Welcome back to our show: Exchange between New Zealand and Germany. I'm your host, Marijke Schmidt. My guest today is Elsa Popovich, who spent her exchange at University of Heidelberg in Germany. In this conversation, Elsa shares her experiences, insights and some very valuable tips for anyone considering studying abroad. I hope you enjoy listening to the show.

Hallo und Gutten Tag and welcome to the show. My name is Marike, Marike Schmidt. I m a lecturer here at the University of Auckland and I m very happy to have Elsa Popovich sitting here with me today in my office. And Elsa went to Germany on an exchange and she studied one semester at the University of Heidelberg, Universitat Heidelberg. Herzlich Wilkommen, welcome to the show Elsa.

Thank you very much. Before we go into this, would you mind to briefly introduce yourself?

So as Marika said, my name is Elsa Popovich. I'm a recent graduate from the University of Auckland. I studied a Bachelor of Global Studies, and I majored in global environment and sustainable development. I did German as my language and Europe as my area of study. So I'm familiar with Moriahka.

I've known each other a couple of years now. But yeah, I'm excited to talk about my stories.

Yes. And you were just mentioning that you picked German as the language for your global studies degree. So how for how long have you been learning German in total? Actually, why did you start learning German? Why did you pick Germany as your area of studies or Europe as your area of studies?

Subject?

So I actually started German in year nine of high school. So we had to pick two languages. I did German and French, and I hated French. And I actually had a really good time in my German class, both because of my teacher and a lot of my friends were in the class. And don't I know, I feel like I picked up German really easily and I found it a very fun language.

So I did that for year nine and ten. I don't believe I did it in year 11. So I had a few years gap and then I re started German in, I think, my second semester of my first year. I started originally with Japanese, actually, and it was way too hard for me. So I switched to German.

I'm so happy that I did that. But, yeah, it just felt natural to pick Germany as my exchange location because I was studying Europe at the time and I have a European passport. So I thought definitely pick somewhere in Europe. That makes a lot more sense. And I thought it'd be the easiest if I pick somewhere that I actually have some grasp on the language.

And I feel like I vibe with Germans a lot so I get the their attitude towards life.

So and at some point you decided you wanted to go to Germany for an exchange semester. How did you learn about this or did you actually started to study at uni with already the plan? Oh, hopefully there is an opportunity to go to Germany.

Yeah, so I knew I wanted to do an exchange for sure, because in global studies, a major part of it is promoting three sixty exchanges. So I definitely knew I wanted to do that. I didn't know where to begin with. I considered, I think, both of the German universities that I could go to, so Heidelberg and Freiburg. And I also had like Copenhagen and Amsterdam on there.

There were some weird pics. But eventually I decided on Germany just because I was learning the language. And from learning more about the culture, I thought that I would fit in well.

And you were already mentioning three sixty International. This is our team here at uni who's organizing and administering the student exchanges specifically at bachelor level. And there are plenty of partner universities all over the world and three sixty International is promoting these exchanges, organizing these exchanges and obviously also accompanying our students while they're being on exchange. As Elsa already said, there are two universities in Germany, partner universities of our university here that are open to all disciplines. However, we got more partner universities in Germany, partner university in Munich, but this is only open to students of architecture and then there is one in Konstanz, it's more like a university of applied sciences, it's in the South Of Germany and then we got a of like a private university specifically for law.

But Heidelberg and Freiburg are the places to go to that are open to all disciplines. So you decided for Heidelberg and then you applied. So how was the whole process of applying for this position? Was it very competitive and what did you have to hand in? So maybe, take us along with you through the whole application process.

I'd say for going to Germany, I didn't feel like it was super competitive because I think there were only four of us who applied and all of us got there. So we all applied for Heidelberg as well, we all got Heidelberg, which was nice to have a good community there. But for the application process itself, it felt like a lot of paperwork to begin with. And then I went to Germany and I learned that that's absolutely nothing compared to what you have to do in Germany for the bureaucracy. But yeah, it was a lot of researching courses that'll fit with your degree programme, which was I'd say definitely the most stressful and time consuming part, because you have to make a list of 10 courses that can fit with your discipline per university that you apply to and you apply to five.

