"Everything international is new and exciting."

Anm. d. Red.: In der Reihe „Studierende berichten“ haben Studierende die Möglichkeit, ihre Erfahrungen zum Studium und zur Jade Hochschule frei und unzensiert zu äußern. Um die Authentizität der Beiträge zu erhalten, nimmt die Redaktion keinerlei Änderungen vor.

International experiences may be…

... common and normal for Europeans but as an American exchange student here at Jade Hochschule, everything international is new and exciting. However, my semester in Wilhelmshaven has not been the only experience taking place in an intercultural setting. Thanks to International Management A and B, two courses offered in English by the university, my fellow American student and I had the ability to travel to Leeuwarden, Netherlands for an international seminar as well as participate in a similar seminar hosted at JHS.

Both led primarily…

… by Professor Christina Hans, these seminars allowed the participants to meet students from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the United States (us). We therefore were able to combine our different levels of thinking about business and the world in a way to solve problems together in order to help a company. In Leeuwarden, the topic of discussion for the students was marketing for a specific product in a local food company. We visited the distribution plant and the company owner explained the business processes. The company had previously given us questions to solve regarding their product. Each of us were in a highly diverse group working to solve the problem to the best of our combined abilities.

The opportunity to work…

… in such a way with international students allowed each group to design a diverse solution to the problem and to think outside of their individual mindsets. Similarly to the seminar in Leeuwarden, the International Management class at Jade Hochschule also provided students a way to learn to work in an international setting. The students in the course planned the seminar from the beginning which forced the student teams to embrace both German and American mentalities and operations.

Problem-solving and compromising…

… were lessons that inadvertently came from the course. I am very grateful to have taken both of these classes in order to grow my knowledge of business and culture in an interna-tional group. Working together for so long taught the students more than just classroom knowledge, such as in a lecture. We were able to know each other on a personal level and to use that familiarity to learn an incredible amount about the homelands of each student. With this knowledge, students are able to look at the world with a diverse mind and appreciate or understand the people who come from other countries.

I thank Professor Hans…

… and the supporting professors for all of their help during the seminars and for the opportunity for students to work in such a unique environment. The skills that students acquired during these times will carry through to their careers.

Keziah Behlke

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