By Celinne

Have you ever thought about the bubble around you?

It always amazes me how international the bubble that I live in is. The city, the place I live, the university I study at, needless to say, are full of Germans. Since well, we live in Germany. What's impressive though, is that even then, 90% of them also have an intercultural background.

Since I’ve come to Karlsruhe, I’ve never met so many people from many places, each of them with a very specific and different life experience. Some left their countries because they were seeking better conditions of life, others because they wanted to join their partners, experience another culture, learn a language, get into a specific study program, emigrate with their families, or they really just wanted to spend some time abroad.

The why doesn’t really matter. 

Once you are in an intercultural environment, you really get used to it. Whether you like it or not, you get to know other cultures by osmosis. You learn random words in other languages, you see the way your flatmates from abroad interact with their families and partners, how they cook, you hear opinions about both trivial and complex topics. I can learn about Lebanese pop music in the 2000's and discuss how Latin American schools talk about sexuality in the same evening.

You notice the way they act in class, how they spend their free time, and why they celebrate or complain about things. You share your thoughts and perception about other cultures too.

The cultural baggage someone has is always there, but it's not something fixed. In an environment like this, we share, or better said, we exchange it daily. So much can be learned with those seemingly banal interactions.

What does that mean for us?

I'm not so sure, for me personally it means everything. You definitely don’t have to be an international student per se to have an international experience. All it takes it’s a bit of open mindedness, and the willingness to be in contact with other cultures. The world is globalized enough so that we can all learn about other countries and traditions without even getting out of our hometown. But I'm forever grateful for going abroad, bringing my cultural baggage with me, and it leaving it completely open for anyone interested in doing the same.

By Celinne

It’s honestly surreal the quantity of sports people do in Germany. I don’t necessarily mean quantity-wise; what impresses me is how many activities a regular person is interested in. This is based on the people I have contact with, so I’m not sure how biased I’m in that sense, but literally even the least sporty person I know does at least one physical activity for fun every now and then.

First, chances are you’re going to have a bike and cycle around quite a lot, that itself already is better than just relying on cars or public transportation. Karlsruhe is really flat, and after Winter, every sunny day is an invitation to go biking to the nearest lake, or go hiking in the Black Forest. You will also notice that people always hang out around the city’s castle, and someone would always bring a ball or the gear necessary to play some very typical German game (more on that in another post). 

My friends in Brazil are also very active, but an average person there would usually do only the “typical” stuff: either go to the gym, dance, do martial arts, run, or play anything involving a ball (yes, soccer is usually our to-go game). Here, I feel like most people have much more varied activities and interests. Climbing, gymnastics, hiking, cycling trips, swimming, skating, yoga are much more common practices than in Brazil, and most people I know would at some point try more than one of those out. 

It’s quite interesting to see that there's a certain openness to experimenting new hobbies here, it doesn't matter your age, gender or how active you are. I first realized this when my computer scientist friend, who fits exactly in the “geek stereotype” said that he was taking zumba classes, which I honestly don’t see happening in Brazil. Here, if you think something is fun, you simply try it out with no second thoughts. That brings us so many new possibilities!

By Celinne

Winter is tricky. As much as I prefer cold seasons (I’ve spent most of my life in a town where everyday was +34 °C, so yes, I am traumatized, sorry summer), it does not help peope who are already feeling blue due to Corona. Not only is it freezing, and the sky is all sorts of greys, but also everything seems dark, and even the trees look upset. Unless it’s a rare snowy day, then I feel delightful.

In 2019, the beauty of winter was the winter market, which illuminated the city and warmed my heart with German "Glühwein". I was going out a lot and actually escaped to Spain for a while to see more sunlight.

Fast forward to 2020/21: it’s winter and you need to be stuck at home. Okay. What am I supposed to do with this?

Everything is closed, you still can go outside but it’s freezing. You can stay inside but after one year of spending most of time in the same rooms you already know all the tiny cracks of the building, maybe you even named them in one desperate evening. I’m tired of sitting down. You already know how many steps it takes to go from your room to the kitchen and from there to the toilet. That’s disturbing. I stare at the window so much that I am fairly sure people think I am creepy.