So it takes a really long time and some of the databases for the universities are very complex and hard to understand, like for example in Heidelberg we had HEICO and I think they had just updated the system that semester and so we were all trying to use this new database that even the staff didn't really know their way around and it was such a headache to try and find courses and stuff. It also didn't help that I knew I wanted to go on exchange but I didn't think to leave any gen eds or electives for this semester, so I had to try and fulfil some pretty gnarly courses, level three courses. Throughout the whole exchange was the biggest issue that I faced. It helped that I didn't have to get a visa, but I don't think it was too complex from what I heard from all my other friends that went on exchange, just a few more papers to fill out and you have to have a meeting once you get to Heidelberg to get your photo taken or something like that. But luckily I didn't have to think about that, so that was nice.

It's kind

of straightforward also for students coming from New Zealand to Germany because you kind of apply actually for a student visa when you're there or for a kind of student residency permit, yes. So you were already mentioning there were some issues around courses and how to find the courses and so Elsa is closing her eyes right now and massaging her forehead. Can we go a little deeper into this topic because I think this is very important for potential students wanting to go and exchange. So first of all, let's start with what was your idea, what did you want to do while you were in Heidelberg? Did you want to take German courses to let them count towards your, well, your language part of your degree or did you also plan on taking Global Studies courses or courses that you could let count towards your Global Studies degree?

Yeah, so I completed my German language requirement in the preparatory course we did before the semester started, so I was pretty set with German, I think that was my two zero one equivalent. In regards to other courses, as I said, I didn't really plan very effectively for it being my last semester, so I struggled a lot to try and find courses that fit within Global Studies, and I think they ended up being under anthropology, politics and something. I don't know how they fixed it for me, but they did, which was great. But it was a very complicated process, so I'd say for finding courses themselves, if you aren't like, say, studying physics, and obviously every course you need is physics related, if you're looking through all the disciplines it's very hard just because there's like 20 pages that you have to look through and each of them, a lot of the course descriptions do not have a lot of information. They might not provide the ECTS, which is our credit points here, or they might not give enough information about the courses, or they won't provide the reading list, which is all stuff that you need when you're doing your initial application and trying to get your course outline approved.

So that makes it very difficult because you then have to email these professors and they didn't often reply in a timely manner because to be fair, they're on holidays. So completely understandable. But it did make it quite stressful on the other side. I mean, I didn't actually get my courses approved until January. Mind you, I was coming home in March and had already completed most of my lectures.

This is something that they talk about when you're preparing to go on exchange, that particularly the German universities and I think the Japanese universities, they run on a different time schedule, and their semesters start later and end later, and this makes it very difficult to get all of your documents ready in time to submit, for I think it was the March 3, which was our graduation deadline, so I didn't manage to get that, I still haven't applied for graduation, I think today I got the email that my credits have gone through, so mind you it's the April 10, and I got back, two weeks ago, but it was stressful but worth it.

However, the takeaway here is that it needs a lot of planning and it needs a lot of consideration that actually that and that is very true the semester dates in Germany are different to the semester dates here in New Zealand. I often get questions about what is the language requirement when wanting to study in Germany? So you were mentioning courses in anthropology and courses in politics or political science. So are these courses taught in German?

Yeah. So that was kind of why it was so stressful for me to find courses, to be honest, because I was looking for only English. I considered doing them in German, but I kind of as it was my last semester before graduating, I just wanted to have fun. So I thought take them in English, just pass them and have a good time otherwise. I can't say that I was necessarily there for the academics.

I'm sorry to sorry to say that out loud, but hey. But yeah, if you're looking for courses in German, it's definitely a lot easier. You have a lot more options. That was the main problem was that there was no options for the English courses. And not only that, but when you're applying, say I think I was getting all my courses ready winter semester the year before, but that was like the last deadline and we had months before that to prepare.

