Last semester, through the Marshall International Exchange Program (IEP), I was able to call the town of Vallendar, Germany my new home from January – May. I attended WHU—Otto Beisheim School of Management, the top business school in Germany and one of Europe’s leading business schools, where I studied International Business Administration. Vallendar is a tiny town in Germany, about an hour from Frankfurt and an hour from Cologne by train and is seated on the bank of the Rhine in a beautiful vineyard region. Contrary to many of my peers, the small town of Vallendar and small school of WHU appealed to me because I knew I would be able to make authentic friendships with both Germans and other exchange students—and WHU did not disappoint! At the start of this Fall semester, I actually ran into some of my WHU German friends here on USC’s campus for their exchange semester.
I think we often take for granted how cool it is to have a literal “exchange” program where we are able to host visiting students from leading business schools around the world on our campus and then have the same opportunity to study at their campuses. In addition to now having some great friends all over the world (from Germany to Italy to Canada to Texas), I was able to travel and eat my way throughout all of Europe, thanks to Germany’s amazing central location. And of course, I was able to take some unique business courses, such as a Seminar in Sports Economics and a Seminar in Sustainability in the Textile Industry. Studying abroad through Marshall’s International Exchange Program is one of my favorite experiences at USC thus far, and one that I will never forget!