The alternative then is to really be grateful for sunny days, conversations with flatmates that are as burnt out as you, and when new products arrive at the supermarket so I can look at them for an unnecessary long time (my groceries shopping are now part of my “hang out” time).

No matter how many good habits you have to cope with this, reading, exercising as you can, experimenting with hobbies or starting personal projects, being this much time at one single place is honestly distressing. At some point you just want to scream.

You do need to take a break. So please guys, wear something warm and do the only thing you can do: take your walks. Go see the sad trees and the colorless sky, in corona times, you might find that it is not so dull and uninspiring as it looks.

By Celinne 

Since we have limited options of things to do with the corona situation, I started to explore more different types of outdoor activities, and I realized how fun they can be. I always liked to be around nature, taking long walks admiring the landscape, but weirdly enough I’ve never tried hiking before. Probably because to do that in Brazil you’d have to have a car, in Germany though, a lot of people go for hiking as they are easily accessible. Karlsruhe is an amazing city for hiking lovers, the Black Forest can be reached by train in less than an hour, and you can take buses to reach the hiking paths if you’re not so motivated to walk much. Another possibility is to take your bike with you and cycle up the mountain (although I personally would probably pass out biking uphill). The view that you get on top of the mountains is breathtaking, and it is a really good way to enjoy summer here, especially when you stop by a lake. There are so many different trails to take that my goal for the summer is actually to explore the Black Forest as much as I can!

By João Beber:

Hello everyone. In today’s blog I will be writing about my quarantine and online classes experiences. The coronavirus changed our daily life, now it is time to stay at home and be socially distancing. Also, our semester that started in March has switched from face-to-face to online classes. I´ve decided to come back to Brazil to be with my family during this time. I arrived here on the 18th of March. During the first two weeks I was isolated from everyone since I came from an area with many cases abroad. So, for the safety of everyone I stayed in my bedroom almost this whole period. I confess that it was not easy, I’m a type of person who enjoys spending time with other people, going for walks, having my freedom and to just stay in your room kind of makes you feel bad and a little bit depressive. During that time many things came into my mind, for example: I never thought in my life the importance of meeting friends, having the freedom to travel, and being able to go anywhere. Of course, now I will give much more importance to these things. I promise to all the people who might invite me for something, that I will never use an excuse to not go out again, such as I’m tired, I´m not in the mood etc. Now I see how these things are important for my life, and my mental health.

The online classes have also been a different experience for me. It has been much more comfortable but also sometimes challenging. You need to focus more and try very hard to not lose focus, since at home you have many things that can distract you. But at the end for me it has been a great experience during this difficult time. The university is offering all support that we need. I´m always trying to be very positive and I hope our normal life will come back soon. Meanwhile, try to do things that you enjoy, have video calls with friends and family, or a tv show marathon, drink some wine or beer, and just keep your mind occupied. Soon everything will be fine again. If you need some help or just want to chat with someone, do not hesitate to write to me. I wish you all the best.

By Celinne 

As of last month, we switched to online classes, since all non-essential business must remain closed in Germany. I honestly don’t mind staying at home, although not going to the gym is making myself go a little bit crazy. I do miss my friends and having random conversations during classes breaks at Karls. Social distancing is not a huge problem for me though, since I live in a student dorm, I still interact with people daily. During this period, I’ve tried my best to create a routine that makes me feel good: I’m waking up early, exercising daily, going for walks alone (the weather is great right now!), meditating and trying to do different things. Guess who’s taking dancing classes on YouTube right now? Regarding the online classes, Karls did a great job in implementing it so quickly. Other students from different universities have no clue about what is going to happen. But I’m not going to lie and say they work fantastic for me. I have some trouble concentrating and being engaged in classes, but as anything in life, it’s just a matter of mindset. We all must put some extra effort in helping ourselves during this difficult time. It helps if we understand that although we’re isolated, we’re doing this together to protect not only our loved ones, but also our community as a whole. We’re doing good. Take care and stay inside. Oh, wash your hands too, that’s important.