So until then, I'm trying to find courses that are going to be taught in the winter semester twenty four-twenty five, which is when I was there. They don't put that online. You have to look for the year before. And by the time you get there, 90% of those courses are not going to be offered that semester. It's a very tricky system to wrap your head around.

And that's why limited options. I also I think made it a bit harder for myself trying to find courses that didn't have exams. Alright!

So, well, in hindsight Elsa, with all your experience and with all that you just shared, what would be your advice to potential students who are planning on going on exchange?

My advice, yeah, definitely save your gen eds and your electives. That was a big thing for me. Think that would have taken half my stress away if I did that. Well, keep on top of your paperwork for sure. It's not worth leaving it till the last minute because there can be issues and they have to send it back.

You have to remember that once you're in Germany, you're on a very different timeframe. And I was having to meet with my program advisors at 01:00 in the morning, 02:00 in the morning just so that I can catch them when they're awake and at work. You're always going to feel two days behind even though it's only a ten hour difference, but think very carefully about where you want to go. Are you a big city person? Are you a smaller town person?

That was the reason why I chose Heidelberg instead of Freiburg, because I'm not that keen on big cities, so seeing photos and going on Google Maps of Heidelberg really solidified it for me, I was like, oh cool, there's a river, there's a castle, it's a small town, like, I think the furthest you'd go is half an hour to from one accommodation site to another, so honestly, it was the perfect size for me, but try and find what fits with you, that's coming from someone who likes a small town. When you get there, there is, if you choose Germany, or I think most European countries, there is a network called Erasmus, make sure that your programme advisors in Germany or wherever you are get you in contact with Erasmus or put you in the group chat or whatever it is, because that is how I made all of my friends, that's how I found out about every event. I mean, in Heidelberg they went crazy, there was an event for the first month that we were there, there was an event pretty much every day. Yes, a lot of it was partying and drinking or beer crawl or whatever it was, but you don't have to drink at them.

But it is honestly the perfect way to make friends. And not only that, but please do the preparatory language course. It doesn't matter if you have zero experience in the language. A lot of my friends came in with zero German experience and they just chose Germany. I don't actually know why they chose Germany to be honest, but even doing the A1 course, like, it's it's nice, it's easy, they know what level you are, it's very tailored to you.

And I made a lot of my friends through the German language course. And I think if you do, if you get there, because you start, a month earlier, if you do the preparatory language course, I think that head start makes a world of difference in finding friends and community and getting used to the city before you actually start lectures. Think it's 100% recommended. I don't think that anyone should skip it because it sets you up to to live there for sure. And it was the best time we had.

I mean, you have to wake up at 08:00 and you go until about one, but so there's four hours of intensive language, but they make it fun for you, and then you go to the Mensa after for lunch and then you all go sit at the river and have a few beers and it's very nice I'd say.

And now you already started mentioning Heidelberg and how life in Heidelberg felt and especially how and on which occasions to meet people. So how was it for you to actually arrive in Heidelberg?

Okay, so I actually arrived with another student about a week before everyone else did because, my family wanted me to be able to settle in before I have to move in, which I think was, a big positive because I was already acclimated to the city by the time I had to go pick up my keys and move into my apartment. So everyone else that I know arrived, their flight arrived on the day, and then they went straight to the office to pick up their keys and then had to go straight to their accommodation. You don't know the public transport system. You've never been in this place. It's hard to find anything in the beginning because you don't understand what's going on.

And so I think being able to be there a week before, like, I already knew where I needed to go to pick up my keys, and I had gotten used to being in Germany at least a little bit, to the point where I wasn't so stressed, and so I can imagine if I had started on that first day coming off of a, I don't know, fifteen hour flight, I think I would be dead in the streets if I tried to do that. Not to mention, I think it was 30 something degrees when we got there, even though I was prepared for a winter semester, so that's fine. But, yeah, and I wouldn't say that there was any technical technically help from the university being there the week before. If you arrive on the day, then, yeah, I mean, you go straight. You see the advisers.

