Pre-departure:
Whoever is reading this, “byt vas” (Hang in there)! All the pre-departure administration might seem like a nightmare, but it’s worth it in the end.
The part that gave me the most sleepless nights was the Visa application and looking back, there is no reason to be afraid of it, millions of students visit Germany each year and they want you there, so relax. Start early, literally as early as possible, for example, as soon as you receive confirmation of your acceptance, IMMEDIATELY make an appointment with the German embassy.
Give at least one week for yourself to obtain the necessary documentation (Stuff like proof of finance and German medical insurance) before the appointment. Opening a blocked account (See visa requirements) is a massive hassle, rather get a letter, a bank statement and a copy of a parent’s ID for proof of finance. In the end, out of shear nervousness, I showed up an hour early for my visa appointment. They helped me immediately and professionally. Despite making a fool of myself (when she asked me to put my fingers on the glass for fingerprints, I pressed it on the glass between me and her instead of the fingerprint scanner on my right. I’m sure you are smart enough not to make that mistake), she told me that everything was in order, I don’t have to pay for the VISA and it will be ready within a week.
My orientation week started on the 28th of September while the semester only officially started on the 1st of October, this caused a few hiccups:
- Accommodation: You will hopefully also receive a service offer from the Studentenwerk Munchen, which entails cheap accommodation, a sleeping bag and a pillow, however, you are only allowed to pick up the keys for your accommodation on 1 October and accommodation in Munich before then is nearly impossible ( I’m talking about 250 € a night in a shared dorm room) I got lucky and was accommodated by family friends.
- Medical Insurance: The compulsory German medical insurance only covers you for the semester in which you study, therefore you have to show some other form of medical insurance (I used my South African one, which gave international benefits) for the time that you are not covered.
- Awkward Visa application: The paperwork for the visa application was sort of set up for arriving at the start of the semester for study, but I just printed out the letter from the university showing the start of orientation.
In the end, coming early did have several advantages as well, among others I experienced Octoberfest a bit longer ( But that could be a negative as well as a beer costs 10 €), I managed to register for a lot of the paid orientation events, which you have to be here to register for and fills up very quickly.
Regarding your flights, strangely enough, after a week of searching, I came across the cheapest ticket on SAA’s website (R8400 return, CPT-JHB-Munich), which was wonderful, because it also enabled me to accumulate some frequent flyer miles! The travel agents I went to all quoted me around R11 000. So keep your eyes open! Remember to pay your ticket with your parents’ credit card to get free travel insurance (I forgot that part). RESERVE A SEAT IN ADVANCE ASAP! This allows you to get a seat with more legroom for the long flight (see http://www.seatplans.com/) to see which seats are good. I got a seat without a seat in front of me so my long legs could stretch out comfortably in front of me!
And the best tip I can possibly give you:
Look out the window when you fly over the Alps, I promise you, you don’t want to miss that view.
Experience of host University:
Nobody could find TUM more strange and unknown than me. I’ve only been to one University (University of Stellenbosch) and I grew up in Paarl, so when I started studying, Stellenbosch campus was already quite familiar to me.
Now, if you will kindly throw all preconceptions out the window, I can give you a brief introduction:
Firstly, forget about “Admin A” and going to people for help with your problems. It is possible to get a meeting with the coordinators, but we are about 2000 international students coming in and only a hand few of advisors, so : 1. It won’t be easy. 2. They won’t appreciate it.
Read the emails they send you, I promise you if you are wondering about how to do something, it is probably hidden somewhere in the twenty or so emails you will receive before and during the first weeks of your stay. German bureaucracy will cause you a big and sustained headache, but once again there are emails that explain the process, or give links to guides.
TUMi is your friend. It’s the university-linked organization responsible for all arriving international students. Their events are usually badly organized, full within an hour of registration opening, not as informative as you would hope and INCREDIBLY FUN!! This is where you will/have to make friends and contacts for the rest of your stay. I signed up for a lot of the events during orientation and during the term. Because of the large groups, they get travel discounts for the railways, so TUMi events are probably your cheapest way to experience surrounding country and culture.
And then the reason you are here: Academics.
Being an engineer, I’m used to my courses being chosen for me, so, once again I was rocket-jetpack-ejected from my comfort zone when introduced to course registration. This entails an (English) website where you have a large confusing database full of subject choices. Very important to note is the language of the courses and the type of course. Every subject is divided into component parts like “Lecture”, “Exercise”, “Seminar” or “Practical” and registering for one does NOT register you for the other parts. Also, the lecture may be in English, with the exercise in German and the Practical in Swahili. Exam registration is separate and must be done for each subject.
Classrooms can be found with the “Room-finder” online at https://portal.mytum.de/campus/index_html_en.
