During the June / July holidays Wouter Bam attented the Summer School for Bachelor & Master Students at the European Business School.
Here is his account of his experiences.
Pre-departure:
Preparation for the trip had to start quickly, because I only had a month before I left for Germany. My visa, flight tickets, foreign currency and logistics had to be arranged while classes were running.
Luckily there is a German consulate in Cape Town, so it was possible to apply for a Visa without going to Pretoria. From the consulate website it was possible to make an appointment electronically. Unfortunately they have very limited hours within which it is possible to make appointments and it may be necessary to take off some classes to be able to go. For some reason it is necessary to be there in person. Obviously it is a good idea to make sure that all your documents are 100% before driving all the way in and then being told that you have to come back again. Another problem is to get a lift in if you don’t have a car. I considered hiring a car, but luckily one of my friends from res had to drive in anyway. If you made your appointment online, they can courier your passport to you when they are done, which saves you an extra trip.
Additionally it is important to take enough cash to your appointment. On the web it said that the fees for a visa is R350, but when I got there the fees had apparently doubled the previous day and I had to pay R600. However, one of the other South Africans said that because she had stated the reason for her visit as “invitation by German institution” she did not have to pay at all.
When it comes to booking flights, Pick ‘n Pay’s flight page can be very helpful. It compares the prices for all the main airlines on any given date. Once you’ve found a suitable flight, it is advisable to go to the website of the airline that you are considering. You can then usually book and pay for the flight there. If you pay for the flight with MasterCard (whether it is a cheque (debit) or credit card) you get free travel insurance. But as far as I know this is NOT the same as medical insurance. You still need additional medical cover to apply for your visa. If you already have some sort of normal medical cover in South Africa, it may be the case that it automatically gives you free medical cover when traveling abroad. It is worthwhile just to check.
Before you book your flights, it is important to consider if you want to travel a bit before or after the summer school. Travelling alone isn’t a problem if you are guy, but a group is just more fun. I travelled a few days on my own in Germany and then did a TopDeck tour of Europe after the Summer School period. It is pretty much the same as a Contiki tour but just a different company. I initially considered doing a Contiki, but they were all booked out. This should be expected if you try to book only a month in advance of the summer tourist season in Europe. The TopDeck tour surpassed my expectations. Even though TopDeck may not be as well known as Contiki they were a bit cheaper and enabled me to see Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Barcelona and more in just 15 days without any organization of accommodation or travel from my side. So it is very stress free. And the food was very good. Unfortunately, because you travel by bus and don’t have to deal with the local people directly, you won’t get such an intense experience of the different cultures in the countries you visit, but you will see all the sights.
Over the weekends of the summer school I travelled with the other South Africans. This is usually not too difficult to organise. Just decide where you want to go. Then book a hostel online from any website like hostels.com or hostelbookings.com a week in advance. After that you just need to get there. Trains however, can be a bit expensive. We travelled to Berlin and Prague in the Czech Republic over the weekends. Each of these return trips can cost approximately 120 euro at least. For us it was a bit cheaper to just get a EUrail pass that is valid for any 3 days in three countries for example. Especially of you are thinking of travelling to other countries as well. The pass did cost us approximately 250 euros each though. And we could only buy it in Frankfurt. If you are just travelling in Germany you might want to find out what specials DB (Deutshe Bahn, the German rail company) can offer. They also offer group discounts if you travel together and it is not too difficult to get some of the summer school people to travel with you.
If you want to fly within Europe from one city to another, one should consider the low cost airlines like Ryanair, AirBerlin etc. They offer very competitive rates. Just make sure that you read the fine print. They usually add a lot of other costs on the base price that they advertise, for example a baggage fee, airport tax etc. Lufthansa also has some well-priced EU flights without the hidden costs. Additionally, the low cost airlines sometimes make use of different airports than the normal airlines, making connection flights a hassle.
