Foreign Exchange Experience

Here is a picture of my recently bought hyacinths, they smell heavenly and just ad a much needed dash of color (that is my family photo adjacent).

Had a lovely weekend in Copenhagen; went to the art museum, had dinner at a family friend's home and on Sunday a bunch of us ladies from my residence hall went out for lunch. This brought up an interesting question for me because of a situation that arose.

My next door neighbor here in Copenhagen is a sweet but VERY quiet German girl. She is very shy and I think because her English is not so good, she does not come out much. I often hear her in the room, watching her German television, but she rarely hangs out with us in the hall or to be honest goes out. It led me to think, is she getting the most out of her exchange experience? Is part of your experience meeting others or perhaps its just living in a new place, on your own, in which case she is excelling at?

I've noticed that most of us exchange students are highly extroverted, but she is not. Yet I can't imagine that would hinder you from interacting with others - for example yesterdays lunch was a big group affair, she could have certainly come and blended in, no conversation really necessary. Instead she opted to stay in her room and watch her German television. Also, she barely uses the common kitchen, opting to cook in her room (don't know how??), again isolating herself. And than when I do speak with her (we take Danish class together), she often comments on how she dislikes Copenhagen and wants to go home to Germany. I can't help thinking this has something to do with her not meeting with others.

But perhaps I'm not seeing all sides of the story, is there more than one way to have a foreign exchange experience?