The courses are, eventually similar to what you would experience at Stellenbosch, but with an increased emphasis on self-study. Most of the responsibility for being successful here lies with you, so you will have to put in some hours on your own time.
If, like me, you cannot work in your room at home, I can recommend the library (which is a lot busier than Stellenbosch’s library), or your department’s computer room.
All lecturers at TUM are required to have 10 years’ experience in the field before they are allowed to teach classes, they are therefore immensely knowledgeable and it is really a privilege to learn from them! Make the best of it!
Return to Stellenbosch:
The best and worst part of my journey was returning to Stellenbosch….hold on, I’ll explain in a minute.
Final travels
Due to all my exams finishing early in February, I ended off my semester abroad with a 3 week backpacking adventure, with no money (I mean 3 euro bus tickets, 40 bed hostel rooms and supermarket beer for lunch). This forced me to describe to a multitude of new hostel friends: “what the hell the poor south African kid is doing in Europe?” And that kinda gets you thinking! What did I want to do abroad? Did I do it? Was it worth it? How am I feeling going back? Well, with the help of these special people I met as well as Czech Pilsner, Hungarian Palinka, German Helles and Spanish Vino Tinto, I think I just about figured it out.
Reasons and results of studying abroad
My original motives for going overseas where selfish and narrow-minded, I thought it was a “nice” thing to do, it sounded like fun and I figured I could work just about anywhere on my masters without much adverse effects. In the end it turned out to be an experience, much more rewarding and educational than I could have possibly imagined! When your day to day life shifts to an international city and a university such as TUM, you are automatically forced to interact with a very diverse array of people. Through this contact, new perspectives and ideas constantly rub off on you, leading to you understanding other people’s world views better and to re-evaluate your own.
I think I also acquired a love for people in general, which I never had before. I often found myself in situations where I was very dependent on other peoples’ generosity (I blame the R-EURO) which fostered a real appreciation for humanity as a whole.
In the back of my mind I, admittedly, had the idea that I will check out Europe as a potential place to go for work after my masters, or maybe move to permanently to raise a family someday. But this notion flew out the window as soon as I realized how much I was missing South Africa and how much my stories made people jealous of my upbringing in our diverse, exciting, young and beautiful country. I started to set my mind on staying in SA and appreciating it to the fullest extent, I developed an overwhelming urge to contribute towards a positive future in SA and “love my neighbour”, to the best of my abilities. One of my goals was to drastically increase my intercultural contact in SA, if I learned so much from rubbing shoulders with the European cultures, how much easier and more beneficial would it be to interact with our diverse local spectrum of people. I believe that this is where God has given me a home and I will make myself available and willing to make it better for those put here with me.
Farewell Munich.
At the end of my backpacking trip I went back to Munich for a final farewell to all the friends I made in Bavaria. I was surprised at the effort people made to come say goodbye in the middle of exams. They even made me a T-shirt that said: “World’s best African child” (I never could teach them much about politically correctness). You can make friends in 6 months, not acquaintances, real friends, the type you would keep for life, if given the option. Excuse the cliché, but saying goodbye was one of the most disturbing parts of my trip, because I knew 90% of these friends I will never see again. It’s like a bunch of your friends just abruptly, simultaneously, peacefully and contentedly died in their sleep. Nothing really BAD happened, they are just gone…
Arriving Home
After this I hopped on the plane wearing half of my clothes so I could fit my souvenirs and Oktoberfest glasses in my suitcase. I was greeted by family and friends when I landed. I surprised my girlfriend by moving my ticket earlier and it was an incredible blessing coming back to someone who waited patiently for you to come home for 6 months. The transition from WhatsApp and Skype back to conversation and interaction was bumpy The reunification is probably one of the most challenging aspects of the long distance relationship, but a bit of mutual patience and understanding fixes everything eventually.
I settled straight back into work at the university and found it very rewarding. I braaied for 7 nights in the row, making up for the meet I didn’t eat and gradually acclimatized to the intense heat with numerous sunburns on my sensitive European skin. I have spent so much time walking around with a massive, crazy looking smile on my face, just because of the upbeat, open and friendly conversations going on everywhere around me. I have so far kept to my goals of positive interaction and have found that people in South Africa return your friendliness 100fold and in earnest. WOW, we really have a fantastic country.
Coming back isn’t just sunshine and braais though! Things and people change in 6 months and you and those you left behind don’t necessarily change in the same direction. You soon realise that you are no longer the exotic or unique for wearing shorts, telling hunting stories or having a name like Frikkie. At first I found it challenging to cope with this, but there is something distinctly homey about being around people that appreciate you for your subtle idiosyncrasies and mannerisms, that only they can see.
So, coming back was the best and worst part of my trip. A mixing pot of emotional turmoil, excitement, pleasures, pains, familiarity and alienation, anxiousness and, most importantly, hope for the future.