Terraka Garner
Life Editor
Both majoring in international business and beyond, two students from Germany decided to attend Idaho State University to become better well rounded in language and competency skills.
Simone Surig and Stefanie Wegner are currently working through a foreign exchange student program between their university, the University of Paderborn, located in Paderborn, Germany, and ISU where they are required to achieve passable grades and to take classes relevant to their degree. This program allows students from Germany to pay tuition in Germany, but to attend school somewhere else for one or two semesters, depending on the circumstances of each student.
“It’s so funny that [ISU students] can actually earn credits doing sports. In Germany, it’s pretty straight forward, like you choose a major when entering a university,” explained Wegner. “If you want to change your major, you have to drop out of the system and start over again.”
Surig and Wegner will be at ISU to complete the fall semester and will then make their way back to Germany. They agree they are both glad they are only here for one semester because they said it gives another student a chance to take part in the exchange program.
The University of Paderborn offers an undergraduate degree in three short years but according to Wegner and Suret, their classes are completely focused around their business major; no fun and games.
“So we have friends here coming from other universities, other countries, and they can attend athletic courses. They can attend yoga or theater courses even if they’re studying business or accounting or so, and the professors will accept it,” said Surig. “That’s impossible at our university. We could do the course here, but just for fun.”
The exchange program provides some variety in university choice. Wegner said ISU wasn’t initially her first choice in a university, but she is glad she was given the opportunity to go to a school in the United States.
“I think it’s great we actually came here. I think there were like 30 to 40 people in the program, in the exchange program with the US. There’s I think Oklahoma State University, there are ten German people going to that, so I’m pretty glad that we’re just two people and we’re forced to speak English, we can’t speak German all the time,” said Wegner.
Surig is set on improving her English language skills while attending ISU. She mentioned that learning different languages is important for any international business major. She and Wegner said they have friends from Mexico, France, Brazil, Sweden and they all have different cultures, so they want to get to know those cultures.
“It’s totally convenient for us to go overseas because we’re studying English within our international business anyway so it’s a good opportunity for us to actually improve that language because we’re going to need it anyway when we’re starting to work,” said Wegner. “It’s basically getting to know other cultures, getting to know your own culture because you’re always comparing American culture to the German one so you actually get to know your own culture better as well I guess.”
Wegner is an undergraduate student. She sees herself to be open minded and friendly. She plans to participate in an internship after receiving her bachelor’s and then to attend a master’s program somewhere in the United States. She enjoys playing sports, more specifically European Handball.
“I signed up for this handball class here, but then I found out it’s not the same. I talked to this guy because he had a shirt on with like handball written on it and I’m like ‘oh yeah, cool, so do you play handball?’ and he’s like ‘yeah, it’s like racquetball with you’re hands,’ I’m like no, it’s totally different,” said Wegner. “I don’t know how to explain it. [European Handball] is kind of like soccer that you play with your hands. It’s a team sport; it’s pretty rough so it’s cool. It’s an Olympic disciple as well, but nobody knows it here.”
Surig is a graduate student and has already achieved her bachelor’s degree in International Business. She took part in an internship for a financing firm but would like to focus on a more international level. She sees herself to be sporty, smart and active.
“I’m playing soccer since I was six years old on a team,” said Surig. “I have two brothers; I played with them in a garden so I really enjoy playing soccer. Here, I’m not playing it; it’s a little bit difficult. I have no soccer shoes here. We had one luggage to get here and then it’s difficult to decide which kind of clothing, which kind of shoes you want to take.”
“Trouble for girls,” added Wegner.
