Christin Bimberg
Huntington, West Virginia
I’ve always wanted to study abroad. I then decided to go to the United States because it offers the best opportunity to combine University and Volleyball.
When I left home, I wasn’t scared at home. I was only super excited. I didn’t even think of becoming homesick. Luckily, homesickness didn’t really hit me. Volleyball season is in the fall semester and that means that I was kept so busy and I didn’t have time to become homesick. And when I came back after Christmas for the spring semester, I was already used to my new life “over there”. My team was another reason I barely got homesick. I’d never been on a team before where the atmosphere was so good.
It was almost scary how well we got along. There were no cliques; no backstabbing and we also did a lot outside of volleyball. We were really a big family.
Just for the experience I made while playing volleyball, I’m glad I decided to leave Germany. Due to volleyball matches we always missed a lot of classes during the fall semester, but all my professors helped me and were very supportive. After all, I was representing the university.
Looking back at my time in the US, it was not always easy but I do not regret making that decision to spend a couple of years abroad. Of course, there are things I do not like about the States, but there are other things I like a lot but with some distance, the positive things definitely dominate!