Erasmus+ KA 107 - Testimonials

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” (Saint Augustine)
I am Safia Ujudi Mchavu from the Republic of Tanzania. I have been among the first students to participate in the “Go International Plus” project semester at the Institute of Anthropology at the University of Göttingen, where I attended the course “African Modernity - the Case Study of Tanzania”. Originally, I am a student from the University of Iringa in the Republic of Tanzania pursuing the Master of Arts in Tourism, Culture and Society (MATCS).

The life abroad in Germany, especially in Göttingen city, has widened my knowledge and horizon, provided me with a space for pursuing my passions and meanwhile developing my personality which is quite essential for one’s career building process.

The beautiful city of Göttingen has a greenish environment which attracts different kinds of people who are coming from different areas of the world, for instance refugees who seek asylum. Also, I can say that the population of the city widely consists of students (German and International students) who are studying at the University of Göttingen which is one of top ranked universities in Germany and among the best 100 of the world.

The streets of Göttingen which are surrounded with different architectural designs , the restaurants where you can find different kinds of food and coffee as well as the many bicycles around the city make it a unique place to visit. In Göttingen, I was able to meet many people and find new friends. Some of them are my fellow students with whom I attended the courses together, and some of them even are the restaurant owners with whom we exchanged the experience of living in Göttingen.

All in all, I want to pay my gratitude to the “Go International Plus” project that gave me this opportunity and would like to say special thanks to those who took part in making this program possible at the University of Göttingen. I will never forget those beautiful days of life, and so I hope that one day I will visit this place again.

As part of the program “The Russian Literature in the European Context” between the University of Göttingen and the Voronezh State University, we (Irina Pravdina, Daria Turishcheva, Anna Kartseva) studied in Göttingen from 19th October 2016 till 31st July 2017. At the Slavic Seminar, which belongs to the founders of this program, we attended the following courses: “Typology of Literary Studies”, “Eastern Slavic Postmodernism” (with the example of Sasa Sokolov’s «Skola dlja durakov», Jurij Andruchovic’s «Perverzija» and Alhierd Bacharevic’s «Saroka na sybenicy»), “L. N. Tolstoj: Vojna i mir”, “Russian Literature in the Cultural History and Semiotic Context”, a course for literature theory (supplementary course B2 – tandem), a course for literary methods, genres and epochs as well as language courses of different levels. Moreover, in the course of our studies in Göttingen, we also attended lectures with general educational value, which were often held by foreign scientists. Two of these lectures need to be highlighted: The lecture by the Croatian professor Rafajely Boschik «Puschkin and Brodski: The elements of artistic syntax» and the discussion of the movie «Stalker»by A. Tarkowski. In order to find the necessary materials for the upcoming master thesis, we went to the library of the Faculty of Slavic Studies and to the Central Library. The search was successful and we found a large amount of literature available in many languages and different fields. Apart from working with the materials at home or reading them in the libraries, there was the possibility to scan these materials free of any charge. Thus, this made the access to the necessary materials much easier. In addition to the study program, the leisure time represented a possibility to immerse deeper into the German culture. Regular visits of student events (festivals, regulars’ tables, concerts, evenings of the national cuisine), the great national holidays (Christmas and Easter), of the theatre (German Theatre in Göttingen) and of the cinema were very exciting and knowledge-building. By doing excursions to different places in Germany, we had the chance to make interesting (international) contacts and to actively apply our German skills. Daria Turishcheva, as a member of the oldest student choir «Blue Singer», sung at charitable concerts in Friedland and in the Church of Saint Pauls in Göttingen. We (Irina Pravdina and Anna Kartseva) were happy listeners at these events. At the end of the first term, we successfully completed examinations of the compulsory courses as well as one seminar paper. At the end of the second term, we participated in a colloquium, in which we presented the topics of our master thesis. It helped a lot to write the master thesis, which we are supposed to submit in early November. Worth mentioning is also our pedagogic traineeship running parallel to our regular courses. We had the task to teach the Russian language to German students since we had already completed our fourth linguistic-practical seminar and thus learned some peculiarities of the phraseological stock of the Russian language. On this basis, a contrasting analysis of the two language systems German and Russian was from now on possible for us in various aspects. The Slavic culture is of great interest to German students and lecturers, both dealing with the peculiarities of the Russian language and literature. We find the used perspectives very interesting. Consequently, the further development of this program will undoubtedly contribute not only to the consolidation of international relations, but also to the expansion of the field of Slavic research through cooperation and experience exchange.

