Route J-1

By CIEE
Logistics Intern at Transporeon Group in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania

Martin, from Germany, enjoyed diving into American culture: learning about American holidays, making new friends, and even doing a 100-mile bike ride.

During my internship, I really appreciated living with three American roommates in a house with a shared kitchen, living room, bathroom and separate sleeping rooms. I benefited from living with three roommates by having the opportunity to meet their friends. I was also able to improve my English significantly as I was forced to communicate in English all of the time. Furthermore, we became very good friends and we did a lot of activities together. For example, we took trips to Ocean City, NJ. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my roommate’s family in Pittsburgh and attended some of my other roommate’s shows to watch them act. We had a good time while cooking German and American meals, also celebrating birthday parties with them. These were all unforgettable experiences.

We were also celebrating the 4th of July together. Here I saw the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen and also attended my first All-you-can-eat Ice Cream Festival.

It was a tough decision for me to leave my home area, my family and especially my girlfriend for this long time. But without exaggerating – my time here was one of the best times I ever had in my whole life. Before I did this adventure, I could never imagine to leave my home area for a job or any other reason – I had serious doubts if I will feel comfortable as I didn’t know anybody here. But I was really surprised how easy it was for me to make new friends. I met a lot of great people through my roommates, while playing badminton, floorball, pickleball or joining the local bike club. I was riding my bike more than ever before. I even successfully completed a 100 mile bike ride with some friends from the Philly bike club.

I was invited to awesome parties and was able to follow and celebrate the German and American soccer world cup games with my coworkers. I got the chance to play Laser Tag as Barney Stinson with my friends and celebrated my first Halloween with them. My work was exciting – my coworker called me a wizard because of my Excel skills. His family loved me and invited me to all the holidays as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s eve. My first car I got here was a Ford F-150 truck – a real American car… I also had two Philly Cheese steaks and a hamburger on top for dinner. I once was talking to a German speaking customer and I forgot how to say something in German – I switched to English as I felt more comfortable with it. I felt like a true American after all these experiences.

Altogether – my time here was unforgettable, awesome and my heart also beats for the US now. I will try to take this open minded attitude back to home and come back as often as possible to maintain the friendships that I’ve made here. I’m also looking forward to have my American friends visiting me in Germany to show them also more about the German culture and especially the Bavarian culture.

This story was originally published on CIEE’s blog: Internship USA: Martin’s Story | CIEE

Categories: J-1 Visa