Lourens at the Bayreuth International Summer School, Germany

“There is meaning in every journey unknown to the traveller” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

If you ever have the chance to apply for a summer school or even a semester exchange I would highly encourage you to take this opportunity with both hands. I learned so much in Germany and would like to share some of the experiences I had:

Pre-departure:

Pre-departure is certainly the most tedious part of your traveling experience. It is basically a bunch of paper work, but if it’s done thoroughly it can make your stay at your exchange university easy and smooth.

The paper work includes getting a passport, getting a visa, booking accommodation, buying a plane ticket, getting medical insurance and activating your bank cards. Make time for the above necessities and try to get the cheapest options. I forgot to activate my banking card for Germany and a week before the trip I realised that my student credit card was stolen. It was chaos for that week but luckily everything worked out. Make a checklist and a timeline for these necessities and try to stick with it so that you don’t run around in the last week as I did.

Visa & Passport:

A passport is probably the first thing to get and if you have one check the expiry date even before you apply for the summer school or exchange. If you are a South-African citizen you will need a Schengen Visa if you are going to study in Europe. You must apply at the embassy of the country you will stay the longest. I had to apply at the German embassy. (https://www.visagermany.co.za)

The offices where you will go after your online application is based in the city centre. From the day I made my online appointment to the day I got my Visa was two weeks, but rather give yourself more time. The cost for the Visa was about R1400. For the Visa you will need proof that you have 60 Euros a day in your bank account. If you can prove that the accommodation and class fees are paid they will lower this amount.

Flights and accommodation:

I checked the flights from long before I received the bursary. I don’t know how true it is but I booked my flights on a Tuesday night, because I read on one website that most specials come out on a Monday and then on a Tuesday other companies tries to match these specials. I went on a Thursday and came back on a Thursday and believe this was the cheapest day to fly. I am part of Discovery Health and you can book flights through their website. After days of searching I got a return ticket from Cape-Town to Munich via Dubai for R8000.

Regarding accommodation to get the Visa I booked al my accommodation for these days on Booking.com and used the free cancelation option. I only got places to stay a week or days before I arrived in Germany. I used Airbnb and Couchsurfing to search for accommodation and most of the times got away cheaply with decent places to sleep. If it is possible I will highly advise staying a day or two extra to travel with the local students or just go to the places they advise.

Research and blogs:

The Pre-departure information session hosted by the Stellenbosch International office was informative and helped allot. I did research on Bayreuth and Germany mainly by reading blogs of Stellenbosch students that went to Bayreuth and Germany. I also read travel blogs on websites that really helped me. The host institutions International Office willingly informed and responded on emails that I sent. They also did a good job by sending out newsletters on Bayreuth University in the weeks leading up to the summer school.

Experience at the host institution:

Bayreuth University:

Traveling to the summer school I was open to new perspectives and knew that I would encounter views that I never thought of before. The weird part however was going to a summer school in Europe with a focus on African studies. This critical perception I had of European lecturers that will be teaching on Africa soon softened when I encountered our common humanity, their interesting perspectives and our diverse class.

The greatest thing about the summer school and the main difference from my studies at Stellenbosch was our diverse class. There were students from Tunisia, Ghana, Afganistan and South-Africa. These students came from fields such as Anthropology, African Studies, History, Journalism, International studies and me studying Theology. The diverse perspectives of the students and the lecturers created interesting and exciting debates.

The lectures was quite intense and there was a load of reading for most of the days. We had between 5 and 6 hours of class every day and three assignment in the two weeks. To be fair the workload was not too heavy, but it was certainly not a summer holiday.

Most of the summer school students stayed in a youth hostel where we also got breakfast in the mornings. In the afternoon and evenings, we mostly ate at the Mensa (Bayreuth’s Neelsie). They gave us a card with 70 Euro that was more than enough for the two weeks. The food was great!

Interesting perspectives:

Studying theology and being interested in history and memory the approach the lecturers took was much different from I am used to. The first week we focused on the role of history and memory after the slave trade from North-West Africa to South and North-America with a focus on Cuba an Brazil. The lecturer is a historian and used this lense to approach the week. He works in Cuba and had interesting stories to share.

The second week the focus was on African popular culture and how this plays out in day-to-day life in different African countries. Through this I realised how big Africa is and how diverse the people and countries of Africa is in studying some of the popular culture genres in Lesotho, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia and South-Africa.

Social, Berlin and traveling:

Some evenings we had activities and other evenings we went to the city centre for a beer or two. I really enjoyed these social events, because the students from the other four summer school courses were also there. These informal social gatherings were fun and it’s here where I believe the friendship bonds were created.

During the weekend between the two weeks of classes all the students at the summer school from all the courses went to Berlin. I really enjoyed the weekend as there was a great balance between planned tours and free time. During the planned tours we did an intriguing Berlin city tour, visited the Olympic stadium of 1934 and visited two museums. I really enjoyed Berlin, especially the history and stories of the city and Germany in general.

Before and after the summer school I had the privilege of traveling with my girlfriend. She worked in London while I was studying. It was an absolute treat to travel together for a few days.

Return to South-Africa:

The three weeks in Germany went by in a flash. It was great to see family and friends back home. Coming home my system got a shock of the sudden temperature change from the European summer that was hot and sunny to the Cape winter that was cold and wet. I had a runny nose for a day or two but soon slept it off and I was ready to go!

One of the main motivations for going to Bayreuth was to get ideas and thoughts for a masters I am planning to do in 2018. Thinking back this might have been very selfish thoughts. The new friends, interesting lecturers, loads of reading work and exciting debates in and out of class made me thankful for a great experience. Thankful to Stellenbosch University for the opportunity, thankful to the personal impact 14 classmates had on me and thankful for two lecturers that facilitated the classes and helped us to understand them, each other and different histories.

The media and travel advertisements like to tell us how great Europe is, and sure it is. But being in Europe for three weeks made me proud of South-Africa and what we have in our country. It made me more aware of the challenges that we have and my responsibility as citizen of South-Africa. Being back in South-Africa I am more committed than ever to be part of a new story of hope, reconciliation and restitution.

I experience traveling empowering and combining traveling with education even more so. Germany, Bayreuth University, African Studies summer school, new friends, new stories and great memories. Very thankful for this experience.