By João Beber:

The winter break for the foundation year was from  20.12.2019 until 18.02.2020. During this time, I was back home, in Brazil. It was nice to see everyone again and spend Christmas with my family. It is summer now in Brazil, so I’ve been to my summer house at the beach, where I´ve played beach volleyball, swam and I ran every morning at the beach. It was nice to feel the warm weather again. Also, during my time there, I visited São Paulo, where I´ve met a friend from my first exchange program in Germany in 2015.

In this post I would like to share some insights that I had during this time in Brazil. For example, I could notice that I´ve developed much more the sense of responsibility since I moved to Germany, that is because here I’m living alone, so I need to cook, wash my clothes, etc.  Karls gave me the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world, and with this, I´ve learned about new cultures and I had the experience to share all that with my family and friends, it was amazing.   

So, on 14.02.2020 I came back to Germany and for my surprise it isn't that cold anymore, for example on Sunday we had an amazing 20 degrees weather. I'm already excited that spring is coming soon. 

By Celinne de Paula:

I’m sure that one of the greatest advantages of living in Europe is being able to easily travel around. Is crazy to think that in Brazil a two-hour flight would only leave you in the next biggest city of another state. If you live in a large country, you know that it will take ages to go from one region to another, but here in Europe, the situation is completely different. Not only are the countries much smaller, but also everything is extremely well-connected. You can take the bus, train, or flight to anywhere you want, and you might even be able to cycle to your destination (if you have enough energy). The tickets are inexpensive, and sales happen throughout the year as well. I’d advise all of you to enjoy and travel around as much as you can!

By Celinne de Paula:

Even though I already experienced the European winter before, I must say that winter is never easy for a Brazilian. I come from one of the hottest cities in Brazil, but weirdly enough the cold weather isn’t the hardest thing that we have to deal with it, the lack of sunlight is. In the end of October the temperature and the leaves from the trees start to fall and the days become shorter and shorter, in the peak of the winter the sunrise starts at 8/9am and the sunset at 4pm, so it’s rather common to feel a little bit down during this time. That’s why the city gets so colorful with all the lights and the Christmas Market: to give life back to the city. One thing pretty cool about winter is that at least we can go to the Black Forest to ski!

By João Beber:

How everyone respects traffic lights and signs is something that I noticed right away in my first time in Germany. The pedestrians here wait for the green light even if no car is coming. Another thing is the high quality of the public transport, here you really don´t need to have a car to move around, because you have a high quality and secure public transport and you can easily move by bike, since the cyclists are respected here. I also have observed that Germany is a pet friendly country, it is very normal to see dogs in restaurants, public transport, etc. For me it is fascinating that most of the dogs here don't use dog collars, and are well trained. I couldn’t write this blog post without talking about the German punctuality, and yes, I can confirm it, they are always on time, the opposite happens just if something terrible happens. Finally, the German food: it is very different from the Brazilian cuisine, be prepared to eat a lot of carbs, since bread is one of the main foods here. There're still many differences between the two countries, but speaking from my personal experience, you will be able to learn very fast these differences and in a short time some of these differences will be part of your own culture.

By Celinne de Paula:

Karlshochschule is different in many aspects, and  because it's a small university, it provides us an intimate and cozy environment. All the classrooms have glass walls, and the departments’ doors are always open. Because of that, you can get really close to the staff  and professors here, and conversations with the director of the university are not uncommon at all. One of my favorite things here is the Karls’ events: karaoke nights, Halloween parties and events for special dates are wonderful opportunities to talk to people in other majors or that’re in other semesters. In the beginning of the semester we have the “Orientation week” , which was one of my coolest weeks ever. We spent all week getting to know the university, other students from all around the world, and every night we had something to do. Karls encourages diversity and personal development. While I’m writing this in the library, I can see a map of the world on the wall with “find yourself”, “enjoy the moment” and “be passionate and inspire others” written right next to it. Here we also have specific events to give feedback to all the staff and say what can be improved. In every floor there’s a feedback box as well if you don’t want to say it publicly. Besides all of this, we have events to talk about racism, prejudice, inclusion and a lot of other important topics. All of that makes us feel really welcomed here, as we can see that this is an environment that makes us listen, talk, think and grow.   