The Summer School:
The university was a small private university, but the lecturers were highly qualified and mostly made a good impression. The course “Doing Business in Europe” consisted of a wide variety of different subjects including “The Economics of the European Integration”, “Cultural Differences in Europe”, “European Tax Law” and “Retailing in Europe”. These subjects varied from very challenging to general knowledge. Overall the program was well balanced and served to give me a much better understanding of the European environment, mind-set and challenges. Anyone can benefit from attending.
Most of the lecturers were German and through both the material and what the lecturers revealed about themselves I learned a lot about German and European culture. Some prejudices and stereotypes that Europeans hold also become quite evident. Not to mention their ignorance about South Africa. In South Africa we emphasize that we are the economic hub of Africa and may even overestimate our importance in the global community, but to the general German community we are not significant at all.
The students at the course were from various field of study, including: Business, Law, Engineering and Human Resources. The students that did not have any economic or numerical background found the course challenging, but all found that at least one of the subjects fell into their field of interest. The students that attended also came from very diverse cultural backgrounds. Some of the countries that were represented include: Turkey, Mexico, Australia, USA, Ireland, China and Singapore. Just interacting with the students already made the trip worth the effort.
The last week of the course was dedicated to a business simulation which was both challenging and rewarding. We were randomly divided into groups. But the eventual outcome was depended on both teamwork and a bit of luck. Here any accounting knowledge was put to good use.
During the course we undertook three industrial visits. These were to Lufthansa (Germany’s national airline), Opel and the European Parliament in Strasbourg. I found the visit to the European Parliament the most impressive of the visits. I found it so weird to go into a massive hall and sit on the same chairs where many important heads of state have had fiery debates about international issues. Quite a treat.
During the Lufthansa visit we did a tour of the training centre for pilots and flight attendants. We also did a tour of the aeroplane maintenance section at Frankfurt airport. The most interesting part of the tour was seeing the actual flight simulators that the pilots use for training and going on board a 747 and seeing all the areas on board that a normal passenger never sees.
The Opel visit consisted of visiting a few museums that are on the Opel premise and visiting the actual manufacturing plant. We saw every process from the forming of steel plates for doors until the tightening of the last wheel bolt. The actual facility is so big that we were transported in a bus from one area of production to another.
After Returning to South Africa:
The Summer School made me realize that going abroad is not all that difficult. I got to know some of the German university structures, how to get a visa, how the public transport works and what German culture is all about. I’m sure that when I go abroad again it will be much easier just because I am now familiar with the relevant structures and procedures.
Meeting people from so many other countries makes one appreciate some of the challenges other countries are facing. For example, Ireland is currently experiencing a financial crisis. But we have heard that term so many times that it no longer holds any meaning. Speaking to people who experience the day to day effects of such a crisis is very sobering. Another example is the birth restriction taxation in China. After speaking to a Chinese girl I became aware not only of the attitude of the people toward the government but also of the effect such a governmental stance has on a society.
Having to live in Germany for three weeks forces one to engage with the local people. If you just do a tour of Germany it is easy to isolate yourself. But having to go to the supermarket, being reliant on the public transport, having to try and communicate with the landlord that cannot speak English, trying to find things to do on your own etc. really makes one experience the fullness of the country.
Something in Germany that is very different from South Africa is that labor is very expensive. Whether you are a person who works at the cash register or a construction worker, you get paid a decent salary. And because of this, services are so expensive that people just choose to do it themselves. You even have to pay a deposit to use a trolley at a supermarket to ensure that you bring it back to exactly where you got it from. This again emphasizes the general efficiency of the German society and exposes many of the areas in the South African society which can be improved.
I plan to do my Masters degree abroad and the experience has influenced my perception of such a program and the practical points concerning such an endeavor. Even though the course may be in English and the lecturers and students are fluent in English, the general community isn’t necessarily capable of understanding English. This is not an unsurpassable problem, but it is something that should be considered. This is why, if I do my Masters in Germany, I would prefer to do it in Munich or Heidelberg where there are bigger student communities than in a small town like Oestrich.
Furthermore, I will think twice about studying in France, as my French linguistics leave much to be desired and I have been told that the French are not particularly fond of Anglophones. However, studying in France could present an opportunity to get a good grip on the French language, which will surely open some doors in the future.