View Annual Review - IAESTE

The Student
From Jordan to Germany
Essa Qoura
It was the 1st of July, at 8:00p.m. when I
arrived at Stuttgart Flughafen “Stuttgart
Airport”, the first time for me to visit a
European country. At the airport I met a young
lady from the Local Committee of Stuttgart.
She was the one who released the confusion
that I had by her hospitality and her nice
smiley face.
The first days to me in Stuttgart were very
difficult but after the first weekly meeting with
the Local Committee and the other trainees, I
felt more comfortable because they made me
feel at home.
The second day, I was accompanied by the
same young lady to meet my supervisor at work
(Institute of Metal forming and forging,
Universitat Stuttgart). He was very nice and
kind. He gave me an overview of what they did
at the Institute and he showed me the facilities
they had, describing how they worked in teams
and how they helped each other in order
to complete their jobs efficiently. I was
very happy to hear this because I wanted
to improve my team working skills.
After that I started to work with these
active teams with all my capabilities
trying to complete all the tasks and jobs
that I was asked to do. I encountered a lot
of problems at work, but actually I considered
these problems as opportunities to increase my
knowledge and to improve the problem solving
approach and skills that I was taught and
trained during my study period in the
industrial engineering department at the
University of Jordan.
In Stuttgart, I had the opportunity to make
friends from different countries from all over
the world. I thought that it was a
dream for me to have such friends,
but this dream came true after
knowing IAESTE, especially IAESTE
in Stuttgart. Living with such
friends for three months meant a
lot. It meant that I almost travelled
to each one’s country while being in Stuttgart
because I was dealing with people with
different languages, cultures, traditions, and
religions which was a very good environment
for me to improve my personality and
capabilities to communicate with such people
having such core differences.
During these days, I had the opportunity to see
the Alps. Actually it was not just seeing them
but it was 5 days of hiking adventures in these
mountains, walking in sunny and rainy
weather, on the grass, in the mud and in the
snow through the overwhelming nature.
At Stuttgart we were about 30 friends but after
attending the Copenhagen Get Together for 5
days (GTG 2004) we became more than 100.
Sleeping in a basketball court with more than
100 people from all over the world, eating,
dancing, playing, drinking beer, and sight
seeing together is a very nice experience.
Three months in Stuttgart without visiting the
Mercedes Benz Museum, the Porsch Museum,
the TV Tower and the Vineyards meant that I
knew nothing about Stuttgart, so I did visit
them several times.
Finally, I just want to say that IAESTE gave me
the things that no one can have without such
an organisation.
We know that the media and the internet make
the world so small but what we should
recognise is that IAESTE is also doing this.
IAESTE breaks all the borders and the politics
between countries to build new generations
having a positive mentality, altogether in one
hand in this world.
So I really want to thank the IAESTE Staff all
over the world, all the Companies and the
Institutes which support this non profit
organisation that positively affects young
people’s lives. Also a special thanks to IAESTE
LC Stuttgart for helping me and supporting me
all the time.
In the Alps
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