By João Beber:

I always had the dream to study abroad, and I chose Germany because of the opportunities that I can find here, and also because of the quality of higher education. And why Karl's? First because they offer the studies in English, and that's the main language in the International Business context. Also, here I have the chance to build a strong international network, since 40% of Karl's students are from abroad. Another reason was all the opportunities that this university has to offer, for example, be an ambassador, the scholarship that I got, etc. I confess that I tried to come here without any expectations, but after being here for one month already I can say that  I’m very happy about my decision.

By Celinne de Paula:

Germany surprised me in different ways, I must say that even though I didn’t create many expectations before coming, this country isn’t what I’ve imagined. I don’t know exactly if it’s because we’re in a student city, or if I’m just lucky, or if it’s because I spend most of my time at Karls (which is the friendliest place possible), but everyone here is extremely friendly and open. There’re obviously some differences, people here wouldn’t be as “passionate” as we are in Brazil, but they are still incredibly nice. Another thing that I realized right away is that everyone speaks English here, in supermarkets, bars, restaurants, you’ll always be able to communicate. Germans also are really concerned with the environment, after just a short time here you’ll have 4 bins in your room to recycle everything accordingly. In Karlsruhe, everyone uses bikes to move around the city, and when it’s a sunny day, people go to the castle to drink beers, by the way, the beer will probably be fabricated in the city! I’m constantly noticing these cultural differences. I’m excited to see more of this and to share my new discoveries here!

By Celinne

It’s honestly surreal the quantity of sports people do in Germany. I don’t necessarily mean quantity-wise; what impresses me is how many activities a regular person is interested in. This is based on the people I have contact with, so I’m not sure how biased I’m in that sense, but literally even the least sporty person I know does at least one physical activity for fun every now and then.

First, chances are you’re going to have a bike and cycle around quite a lot, that itself already is better than just relying on cars or public transportation. Karlsruhe is really flat, and after Winter, every sunny day is an invitation to go biking to the nearest lake, or go hiking in the Black Forest. You will also notice that people always hang out around the city’s castle, and someone would always bring a ball or the gear necessary to play some very typical German game (more on that in another post). 

My friends in Brazil are also very active, but an average person there would usually do only the “typical” stuff: either go to the gym, dance, do martial arts, run, or play anything involving a ball (yes, soccer is usually our to-go game). Here, I feel like most people have much more varied activities and interests. Climbing, gymnastics, hiking, cycling trips, swimming, skating, yoga are much more common practices than in Brazil, and most people I know would at some point try more than one of those out. 

It’s quite interesting to see that there's a certain openness to experimenting new hobbies here, it doesn't matter your age, gender or how active you are. I first realized this when my computer scientist friend, who fits exactly in the “geek stereotype” said that he was taking zumba classes, which I honestly don’t see happening in Brazil. Here, if you think something is fun, you simply try it out with no second thoughts. That brings us so many new possibilities!

By Celinne

Winter is tricky. As much as I prefer cold seasons (I’ve spent most of my life in a town where everyday was +34 °C, so yes, I am traumatized, sorry summer), it does not help peope who are already feeling blue due to Corona. Not only is it freezing, and the sky is all sorts of greys, but also everything seems dark, and even the trees look upset. Unless it’s a rare snowy day, then I feel delightful.

In 2019, the beauty of winter was the winter market, which illuminated the city and warmed my heart with German "Glühwein". I was going out a lot and actually escaped to Spain for a while to see more sunlight.

Fast forward to 2020/21: it’s winter and you need to be stuck at home. Okay. What am I supposed to do with this?