You see the Studendenwerk, and they help you at least know where you need to go and what you need to do. And everyone's moving in on the same day, so you kind of help each other out. I mean, you can tell who exchange students are because everybody has massive bags and they're trying to roll them through a very stony path city, you know? So you find community that way, but, yeah, I didn't feel like there was too much help. But at this point, especially if you're doing it at the end of your degree, I mean, you don't really need that much help, I'd hope, you know?

Otherwise maybe you're in for a world of trouble being overseas if you need a babysitter. But yeah, I think it's, it's a good introduction to the country. It gets you very acclimated very quickly.

Yeah and I have to agree going abroad in an exchange semester is also a kind of adventure and a challenge. So I hear back from students who went on an exchange, it's, well it's a semester in your life that changes or can change a lot because it throws you all in and you get to experience not just a different country, culture, language but also yourself in some way. And Elsa was mentioning, you were mentioning earlier, so you were also wanting to have some fun, so it was not just an academic exchange and this is something that I think is very, very important to emphasize. Of course you go on an exchange to another university to also pick up some courses that you can let credit back to your degree at your home university but it's also supposed to be a semester of you exploring and making experiences and meeting other people and making maybe even lifelong friendships. But as I am a native German myself and you went to Germany, I'm super curious how was it for you in regard to culture shock?

So did you had something like a culture shock and how are the Germans?

The Germans are very nice. For me, culture shock wasn't too intense, I'd say, I mean, I'm from Romania, so I have a lot of European experience having travelled there a lot, never by myself, to be fair, but I don't think I had that many culture shocks. The only thing I would say is that Germans will look you dead in the eye if you're walking along the street and they expect you to look back and if you don't look in their eyes, you look suspicious. So I think just meet their eyes and you're fine. They know that they can trust you and they keep walking by.

But that's the only thing that I heard from every exchange student was why do they keep looking me in the eyes? I'm like, I think they're just trying to make eye contact to show some respect or it's kinda like how in New Zealand you tend to if you're walking on a trail, you say, good good morning, as you walk past, you know, I think it's maybe their way of acknowledging that you're there. But other than that, I think I was pretty prepared for how life would be in Germany. I don't know, some people like to say that, oh, maybe Germans aren't as friendly or they're not as open or this. I think that's a complete lie.

I think they just have a different way of expressing themselves and I think it more aligns with my personal, way of expressing myself than like a New Zealand, culture is for me. I'm less talkative, I'd much rather not talk to anyone in the street. You go to Romania and everybody's talking to everyone, I don't like that, I'm good, just let me walk through, you know, unless I actually need help I'm not going to approach you. And I don't mind meeting people's eyes. I think it taught me some confidence, to be honest, to be able to do that.

They might have a reputation for being very punctual. Deutsche Bahn does not follow that punctuality, let me tell you that. Okay? That's my one beef is with Deutsche Bahn. But that's a global hurt.

But other than that, no, they were very welcoming. I think if you need help, ask, because they're not going to offer, because I think maybe they think it seems rude to assume that you need help. So instead they're like, oh, I'll wait for you to come and ask me. But if you do ask them, they will help you no matter what. I've never had a bad experience with asking for help or, you know, trying to translate through an app.

Most of them also speak perfect English and they try and tell you, sorry, I only speak a little bit. And then you have the most fluent conversation ever better than in New Zealand.

But Germany is also in the middle of Europe. And you were also mentioning you were born in Romania?

No, was born here. Oh, you were

born here but you have

Our family is Romanian.

Germany is surrounded by nine neighbouring countries and I think it's the whole European idea of being able to travel around in Europe is amazing and I cannot emphasize this enough how amazing it is to step on a bus in let's say Berlin and go to Warsaw in Poland or take a train from Frankfurt and go to Vienna overnight or from Heidelberg, I don't know maybe there is train or bus connections going west to The Netherlands or to France even. So did you also do some traveling in Europe and did you actually experience the whole European thought of or the whole European idea of being this united Europe and being connected and easily traveling around?

