Motivation
My motivation for participating in this experience was multifactorial. Firstly, I wanted to immerse myself in a German speaking environment long-term, as I am have been learning German for around ten years now and am committed to the lifelong journey of language learning. I also wanted to create a global network of friends and professionals, as I value international connection and broadening my horizons, and I also just love meeting new people. Further, I’m interested in potentially moving to Europe for a period of time and this was a fantastic opportunity to see how living in a European country would be and I was also very interested in learning more about the German and European legal systems, as they are major global players and very different to Australia.
Personal development
I have definitely grown so much as a person from my time at Bucerius. This experience allowed me to live with my partner of 6 years for the first time and also just to live out of home for the first time. This lead to so much growth, both individually and in my romantic relationship, at the same time gaining independence and freedom as an individual and working on developing myself as a partner in terms of dependability, emotional regulation and communication.
Throughout this experience, I met so many amazing people, many who are still my friends today, and my social anxiety has also rapidly decreased, to the point where I no longer feel anxious at all going into meeting new people - I only feel curious and excited to maybe make more friends! I feel I have emotionally matured a lot as well, feeling more flexible on the small inconsequential stuff in life, but at the same time more able to hold my ground when it comes to my boundaries. I also had the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of the German language in the legal setting by taking a German class at Bucerius where we got to visit the courts there which was very cool!
Academic development
This experience has had a huge positive impact on me academically, as I was able to really broaden my horizons in terms of types of legal systems that exist globally, how EU and national law interact with each other, how aspects such as compliance and risk management factor into a lawyers role and how AI is innovating in the legal sector. In many classes, we were encouraged to share how things work in our own country allowing for a broad and comparative view of the law to take shape. 
The academic environment at Bucerius Law School was different to UQ, because there were many more classes, given the more intensive structure of the courses, but this lead to establishing a real rapport with classmates and professors alike. Group exercises were incredibly common, which is definitely different to law at UQ and I really enjoyed particularly the AI and the law class where we had a workshop with industry professionals and a mixer afterwards. It’s difficult to say how the workload compared to UQ as I’ve never done a UQ short course but it was enough material to be engaging, but not too much for it to be overwhelming. There was still plenty of time to explore.
Professional development
I developed professionally from this experience in that I am more confident, self-assured and able to think flexibly. I have become more clear on what my values are an as a result the direction I want to take my career in, and am more ambitious and fearless now in choosing to take opportunities which feel scary, but will ultimately foster growth.
I am definitely more resilient and thus better equipped to deal with unexpected challenges, and to enlist the help of others when I need it. Generally, I feel I matured into a more communicative, open and capable person. A particular challenge I faced whilst over there were some health issues, but I navigated through them by reminding myself to stay calm and that support was available, and trusted in the processes provided (by my lovely health insurance). 
Costs and funding
My overall experience cost around $20,000. My flights were around $3000, my accomodation was about $9000 and the rest was spent on travelling, groceries and souvenirs/shopping. My approach to this exchange was to stockpile as much money as I could beforehand, set aside a specific amount for rent and I budgeted whilst on exchange, not with a spreadsheet or anything, but by doing a lot of cooking at home instead of eating out. Thankfully Bucerius provides free public transport for students, so that definitely helped as well.
I received funding via a BEL faculty scholarship which was valued at $5000. This funding went entirely towards rent, which helped significantly decrease stress with managing the remaining expenses.
Accommodation
Accommodation options for Bucerius are unique in that given it is a small private institution there is no on-campus accomodation. I found my accommodation on AirBnB, as I found that to be a reliable website which allows for stays under 6 months, but it was on the pricier side. Other people I know went into share-houses, rented off of Bucerius students who themselves were on exchange or went into dormitory-like accommodation offered last minute by the uni. Advice I would give about finding housing is to stay on top of your emails once accepted into Bucerius, as they do email housing offers through, but it’s on a first come, first served basis. Also make sure to keep an eye out for which dates these are available, as ultimately I felt I had to go the AirBnB route because I was staying longer before and after the exchange program itself. Also when staying in Hamburg it is very important to consider the districts which you’re staying in (the closer to the Hauptbahnhof, the more “rough” it may be), and I would recommend staying somewhere with a nearby connection to the “U” or “S” line, or the subway, as they’re much more reliable than buses.
Highlight
The highlights of my experience all fall under the umbrella of enjoying new experiences with my lovely new friends. These ranged from a simple night in hosting at my own apartment for the first time, going to a board-game cafe and playing games with friends until late, bar-hopping drinking beers on the streets as we went, and even my favourite experience of all planning a last minute trip to Austria 2 days before and driving all the way down in a rental car to stay in an idyllic village in the alps. It’s a time I’ll truly never forget.
Advice/top tips
My top tips for students participating in this experience in the future are start looking for housing early and please look into the fraction of in Hamburg so you can figure out which area best matches your price range/ desired living environment. We ended up staying in one of the calmest neighbourhoods in the city because I researched this :) Also keep an eye out for the updated course list when planning for your study plan, as they only release them quite late.
General tips about Bucerius would be to please reach out to the staff if you have any questions because they’re all so lovely, go on as many of the organised trips as possible - it’s a great way to experience the city and surrounds for cheap and in a community, and most of all have fun!