Everything is closed, you still can go outside but it’s freezing. You can stay inside but after one year of spending most of time in the same rooms you already know all the tiny cracks of the building, maybe you even named them in one desperate evening. I’m tired of sitting down. You already know how many steps it takes to go from your room to the kitchen and from there to the toilet. That’s disturbing. I stare at the window so much that I am fairly sure people think I am creepy.

The alternative then is to really be grateful for sunny days, conversations with flatmates that are as burnt out as you, and when new products arrive at the supermarket so I can look at them for an unnecessary long time (my groceries shopping are now part of my “hang out” time).

No matter how many good habits you have to cope with this, reading, exercising as you can, experimenting with hobbies or starting personal projects, being this much time at one single place is honestly distressing. At some point you just want to scream.

You do need to take a break. So please guys, wear something warm and do the only thing you can do: take your walks. Go see the sad trees and the colorless sky, in corona times, you might find that it is not so dull and uninspiring as it looks.

By Celinne 

Since we have limited options of things to do with the corona situation, I started to explore more different types of outdoor activities, and I realized how fun they can be. I always liked to be around nature, taking long walks admiring the landscape, but weirdly enough I’ve never tried hiking before. Probably because to do that in Brazil you’d have to have a car, in Germany though, a lot of people go for hiking as they are easily accessible. Karlsruhe is an amazing city for hiking lovers, the Black Forest can be reached by train in less than an hour, and you can take buses to reach the hiking paths if you’re not so motivated to walk much. Another possibility is to take your bike with you and cycle up the mountain (although I personally would probably pass out biking uphill). The view that you get on top of the mountains is breathtaking, and it is a really good way to enjoy summer here, especially when you stop by a lake. There are so many different trails to take that my goal for the summer is actually to explore the Black Forest as much as I can!

By Celinne:

There’re lots of universities in Karlsruhe, and as the city is full of students, finding accommodation here can be hard, especially in the beginning of the semester. You might need to message several people to get an interview, and it’s not uncommon to be asked even for CVs when applying. Most students live in shared apartments with other students, the famous WGs. There’re many student dormitories (Studentenwohnheim) in Karlsruhe as well, where you can really experience the student life. Depending on the dorm, you can live in a small studio, or you might need to share the kitchen/bathrooms with other students. I’m living in the biggest self-administered dormitory in all Germany so the students that live here actually decide how things will be like. The atmosphere is incredible, we have bars in every building, as well as music, weight and computer rooms. Living in these places is a great way to make friends, because there’s always someone around that would be willing to hang out.

By João Beber:

The Christmas market brings us lots of happy moments during the cold German winter. As a Brazilian, I’m not really used to winter, and I must say that with the lack of sunshine I had what can be characterized as a “winter depression”. Nevertheless, all the Christmas lights, traditional food and the famous Glühwein (which is basically a delicious hot wine) helped me a lot to feel better. The Christmas market or ‘Weihnachtsmarkt’ in German, takes place in the heart of Karlsruhe. The experience of ice skating over there is incredible. Also, during our German Cultural Studies class we had the opportunity to visit the Christmas market and observe people there as it was part of an activity to get aware of the behavior differences between cultures.  The market is an amazing place to hang out with friends and to get to know more of the German culture as well. I really loved this Christmas time here and I’m already excited for the next Christmas!

By João Beber:

How everyone respects traffic lights and signs is something that I noticed right away in my first time in Germany. The pedestrians here wait for the green light even if no car is coming. Another thing is the high quality of the public transport, here you really don´t need to have a car to move around, because you have a high quality and secure public transport and you can easily move by bike, since the cyclists are respected here. I also have observed that Germany is a pet friendly country, it is very normal to see dogs in restaurants, public transport, etc. For me it is fascinating that most of the dogs here don't use dog collars, and are well trained. I couldn’t write this blog post without talking about the German punctuality, and yes, I can confirm it, they are always on time, the opposite happens just if something terrible happens. Finally, the German food: it is very different from the Brazilian cuisine, be prepared to eat a lot of carbs, since bread is one of the main foods here. There're still many differences between the two countries, but speaking from my personal experience, you will be able to learn very fast these differences and in a short time some of these differences will be part of your own culture.

