We started at 09:00 am from the hotel to the campus of Old Dominion University to get a campus tour. The campus was very beautiful with a lot of trees and a big fountain in the middle.
Then we met Rachel, she was our Guide and gave us an interesting inside view of the life at the ODU.
Highlights of the tour were the big Planetarium, the amazing sport area, the cafeteria with different fast food restaurants, all the friendly people, and the sport lounge with a gym, a football stadion and a sporthall direct on the campus. We even saw the dorms. Rachel showed us a students flat with two beds in one rooms directly on the campus. So yes, they have a really big campus.
Special was, that they have a stone in the middle of the yard and when you step over it, you are unlucky and will have problems to finish your study.
Directly after this, one of us went accidentally above the unlucky stone. Wish them luck to pass.
After the amazing campus tour we had the German chat hour with students from ODU. We talked to each other a lot and played different games to get to know each other. That was so much fun so that we shared our contacts with the American students. Then it was the first time, eating at the cafeteria there and we all were so excited because it is so different in comparison from what you get in the German cafeteria. There are a lot of Fast Food restaurants, that offer healthy and delicious stuff as well. You can choose for example between Sushi, Subs, Chinese Food, or just a smoothie. They even have Starbucks as a part of their cafeteria. So we had lunch and everything was really delicious.
After that, we had a Meet and Greet with Prof. Klijn, he hosts us at ODU for the trip. We talked about the challenges of the USA and he explained a lot to us like how and why some things work here.
After the discussion we played a card game in groups of four. What we did not know, we all had similar, but not the same rules. So we played some rows and then some of us should change the table to a different group. It was interesting because in the beginning we did not know, that we have different rules and we were not allowed to talk so in the beginning it was very surprising. Then we changed the tables again and were fully mixed. For example was a rule for one player, that Ace ist the highest card. For the other player it was the lowest. So we had to find solutions without talking. Mr Klijn wandet to show us what happens, when different cultures with different „rules“ come together.
After that we had a Meeting to discuss how we go on the next days.
In the evening we went to the direction of Virginia beach and had a stop on the bridge to see the beautiful sunset.
All in all we had an amazing day, met a lot of nice people and connected to the students of ODU.
