My name is Matthew Nicholas Rodzik, and I am from Windsor, Ontario Canada and I have chosen to study abroad at Mannheim in my last semester at Queen’s University to complete my master’s in international business.
Studying abroad for my master’s at the University of Mannheim was the best decision of my academic life. The schooling at Mannheim taught me discipline along with real life business practices mixed with theory. Having the opportunity to study abroad at the best business school in Germany allowed me to grow my network and connections with faculty and students within the University and community.
The ability to study in Mannheim is more than the long hours spent at BB Schloss Ehrenhof, re-reading lectures of the class before and preparing for the next class to come. It is about living the German experience in the city of Mannheim and traveling Europe. Being centrally located in Europe, living in Mannheim allowed me to travel to 8 different countries. Coming from Canada, rather North America as a whole, the ease of travel is very limited, however in Germany taking the DB connected me with my friends living in Milan and gave me the opportunity to travel to the next city to party in ex.) Prague, Amsterdam, etc.
Although at the end of the day, studying abroad for my masters, I knew education came first but in all of this I did end up meeting my best friend who happened to be from the same country (Canada) as myself. It is crazy to think of all the things that I have experienced studying in Germany, but it made me a better man and I would not change my decision if given the opportunity to do it all over again.
My advice for anyone choosing Mannheim, be prepared to have loads of fun at the weekly Schneckenhof (Castle Party), travel to the places you always wanted to visit, and work hard because a degree from Mannheim holds a lot of weight whether you are in Germany or not, finishing your studies at Mannheim is something to be proud of and the world will respect you for it.