Yeah, for sure. Traveling was like big focus when I wasn't doing my uni work. I'd say it was incredibly easy to go anywhere, not super expensive. The most expensive thing is trying to travel around The UK. So if you're going to The UK, please bear in mind.

The, regional train services are more than a flight to anywhere, it seems. But other than that, when you're in Europe, it's super easy to just get on a train, like Marika said, and get off in, Amsterdam or what have you. I did that, and it was a lovely journey. I'd say traveling within Germany itself is made very easy by the Deutschland ticket. I definitely recommend everyone getting that.

It's for all public transport except for intercity expresses or whatever they're called, we call them ICEs, so the express trains, they are not included, but regional trains, buses, trams, they're all included within, I think it's €58 right now per month, but you can go literally anywhere in Germany. Yes it might take longer than taking, an express train of course, but it's worth it to be completely free, and not only that, but you can travel to a few border cities as well, so we went to Strasbourg for free, and also Luxembourg, we took the train there and no charge extra which is fantastic and then you go to Luxembourg and public transport is free so it was a very nice day you can imagine.

So and now you're back in Auckland Elsa and you're about to graduate. In hindsight, your whole studies of global studies with an emphasis on Germany and German and having been to Germany on exchange, where do you see the benefit for your future career in this?

I'd say there's a lot of benefit for me, particularly because my career path is going be in Europe. I know that. I mean, this really solidified it. It was kind of, in the beginning, it was like a trial run for me, because I knew I wanted to travel Europe, I didn't know if I wanted to live in Europe, and after living there for seven months I found oh absolutely I can do this, so it was definitely good to get that sort of knowledge and to confirm that I was right and I would thrive in Europe. It also helped me figure out what countries I think I would like to live in.

I've narrowed it down to a few now. Yeah, I think it was very worth it to also see how other countries tackle sustainability, because that's a major part of my degree and my personal interests as well. So seeing how they produce their energy, you know, saw so many wind turbines, which my friends from exchange will be laughing if they hear this because every time I see a wind turbine, I go look look look look look. And every time they see one they'll point it out for me which is very sweet. But yeah, it's just really interesting to see a different approach to sustainability.

For example, there's something in Germany called Fund which is very nice for us students because you get, I think it's 25¢ per plastic bottle that you bring back to the grocery stores, and you can also do glass, but it's like 8¢, so it's really not that worth it but the fund itself is very good especially if you're buying water all the time which some of my friends did just drink from the taps it's okay I promise you don't need to filter it either it's okay it might taste a little different but it's fine

Are there things that you would have liked to know or even needed to know before you went?

Yeah, so my particular focus for this question is going to be on accommodation. So I'm only really speaking to people who are trying to go to Heidelberg because I have no idea what it's like in the rest of Germany. In Heidelberg, as I said, it is a smaller city, some might call it a large town. But there's basically, with student housing, there's kind of two main regions that everyone lives in. You either live in the Alstadt, the old town, which is on the main road, that's what you would call, I don't know, the city centre of Heidelberg.

Other than that, you would live in Nijnheimerfeld, which is about thirty minutes of a bus away. I would sincerely recommend go live in Nijnheimerfeld. It's the buildings are new, the Hausmeisters are fresher, they're a lot more willing to help. The Alstadt accommodations, if you are going to live in Alstadt, just choose one of the Europa houses, okay? Don't, and I repeat, do not move into the women only dorms in Alstadt, okay?

They were terrifying. They were not good accommodations. They were very old, very dirty. The bathrooms were insane. The kitchen was even more disgusting.

Even though it's all women, they're not very clean either. I would give anything to have started over again and lived in Nijnheimerfeld to begin with, and especially if you're doing science, I think sciences, geography, medicine, especially chemistry, please just live in Nijmegenfeld because you are right next to it, otherwise you have to do the thirty minute commute. If you do more English based or what else is it, I think social sciences, English and languages is in Bergheim or in Alstadt. So it is nice to be in Alstadt at some points, but the accommodation, it's only worth it if you're in Europa House. Sorry, that's very specific information for my University of Heidelberg people.

