Donnerstag, 4. Juni 2009

Study Abroad - Interviews with International Students - part I

Study in Dortmund! Currently, more than 2600 international students from over 100 different nations are studying at the Technische Universität Dortmund. In an interview, nine students and one professor gave an insight into their experiences and observations:

Montevallo goes Dortmund

Heather Liston is a student from the University of Montevallo, Alabama, USA. She studies English Literature and Journalism as a major, and German is her minor. She has been studying in Dortmund since March, 2009 and stays here for one semester.













Heather at a BVB game

Question: Why did you like to become an exchange student?
Heather: I wanted to experience the culture of another country.

Q: Why did you choose to come to Dortmund or Germany?
H: I spent time in Germany as a child and wanted to come back as an adult. My school has a program with TU Dortmund, so that is why I ended up coming here.

Q: What were your expectations before coming? What have you heard of the Exchange Program and Germany? Did you have prejudices?
H: I tried not to have too many expectation before coming that I didn’t have about Germany from the last time I was here. I wanted to keep an open mind to whatever was coming my way.

Q: What experiences did you make (e.g. arrival, orientation week, German language, campus, mensa, library, classes, habitation, making friends, traveling)?
H: Goodness, this has been two months of experiences. It is hard to put it all down into one little space. However, I think that one of my favorite experience so far has been going to a BVB game. There is nothing quite like that in America. We may have die-hard fans of American football but they don’t all know the same cheers or stand and get into the game the way they do at the football games here.

Q: What do you like about the city of Dortmund? What would you suggest somebody to see, go to or do?
H: I love the openness of the city. I love how you can get to everything pretty easily by public transportation or walking. And I love how old everything seems to be split between old and new. I would recommend for someone to go see the Reinoldikirche downtown. It is so beautiful inside and out.


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Cordoba meets Dortmund

This student is from the
University of Córdoba, Spain. She has been studying at the
TU Dortmund since September, 2008.


Question: Why did you like to become an exchange student?
M: Well, this is a decision that I took long time ago. To Study abroad is a unique experience, not only in the academical field, because I learned a lot and it will help me in my future, but also in the personal life. Become independent helps you to mature, and when you live alone abroad, you learn a lot of different customs and it makes you more tolerant.

Q:Why did you choose to come to Dortmund or Germany?
M: I chose Germany because I wanted to learn German, and also practice English because all my lessons in the university are in this language. I have always liked Germany and I chose Dortmund because a friend told me it was a calm place near Köln and Düsseldorf, well connected with other cities, not too cold in winter and with a lot of party.

Q: What were your expectations before coming? What have you heard of the Exchange Program and Germany? Did you have prejudices?
M: I have never heard anything negative about the Exchange Program, on the contrary, everybody agrees that is a great experience, I recommend everyone to do it, it changes your life. At the end, everyone finishes the program and goes back home satisfied and with thousands of stories to tell. Before I came to Germany I knew that I had to study hard here, but also that I was going to know a lot of interesting people and go to a lot of partys.
I thought that all Germans were very punctual, that the buses and trains never go with delay... but I loved to realized that Spanish and German are not very different.

Q: What experiences did you make?
M: At first, I was scared when I arrived, but there was Uta, a girl of the university that helped me with everything. She helped me to open an account in the bank, to have the papers for the housing in order, the doctor, show me the campus, how the library works... EVERYTHING. I don’t know what I would do without her  because I had no idea of the German language (thanks that Germans can speak very English).
Well making friends...It wasn’t difficult to meet other people, I thought it was a great idea that the first week the university prepared events, partys and travels to visit the cities near to Dortmund, all the Exchange Students together... We all came in the same condition, so it was easy to have contact with people.
I think the Dortmund University is very organized in terms of exchange students and knows how to manage with them, help them, organize events etc. This doesn’t happen in other universities, here they helped me in everything, all was just perfect.

Q: What do you like about the city of Dortmund? What would you suggest somebody to see, go to or do?
M: Dortmund is not very big, I like the people and the calm of this city. In Kampstraße, you can go shopping and it's a long street with a lot of shops, Rombergpark and Westfalen Park are wonderful, also the pubs and clubs aren’t bad. What I like of Dortmund is that there are a lot of cultural events and things to do. If you are bored one day, you can read the magazine Colibri and see what's going on and what you can do for having fun.

Q: What would you regard as your best experience?
M: All the year, I cannot say just one. I learned German, now I can understand it and speak it. For me this is great, you can’t imagine how difficult is the German for a foreign with this grammar, the exceptions and accusative, genitive...etc (unfortunately, I don’t control it perfectly), but I am satisfied and I made a lot of German friends that are incredible.


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Montevallo goes Dortmund

Alesha Dawson is a student from the
University of Montevallo, Alabama, USA.
She has been studying Literature and
German at TU Dortmund since
September, 2008, and is staying for two
semesters.















Alesha with Dortmund's famous emblem – the rhino

Question: Why did you like to become an exchange student?
Alesha: I really missed traveling and really wanted to learn a new language.

Q: Why did you choose to come to Dortmund or Germany?
A: I have always liked the German language and wanted to learn it. Also my university has a direct exchange program with Dortmund.

Q: What were your expectations before coming? Did you have prejudices?
A: I expected it to be fun and to learn a lot, not just in school but about the culture and about anything I could possibly learn. I expected it to be difficult to be away from my family, but I knew they were supporting and loving me and I them... so we were able to make it :) I had no real prejudices because i have been to Europe a lot before and could remember a lot of things about it.

Q: What experiences did you make?
A: Well, I met a lot of really amazing Germans and amazing foreign exchange students. Although from different countries, we were all able to become friends and for the most part get along well because we are all in the same situation. I also was able to travel a lot while I was here. I did this purposefully because of my love to see new and interesting places.

Q: What do you like about the city of Dortmund?
I love Dortmund because it has a nice comfortable feel and great public transportation system. It is a smaller city without a lot of tourism but you are close to Düsseldorf and Köln and it is easy to get to a lot of other cities such as Berlin and München. Great university city!

Q: Your best experience?
A: All of it. I mean that is cliche but I really do regard both the good and the difficult times as either enjoyable or character building. I loved being able to travel to places that I wanted to see. But I really loved the people I met and the friendships I have made. A lot of them, I may never see again but will always think of very fondly... and a few of them I know I will have in my life forever.

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entry by Kristin Walter

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