Adjusting to Bochum
After graduating high school in 2021, I decided to take a gap year before starting at UNC Chapel Hill. I needed direction as I still had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I knew nothing would change if I stayed at home in Greensboro, NC, so I decided to move in with family in Bochum, Germany.
I was born and partially grew up in Germany. We always spoke German at home, so language was never something that worried me, but when I touched down I was surprised at how much trouble I was having. Stringing together simple sentences to tell my family how my day was, is very different than being completely immersed in the language.
I took part in a German course to refresh my knowledge of grammar and writing. There I met a group of people coming from all over the world, with unique dreams and goals for their new journey of living in Germany. A couple of month later I landed an internship at the local newspaper WAZ Bochum.
In this article I talk about the differences I noticed between living in Bochum and living in Greensboro. The translated article can be found here
In this article, I was able to interview a family that had fled the Ukraine at the start of the war. They told me about their journey to get to Bochum and how the adjustment period was going. The translated article can be found here.
This article covered a Döner Kebab place that had its opening in the city center of Bochum. They took on a Money Heist theme from the popular TV show and were selling their Kebabs for 1 cent each. Read the translated article here.
In my time at WAZ Bochum, I learned so much about the city and its people. I also found my passion for reporting, which I am now pursuing at UNC Chapel Hill.
All of my published articles can be found here.