Konstanz
A beautiful city next to a big lake, interesting people from all over the world, an amazing opportunity to improve German skills and great summer weather!
Pre-departure:
I heard in April that I was nominated by the PGIO to attend the IBH Summer School in Konstanz, and in May I heard from the University of Konstanz for the first time. After receiving more information from the organisers in Konstanz, and doing some research on the internet, I booked my flight ticket in the beginning of June (www.cheapflights.co.za – no need to go to a travel agency) and directly after that made an appointment for my visa (ww.visa-germany.co.za). I decided to fly to Zurich in Switzerland and spend one night there before taking the train to Konstanz. In this way, I was also able to see another city. The preparations for the summer school trip are fairly easy to handle by yourself, especially if you keep everything neatly organised. The documents necessary for the visa appointment I could gather from the PGIO, the contact person in Konstanz and the bank. After a visit to the visa application centre in Cape Town, my visa was ready in three days.
Regarding the weather, during the month there were mostly warm summer days (as during summer in Stellenbosch), but also rainy days – so it is necessary to be prepared for both cases. Comfortable shoes are very important, as there are many places in and around Konstanz to explore on foot or by bicycle. A laptop or a tablet is handy for doing homework and keeping in touch with people back home. For the classes, a writing book and a file worked well to keep and organise German notes.
Experience at Summer School:
I decided on this summer school, because I specifically wanted to learn German while travelling abroad. I did German as a subject during high school, but never studied it again until this summer school. I really did learn much, and I also enjoyed the time in Konstanz very much.
In total, approximately 130 students attended the summer school. On the first day, we wrote a test to determine our level of German knowledge, in order to divide us into smaller classes. My class had 15 students who all knew more or less the same amount of German. Our teacher was very enthusiastic and the lessons were very interactive, so we all also learned a lot about each other while learning German.
On most of the days, we had class from 09h00 to 12h30, with a 30 minute break in the middle. We covered various themes in the class, and we received some homework every day. It also helped to be surrounded by German when going around in Konstanz, and as students we also often spoke German to each other.
There is a cafeteria at the university where various lunch options are available at reasonable prices. The university is some distance away from the city, but a bus runs there fairly often. Another option is to hire a bicycle from the University of Konstanz (http://www.bike.uni-konstanz.de/en/uni-rent-a-bike/). I did that and cycled to class every morning with my new friends, which was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it.
Some activities were also included in the summer school program. They organised a volleyball tournament, volleyball on the ‘beach’, a trip with the ferry to Meersburg and a farewell party for the entire group. Everything was a lot of fun, and it was an opportunity to meet and get to know the other students. Two longer outings were to Liechtenstein and Austria. Both times we were transported by buses, and spent the day in the country. In Liechtenstein, we celebrated their national day with them by receiving free food, visiting museums and watching fireworks. In Austria, we hiked down a mountain – it was very beautiful. The visit to Liechtenstein was on a weekend, but we had the other two weekends free and it is possible to travel to other cities by train or to just visit attractions close to Konstanz.
I stayed in student accommodation, which is not entirely like the residences of Stellenbosch University. I shared an apartment with one of the summer school students, and two students from the University of Konstanz also stayed there for some days during the month. We all had single rooms, but shared a bathroom and a kitchen. There were cooking facilities and cutlery to use. Close to my apartment, there were supermarkets where I could easily do grocery shopping.
Because this summer school was during my Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, the classes were totally different from what I am used to at Stellenbosch. It felt more like high school, receiving homework every day, but it did really help us to learn German. I also enjoyed learning something completely different from Engineering, but I am sure I will be able to apply it in my career one day.
Return:
Being back home, it is very nice to speak Afrikaans again, because during this time I definitely improved both my German and my English! I will definitely appreciate being able to express myself clearly to the people I encounter on a daily basis.
Attending the summer school was an amazing experience. To get out of your comfort zone, to live in a different environment for a month and to meet people from all around the world definitely teach you something about yourself and about life.
Conversations between students were often about how things work in our home countries, which is very interesting to hear and I also had to view South Africa from a different perspective when answering their questions. I am now more motivated to stay up to date with how things work in South Africa, because I was not always able to answer the questions about our country.
I made great friends during the summer school, and we had several adventures together. I would like to stay in contact with them and hopefully we will see each other again in the future. This course was a good foundation from which to become more fluent in German, and I am going to continue to learn German so that it could be one of the skills with which I apply for a job in the near future.
Many of the students that attended the summer school went to other universities in Germany and neighbouring countries afterwards to spend a semester or year there. If time and academic circumstances permitted it, I would have come back and immediately applied for a semester abroad, because it is such a good learning and growing experience.