   

Coming from my home country Tanzania to Göttingen was a great opportunity that made me realize my potentials. I am Jesca Nyambita from Tanzania, a student at the University of Iringa, Tanzania. Being in Göttingen for one semester has transformed me positively in many ways. I was very happy to complete an Erasmus semester at the University of Göttingen.

Doing the best in my studies is everything that I have always wished for and wanted to achieve in my life, for such reason being in Göttingen I knew was the best I could have ever asked for, and I could never and have never regretted being in Göttingen for a semester. Actually, I was even more excited when I realized that the University of Göttingen is among the best universities in the world, offering a very quality education and giving out good and competent products from different professions out there.

I felt very happy and comfortable with the welcoming experience which I had when I arrived in Göttingen. From the orientation day to the last days of my stay in the city, it was really amazing.

Göttingen City is a good place to be for learning, for making international connections and for socializing with different people from different cultural backgrounds since there a lot of international students from different parts of the world. Being in Göttingen, I learned a lot about the city and social life in general. Furthermore, I was impressed with different aspects concerning the city such as that I loved the city and its undeniable beauty from both man-made and natural landscapes which all together blend into a nice image of a cool environment. The city has got nice buildings with great architecture designs, great technology and good infrastructures, too. The city combines nice and different people from different cultures whereby one can get to learn and experience other’s cultures without any difficulties through socializing with people or through a certain language program where people can meet and exchange language skills, learn or improve their language skills.

The city has got so many good places where people gathered and enjoyed their time by having varieties of food according to different places and cultures of people. For instance, there are a Turkish restaurant where people could go and eat most of the Turkish dishes, an Indian restaurant, an Asian restaurant such as mai-mai, an Italian restaurant such as Vapiano, and so many other places which offered nice food and beverages. Also, there are some shops which sell different food products and other products such as African and Asian shops. Apart from that, I used to have very nice moments at the ice cream shops found within the city, all was good being a student in Göttingen.

During my stay in Göttingen, I had a lot of fun when I used to do evening walks with some of my friends, I even attended some of the evening parties whenever I was invited and had the chance to join, for sure that made me feel active and alive each day. I found comfort zones for relaxing and refreshing after classroom sessions such as open spaces in gardens which are found within the City. I once did a barbecue in one of the gardens found within the city with a group of my German friends and a few classmates.

All in all, Göttingen felt like my home, there was enough security in every corner which made me feel secure and not worry about nothing at all, especially when walking down the streets in the city. I was comfortable and relaxed with people I met and the friends I had around me. I travelled with friends to the nearest places/towns for different tours using the semester ticket integrated in the student identity card. Such places were Hann. Münden, Hannover and so many other places which are close to the city, it was a great opportunity to experience more of what was going on on the other side of the world. Göttingen makes it hard for anyone to get idle or bored since there are a lot of wonderful places, recreational activities to participate in and much more. I never worried or missed a thing as long as I had all this in my sight.

Much gratitude to Erasmus and the whole team which in one way or another organised such a program for many international students to pursue their career.

Erasmus connects people, promotes harmony and much more, dreams of many are transformed into a reality.

Thank you to the Erasmus Team!

My name is Pooja Kori, I am doing my Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India. I was selected for the ERASMUS plus student exchange programme when I was in my third semester of my master degree programme. I got the opportunity to study for one semester at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Initially, I was very afraid of going to Germany alone, but when I came to Germany, I felt so happy that I was not at all afraid, and I found everything cool. People in Göttingen are humble and helped me whenever I asked for help.

Even though I did not know anybody in Göttingen, I never felt alone because I found friends easily, and within a week I felt like that’s my own University. I should mention my coordinator, who helped me in a lot of things and made everything super easy for me. Whenever I approached her with some problems, she gave me solutions and always helped me with a humble smile.

The accommodation also was very good for me, I found many close friends from different countries in my apartment. We used to arrange international dinners once a month and enjoyed the taste of different countries’ dishes. I feel like it was my biggest opportunity to meet different kinds of people and to learn about a different culture and language. I never felt alone at Göttingen University.

The teaching system is also good and I was able to learn many different things in classes. The professors are very humble and helped us in our studies. I went to visit many different countries like Czech Republic, Italy and Vatican City with my friends during my stay in Göttingen. I enjoyed my trips a lot and was able to taste different dishes there. Göttingen is a beautiful city that I fell in love with. It is very good for the students and the safest place I can say. Overall, my one semester at Göttingen University was very nice and I learnt many different things, enjoyed a lot during my stay in Göttingen. My sincere thanks to the Erasmus programme and my home university which gave me an opportunity to study for one semester at the University of Göttingen, Germany. I would love to do my PhD in Göttingen if I got the opportunity.

