Pre-departure:
I read up about all the summer schools and the one that immediately stood out for me was the EBS Law Summer School. It seemed to be an excellent course with interesting subjects relating to commercial law and exciting study trips. The school started on 6 June and my final exam was on 4 June, so I knew I could attend it after the completion of all my exams without missing any classes abroad.
By mid-April I was informed by Stellenbosch University that I was nominated to participate in the summer school. However, I didn’t start making bookings before I received an acceptance letter from the EBS institution.
I then met up with a friend who travels a lot and he came prepared with different maps of Europe. We sat a few hours discussing travelling in Europe. He wrote down all the must see places which included Munich, Berlin, Prague, Paris, Venice and Vienna.
He also gave me a few tips, like travelling by Flixbus or night trains can be good travel options. However, local flights may also be cheaper than travelling by train. A good website he told me about (that I used to book almost everything) is www.skyscanner.net.
The Monday when we had the meeting, I had no idea where I wanted to go, but I knew that I wanted to use the opportunity to travel as much as I could. It entailed a lot of planning. I put everything in tables and typed out all the flights and accommodation details as well as the amount of time I planned to stay in each city. By the end of that week all my flights and accommodation were booked. I later also sent the lease contract to the landlord that the EBS housing coordinator supplied us with.
After, I had a set itinerary, I applied for a visa. Since the summer school was in Germany and I planned to visit multiple countries, I went on the German Embassy’s website and read which visa I had to apply for. I filled in the electronic application form for a Schengen Visa and made an appointment for early May. I made sure that I had everything neatly filed and was prepared for this meeting.
Within two weeks I received my passport with my visa. I was thankful that I already had a valid passport as I know that the waiting time for passport applications are much longer, so I would recommend applying for a passport well in advance if you apply for a summer school.
I was glad that I could go for the visa appointment before the exams started. I would therefore recommend going on the website of the relevant embassy and see if you can arrange an appointment that suits you as soon as possible. If there are any mistakes with regard to the visa there will then also be enough time to rectify it.
Before you depart, email your landlord to make sure that they know when you will be arriving and where to meet you.
Experience at the Host University:
The first evening in Walluf, where I stayed, I made sure that I knew where the train station was and how to get to the Wiesbaden main station (Hauptbahnhof). There is a petrol station next to the main train station and the EBS Law Campus is near it.
The EBS Law Summer academic programme is quite full. We had to select at least three out of a possible six electives. I ended up taking five electives. The lecturers are all excellent and some are practicing attorneys or working at institutions like the Deutsche Bank or the European Central Bank. The second week was my busiest week as I mostly had class from 09:00-18:00 (with lunch at 13:00-14:15) and some days I wrote a few exams.
The electives each required about a day and a half’s worth of class time. The university supplied us with comprehensive course material which the lecturers used for their slides. Classes were given in similar fashions to that of Stellenbosch University except for the fact that the class only consisted out of more or less forty people. It was a interesting environment as there were people from almost every continent and each country’s legal profession differs in some way.
The first week entailed a compulsory elective called “Introduction to EU Law”. The first evening we also had a welcoming reception where we met students of the university that would be organising social events while we were there.
I would recommend downloading the RMV (Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund) App beforehand as it is great to check bus or train times as some trains stop running just after 23:00.
Our first study trip was to Luxembourg where we visited the European Court of Justice (despite the fact that we had to depart on the bus at 03:45 in the morning, that trip was a big highlight). Our other trips were to EIOPA and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Another highlight was our visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg the morning after the Brexit vote. While in Strasbourg we also visited the European Court of Human Rights.
In the evenings after class we went to pubs and watched the UEFA games, or you could just get a beer and sit in the park. It only got dark at around 22:00 and the sun rose at around 05:00, so you could really make the most out of each day. I also really enjoyed the German festivals (the biggest one in Wiesbaden was the Wilhemstrassenfest).
I used the weekends and the week after the school ended to travel to the places my friend suggested and it was definitely worth it! You should study at summer school, but since the exams are open book, flagging the important information can be a life saver. More importantly, go out, meet new people, explore and try new things. It was one of the best and most life changing experiences of my life.
(As a side note: The last evening there was a big party at the university, so I would suggest not booking a flight the next morning.)
Return to Stellenbosch:
I didn’t think it would be such a big adjustment for me to be back. You are not used to driving since you got so reliant on public transport. I miss being able to hop on a train and to be able to explore different historic and significant places when I have the time. You also miss the students I met on the summer school and the camaraderie.
I learnt that South Africa has its own natural beauty, but you can live in Europe, travel each day and probably still not see all the places you want to visit.
You will realise that you’ll miss hearing European languages and end up saying random German phrases. However, you will also realise that it’s nice to be able to speak your home language and make jokes to people who understand your sense of humour. You are therefore, a bit conflicted.
I appreciated South African food and wine more since I got back. German food is good, but I was not used to eating that much bratwurst, pork, pretzels or bread. Germany’s climate is not always suitable for red wine- that partly explains why they rather drink beer.
Germany has a lot of open spaces and sometimes also reminded me a lot of South Africa. I could easily see myself living in Germany. I contacted one of the lecturers of the summer school, but unfortunately he informed me that I would need to study another five years in Germany and complete two board exams in German to be able to be a practicing attorney in Germany. It will therefore not be possible for me, but I am open to exploring job opportunities abroad later in my career. Otherwise I will just save money where I can and travel when I can.
I must admit that you tend to become a bit jealous of the students who are European citizens as they can apply for positions at any European place e.g. the European Central Bank.
While I was in Europe I also realised that we may think that we have problems in South Africa, but that there are similar problems abroad and the grass is not always greener on the other side. In the most European Institutions they have translation boxes to translate proceedings in over twenty languages and sometimes the translators must translate from each other. It was interesting for me as Stellenbosch University is at its own cross roads with regard to the language policy and the fact that South Africa also has eleven official languages that have to be accommodated for.
In Wiesbaden alone there were around 2000 Syrian refugees that were taken in to be integrated into the city. Each place therefore has its own challenges, like poverty and ensuring that people get along well despite being very diverse.
Six weeks after my return there was a terrorist attack in Munich a block away from the hotel where I stayed. It can be scary to think that Europe is increasingly exposed to terrorist attacks and that really places our country’s problems into perspective.