By Celinne

It’s honestly surreal the quantity of sports people do in Germany. I don’t necessarily mean quantity-wise; what impresses me is how many activities a regular person is interested in. This is based on the people I have contact with, so I’m not sure how biased I’m in that sense, but literally even the least sporty person I know does at least one physical activity for fun every now and then.

First, chances are you’re going to have a bike and cycle around quite a lot, that itself already is better than just relying on cars or public transportation. Karlsruhe is really flat, and after Winter, every sunny day is an invitation to go biking to the nearest lake, or go hiking in the Black Forest. You will also notice that people always hang out around the city’s castle, and someone would always bring a ball or the gear necessary to play some very typical German game (more on that in another post). 

My friends in Brazil are also very active, but an average person there would usually do only the “typical” stuff: either go to the gym, dance, do martial arts, run, or play anything involving a ball (yes, soccer is usually our to-go game). Here, I feel like most people have much more varied activities and interests. Climbing, gymnastics, hiking, cycling trips, swimming, skating, yoga are much more common practices than in Brazil, and most people I know would at some point try more than one of those out. 

It’s quite interesting to see that there's a certain openness to experimenting new hobbies here, it doesn't matter your age, gender or how active you are. I first realized this when my computer scientist friend, who fits exactly in the “geek stereotype” said that he was taking zumba classes, which I honestly don’t see happening in Brazil. Here, if you think something is fun, you simply try it out with no second thoughts. That brings us so many new possibilities!

By Celinne 

Since we have limited options of things to do with the corona situation, I started to explore more different types of outdoor activities, and I realized how fun they can be. I always liked to be around nature, taking long walks admiring the landscape, but weirdly enough I’ve never tried hiking before. Probably because to do that in Brazil you’d have to have a car, in Germany though, a lot of people go for hiking as they are easily accessible. Karlsruhe is an amazing city for hiking lovers, the Black Forest can be reached by train in less than an hour, and you can take buses to reach the hiking paths if you’re not so motivated to walk much. Another possibility is to take your bike with you and cycle up the mountain (although I personally would probably pass out biking uphill). The view that you get on top of the mountains is breathtaking, and it is a really good way to enjoy summer here, especially when you stop by a lake. There are so many different trails to take that my goal for the summer is actually to explore the Black Forest as much as I can!

By Celinne 

As of last month, we switched to online classes, since all non-essential business must remain closed in Germany. I honestly don’t mind staying at home, although not going to the gym is making myself go a little bit crazy. I do miss my friends and having random conversations during classes breaks at Karls. Social distancing is not a huge problem for me though, since I live in a student dorm, I still interact with people daily. During this period, I’ve tried my best to create a routine that makes me feel good: I’m waking up early, exercising daily, going for walks alone (the weather is great right now!), meditating and trying to do different things. Guess who’s taking dancing classes on YouTube right now? Regarding the online classes, Karls did a great job in implementing it so quickly. Other students from different universities have no clue about what is going to happen. But I’m not going to lie and say they work fantastic for me. I have some trouble concentrating and being engaged in classes, but as anything in life, it’s just a matter of mindset. We all must put some extra effort in helping ourselves during this difficult time. It helps if we understand that although we’re isolated, we’re doing this together to protect not only our loved ones, but also our community as a whole. We’re doing good. Take care and stay inside. Oh, wash your hands too, that’s important.

By João Beber:

The winter break for the foundation year was from  20.12.2019 until 18.02.2020. During this time, I was back home, in Brazil. It was nice to see everyone again and spend Christmas with my family. It is summer now in Brazil, so I’ve been to my summer house at the beach, where I´ve played beach volleyball, swam and I ran every morning at the beach. It was nice to feel the warm weather again. Also, during my time there, I visited São Paulo, where I´ve met a friend from my first exchange program in Germany in 2015.

In this post I would like to share some insights that I had during this time in Brazil. For example, I could notice that I´ve developed much more the sense of responsibility since I moved to Germany, that is because here I’m living alone, so I need to cook, wash my clothes, etc.  Karls gave me the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world, and with this, I´ve learned about new cultures and I had the experience to share all that with my family and friends, it was amazing.   

