Why not go elsewhere?

– When your head says no –

Everything seems to be under control: study plan, flat cleaning rota, calendar bursting with dates – the important and unimportant ones. The more it contains, the safer you feel. Everything runs its – your – well-calculated course. Yet the pointless order bothers you … until one day someone or something comes along and appeals to your heart: You really must do something different! And suddenly you find yourself in the age-old conflict between routine and variety. The old stuff bores you to death, but the new is too uncertain. What will you do?

Your melancholic brainstorming on the bus driving past the red evening sky slowly but surely awakens a longing to travel in you. You'd love to sit there like that forever.

Why not go somewhere else? Everyone's always raving about how much they love travelling – who doesn't? I could be just like the others and simply flee the nest. You're realistic and think it through for now: I can't just leave like that. The holidays are still a long way off. A weekend somewhere … far too short. Why not officially seek pastures new under the pretext of my studies? You've heard that the exchange programmes basically take everyone. You just have to make the decision that you want to. The urge to write everything down in your calendar immediately presses itself upon you; the next information event is quickly googled, an email to various coordinators is immediately jotted down in note form. And don't forget to message acquaintances who've already been through it all.

With a quiet smile you then walk home comfortably and are pleased that you dare to think beyond your own horizons. In your cramped four walls you then collapse onto your bed and think about the wonderful time you could have. Especially about how wonderful it will be to come back with a plundered treasure trove of experience from abroad in your luggage.

You start to be more realistic, dig out your laptop and begin to research. Great, the event for this semester was already a few weeks ago. That doesn't discourage you, the next one is … next year. Well then, a direct appointment for all the organisational stuff. You continue reading into the subject until it slowly dawns on you: I need to know now whether in a year I'll still feel like committing to something for half a year. What if by then I don't actually want to anymore or other things in my life crop up that I don't want to give up? Applying now would mean my life here would be on pause. Courses I need for my degree, I shouldn't even take now, since a semester abroad would create too big a gap. I'll register as soon as possible! The next deadline: In spring next year. You wait a year to apply, wait a year for your place, then spend half a year there. How are you supposed to plan all that when you can't even manage to fit a doctor's appointment for next week into your daily routine?

The first replies and reports from your friends trickle in: It depends where you want to go. I was lucky with my process back then. I did it privately and not through a programme. You usually can't get the courses there credited – earning ECTS will be difficult. I don't know …

… How are you supposed to know then? Your calendar stares at you impatiently. It wants to be fed with dates and facts. A few loose scraps of thought aren't a plan.

Your phone blares at you: The most important thing – motivation letter! You are motivated. You'd like to make the experience abroad your own. You pick up a pen, turn to a new page and start writing: My name is My name is … and I would very much like to … I study German Studies with great interest … I would like to go abroad because I … in the appendix you will find … in my CV you can see that – are grades actually relevant? I am committed motivated and interested …

That all doesn't sound so honest, you think to yourself. You decide: I'll wait and see what my studies bring.

Sebastian Simpfendoerfer