Imagine you never travelled beyond your continent´s boarder, just to wake up to an email saying you are among the luckiest students selected by Erasmus+ Key Action 107 to study at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany. That was me, Hleni T.N Heita from Stellenbosch University, Africa. The opportunity came during the fourth semester of my MSc in Forestry and Wood Science. Apart from the excitement of me going to Germany, the administration and all paper work before the mobility had just made the whole experience more enjoyable. The coordination of Erasmus+ Key Action 107 at the receiving university was so helpful and quick to respond to any query one could have.

I made every time in Germany count as I travelled a lot, both in and outside of Germany; I made friends and acquired much knowledge. I enjoyed Europe (with its amazing people and food) and I will forever be grateful. Living in Göttingen has widened my African typical mind because the town is multi-national for which I met different people with different background and cultures. This has taught me so much outside of my imagination and made me realise how small and amazing the world is. I could not have done this if it was not for this amazing opportunity offered to me by Erasmus. To my fellow colleagues who never had such opportunities before: please apply and take up the challenge, you will never regret it.

I spent my spring semester 2017 (February till June) in Voronezh, Russian Federation within the Double Degree Study Program „Russian literature in European context“. In Voronezh, the program is hosted at the Department for Russian literature, within the Faculty for Philology of the Voronezh State University. In Voronezh, you will study exclusively in the Russian language, together with Russian students who will visit Göttingen in the following semester where they continue their studies together with the students sent from Göttingen to Voronezh.
Preparation:
Already in the preceding semester in Göttingen, some organizational preparation will be necessary, which is connected with the visa application for your time in Russia. As the colleagues of the Department in Göttingen have already experience in this, you will have assistance in the process. Additionally, in this semester you will prepare your Russian language mastering to be prepared for Russia. There will be Russian students from the preceding year in Göttingen. They will help you to improve your communication skills.
The city:
Voronezh is a large city with approx. 1 million inhabitants. There are all kinds of possibilities in all price ranges, from culture to shopping, drinking or eating. Unfortunately, the street and bus network is overcrowded and at rush hours stuck. But soon you will know by intuition how to use Voronezh transport effectively. If you have some holidays, you can use the train to visit other Russian cities. There is a day train to Moscow, which runs two times a day within 8 hours. Also, there are direct connections to St. Petersburg, and to Adler (close to Sochi).
The university:
The Voronezh State University is a quite large university which occupies a couple of campuses. The building of the Faculty for Philology is located in the center, close to the Lenin square. 10 minutes to the south is the main building of the university, which hosts among others some administrative offices, so you may have to come here. In the north, 20 to 60 minutes by bus, is a relatively new campus which hosts not only the Faculties for Economy and Journalistics but also the dormitory where you most probably will live, the Department for International Relations where have to go for visa formalities, and a new swimming pool with a fitness room which belongs to the university.
The first days:
As always, in a new city and a new country there are a lot of formalities to be done in the first days. But you won’t have to manage it all by yourself. There is a buddy system at the university which consists of nice students who will follow every step you have to make (if you want to). A few days before your arrival, your personal buddy will send you a mail to exchange contact informations, and on your arrival in Voronezh, she or he will meet you at the airport, train or bus station. Also, if you don’t understand some of the bureaucratic problems, your buddy will help to translate and explain it. You won’t get lost.
The studies:
In your first weeks you will receive a complete and fixed timetable of your courses. It’s the same timetable of the 1st year of Master students in the same program of the Voronezh students. Only with the exception that they will have language courses in the German language instead of the Russian language. The rest of the courses are seminars and lectures about literature and the teaching of literature. You will have to read a lot of Russian texts, but you will see that within few weeks you will not only be able to read Russian literature in its original language quite fast, but you’ll be able to talk about this literature with your fellow students in your seminars. In the first weeks of June will be the examinations. They are always oral and individual. You will get a list of questions during your courses, and at the beginning of the examination you will be asked two of them randomly to answer them. This is not as terrifying as it may sound. All in all, you will learn a lot from the nice and competent staff of the department. Also, I quickly felt homely in the department as the people working and studying there really cared about me.
Some anecdote:
Close to the dormitory is a small copy shop where I used to print from my pen-drive. Once, I printed a few pages, which made, let's say, 42 rubles. But I didn‘t have small coins, only 50 rubles. But the woman working there couldn't change. So I asked her a couple of times to take the 50 rubles without changing them. She didn‘t want to, but searched and searched for some coins. In the end, she gave me the printed pages and the 50 rubles and asked me to bring the 42 rubles the next time. This is how I experienced most of the people in Russia: Trustful and helpful.