, I love Germany and I've been studying German for a long time, or I knew a professor in Cologne who is well known in the fields of study I'm in. But although it's not cool, this is the true story, and that's why I like it.