So, on 14.02.2020 I came back to Germany and for my surprise it isn't that cold anymore, for example on Sunday we had an amazing 20 degrees weather. I'm already excited that spring is coming soon. 

By João Beber:

Hello everyone. In today’s blog I will be writing about my quarantine and online classes experiences. The coronavirus changed our daily life, now it is time to stay at home and be socially distancing. Also, our semester that started in March has switched from face-to-face to online classes. I´ve decided to come back to Brazil to be with my family during this time. I arrived here on the 18th of March. During the first two weeks I was isolated from everyone since I came from an area with many cases abroad. So, for the safety of everyone I stayed in my bedroom almost this whole period. I confess that it was not easy, I’m a type of person who enjoys spending time with other people, going for walks, having my freedom and to just stay in your room kind of makes you feel bad and a little bit depressive. During that time many things came into my mind, for example: I never thought in my life the importance of meeting friends, having the freedom to travel, and being able to go anywhere. Of course, now I will give much more importance to these things. I promise to all the people who might invite me for something, that I will never use an excuse to not go out again, such as I’m tired, I´m not in the mood etc. Now I see how these things are important for my life, and my mental health.

The online classes have also been a different experience for me. It has been much more comfortable but also sometimes challenging. You need to focus more and try very hard to not lose focus, since at home you have many things that can distract you. But at the end for me it has been a great experience during this difficult time. The university is offering all support that we need. I´m always trying to be very positive and I hope our normal life will come back soon. Meanwhile, try to do things that you enjoy, have video calls with friends and family, or a tv show marathon, drink some wine or beer, and just keep your mind occupied. Soon everything will be fine again. If you need some help or just want to chat with someone, do not hesitate to write to me. I wish you all the best.

By Celinne 

As of last month, we switched to online classes, since all non-essential business must remain closed in Germany. I honestly don’t mind staying at home, although not going to the gym is making myself go a little bit crazy. I do miss my friends and having random conversations during classes breaks at Karls. Social distancing is not a huge problem for me though, since I live in a student dorm, I still interact with people daily. During this period, I’ve tried my best to create a routine that makes me feel good: I’m waking up early, exercising daily, going for walks alone (the weather is great right now!), meditating and trying to do different things. Guess who’s taking dancing classes on YouTube right now? Regarding the online classes, Karls did a great job in implementing it so quickly. Other students from different universities have no clue about what is going to happen. But I’m not going to lie and say they work fantastic for me. I have some trouble concentrating and being engaged in classes, but as anything in life, it’s just a matter of mindset. We all must put some extra effort in helping ourselves during this difficult time. It helps if we understand that although we’re isolated, we’re doing this together to protect not only our loved ones, but also our community as a whole. We’re doing good. Take care and stay inside. Oh, wash your hands too, that’s important.

By Celinne de Paula:

Karlshochschule is different in many aspects, and  because it's a small university, it provides us an intimate and cozy environment. All the classrooms have glass walls, and the departments’ doors are always open. Because of that, you can get really close to the staff  and professors here, and conversations with the director of the university are not uncommon at all. One of my favorite things here is the Karls’ events: karaoke nights, Halloween parties and events for special dates are wonderful opportunities to talk to people in other majors or that’re in other semesters. In the beginning of the semester we have the “Orientation week” , which was one of my coolest weeks ever. We spent all week getting to know the university, other students from all around the world, and every night we had something to do. Karls encourages diversity and personal development. While I’m writing this in the library, I can see a map of the world on the wall with “find yourself”, “enjoy the moment” and “be passionate and inspire others” written right next to it. Here we also have specific events to give feedback to all the staff and say what can be improved. In every floor there’s a feedback box as well if you don’t want to say it publicly. Besides all of this, we have events to talk about racism, prejudice, inclusion and a lot of other important topics. All of that makes us feel really welcomed here, as we can see that this is an environment that makes us listen, talk, think and grow.