My semester abroad is already over, so now it is a very good
opportunity to think about my experience after all. This was my second time
live in Germany, so I did not face any cultural barriers. However, it surprised
me a little bit, how hard it was to get to know the local students at the university.
Describe
In a classroom, everyone sits silent and listen to the
professor, the students highly appreciate the professors. It is very rare that
someone interrupts them during their talk or even ask any questions. After the
lecture, everyone just goes in their own way. In the library and study room,
everyone chats and study, in their own group and it is common to make the team
works online. So, there are not many opportunities to talk with the other
students on school days, if they are not your friends already. I also felt that
the Germans are not very interested in foreigners’ students, they did not make
any contact with them and they seem a little uncertain to talk in English.
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| International food day |
Interpret
I had six months' time to see and feel the
German lifestyle and culture and I am convinced that Germans are very
work-oriented and this can be seen in university. In Germany, success in
university helps you to get a good job, and here, the previous work experience is not
that important. Thus, everyone invests a lot of time into their studies and
take it seriously. Maybe they don’t have time to make new friends and the friendship
of an exchange student and a school-focused German may not lead to the best
outcome because the study-spare time- balance is not the same.
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| The international family |
Evaluate
I know that people talk about unfriendly Germans and it is a
stereotype that Germans are very straight and study-oriented. The social
outcome is not as important for then as a good result, so, they put all the
effort and energy into their studies. In the end, even though I didn’t get to
know many local students, I have a lot of international friends now. I
familiarize many cultures all over the world and I cannot be happier that I
have a lovely international family and also my old friends in Germany. I think in this way the outcome is even better than I ever hoped.
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| My besties 💗 |
-Jasmiina-
I study Bachelor of business administration in Centria UAS and winter semester 2019-2020 I spend in Hochschule Niederrhein in Germany. The faculty Business Administration and Economics offer a 12 courses module for the exchange students and I have chosen four courses of that module and two courses from language centrum to improve my English and Germany. Usually in one course is 20-30 students. Most of the students are Germans and, in a group are about 1-5 exchange students. The quality of the studies is very good here, and most of the courses focusing on world trends nowadays. I really like it but the communication between the professors and students is not like in Finland. Here students mostly just listen to the professor and don’t interrupt or ask any question during the lecture. Also, students show much more respect for the profs. For example, calling them by surname and ‘knock the table’ after every lecture.
Monday to Thursday we have a four hours lecture and sometimes after that I study in the library or studying room with my friends. Most of my friends are also exchange students or foreigners, who make the whole degree here. I have found it out very hard to involve and communicate with the local students. It feels like they don't like to talk in English even everyone's English skills are very good. That has been very challenged but at the same time, Germans take the studies very seriously and for the exchange students, my time here is not just for studying, it is also to have a great experience and memories. The other exchange students think the same way and together we have had a great spare-time beside the university time.
After lectures I go to the gym, running or swimming. I also spend a lot of time with my friends, usually, we visit cities nearby, go shopping, make dinner together and go partying sometimes. The best moment of the exchange was definitely the orientation week. It was a very nice way to get to know the other students. The whole week was full of events and parties and I also made friends from other faculties and campus. It was a great start and an easy way to find friends here. The city, where I live is pretty nice. Here is everything I need, and the location is good. Every week we visit in Düsseldorf and Köln both are about 40-50 mins away. I have enjoyed my time here and learned a lot of new about German culture and the education system.
I’m lucky to be here and I recommend to everyone to spent a semester abroad! :)
-Jasmiina-
I study Environmental Chemistry and Technology at Centria and I spent the autumn semester studying in Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, Netherlands. The program I joined was project intensive, with 22 out of 30 credits dedicated to project work. The project work involved a lot of independent work though we also had a project coach that we could consult if we got stuck. The project work was quite similar to the ones we have at Centria so we had to write a project report, had a mid-term and end-term presentation and we had to make and present a poster. I only had two theoretical courses and I found them tough but at the same time interesting.
I spent the majority of my studies mainly with my project group members. My group members were diverse and so it happened often that we clashed because of different cultures and different work ethics but in the end we had a successful project. I find the study culture in Netherlands similar to Finland in that the teachers encourage and expect independent study. The teachers are also on a first name basis and are very approachable.
For me, everyday life involved about 6km bike ride from my hosts home to school (if I happened to have a class or group meeting). I often enjoyed these bike rides except when it rained (which it did a lot). The Hanze campus is merged with the University of Groningen's so there are many buildings in that area. After my class or project work, I would then head home or to the shops. The ESN (Erasmus Student Network) also organized many activities so I participated in many of these during the week as well as the weekend.
The most challenging me for me was the courses which I found quite tough. Most of it was new to me so I had to study quite a lot independently. However, the highlight of my studies was meeting so many interesting people. Groningen is a student city with up to 20 000 students so I ended up meeting people from all walk's of life.