But I think it was very valuable knowledge because you have no idea what you're going into when you're looking on these websites, trying to find and it is the student website.

Thanks Elsa for this very honest, insight into what's the accommodation, situation in Heidelberg and I absolutely agree this is something that you need to know before you actually leave for going on exchange and this is very valuable information. So let's wrap up our little conversation here. Is there anything else at the end that you want to share that you think is important for people to know who are thinking of maybe applying for an exchange in Heidelberg or in Germany in general?

Okay. I actually have a list I can prepare. So I'm gonna rapid fire through these. So just clue in. Okay.

Get a Wise account and a Wise card. That's the best way to do international transfers, and you can. Don't let them tell you that you can't. You can get your rent billed from that account because they they ask you to open a German bank account. You don't need to do that.

Just do it through Wise. And don't get Revolut. Okay? That one's scammy. Some good apps you need, DB Navigator, VRN Ticket, and MyVRN.

That's how you'll keep track of the trains and store your Deutschland ticket. Google Maps is good enough for getting around not only Germany, but all of Europe. Maybe sometimes it leads you slightly astray, but usually it gets you there good enough. There's also a system called the NexBikes, which I think is a complete, like, European thing in most of the countries. But it's essentially if you there are bikes to rent, like Lime bikes or whatever, but you, you have the app and if you sign up with your student email, so your university email, you will have the first thirty minutes for free.

And there's nowhere you can go in Heidelberg that takes you longer than thirty minutes. So it's free transport and there's bikes everywhere. But you have to make sure that you put them back in the right place. Okay? Otherwise, you'll get like a €40 charge.

If you open a bank, don't do it with Sparcasa because they are not very helpful trying to close the bank account. I've had a lot of friends have issues with that. Get your student card as soon as you can so you can go to the Mensa and you can use the washing machines. Do the preparatory language course. I'll say that again.

Do it. Do it. Do it. And make sure you join the ESN events because they are everything for making friends and even just getting to know the city. They take you up to the castle, they take you on the hikes that are around the Philosophenweg, Konigsthor.

They show you the bars, which I know maybe not all of you are that keen on, but it's nice to know how to get around the city and to have a few friendly faces that you can see while you're walking around. Don't bring too many clothes. Okay? This is another thing that I did. I brought too many clothes because I had a a lower budget, and I thought, if I bring all my clothes, I'm not gonna buy any clothes.

Don't do that. Please don't do that because it's Europe and the thrifting is insane. And they have so many nice brands that you're gonna wanna buy for. Even if you tell yourself, no. I'm not gonna buy clothes or what you will.

Trust me. You will. And it's nice to have spare room because I had to send a box home with all my stuff, and that was expensive, and I only just got it yesterday. So with the budget as well, okay, I budgeted about 7,000 New Zealand dollars for seven months. And I think their recommendation is a thousand euros per month.

So I was I knew that I was gonna be getting some help from my parents to help pay for my rent and my insurance, which remember you have to pay for insurance as well. Okay. There's multiple charges. But it just wasn't enough. Like, I was on rice and beans pretty much for the last two months.

So just take as much as you can. Save up as much as you can because you'll need it, especially for traveling. Keep a separate fund for traveling for sure. Get a universal adapter. I only brought a New Zealand to EU one, but, of course, you're traveling The UK, you need the Great British one.

You don't wanna buy another one. Trust me. And one that has more than one plug. Okay. I had one adapter and one plug so I could charge one thing at a time, and it was very frustrating.

Also get a power bank. Vodafone is the cheapest mobile I'm literally giving you everything here. Vodafone is the cheapest mobile plan that I know. I got 10 gigs for €15. It was fantastic.

Prepare for a lot of bureaucracy. Okay? You're gonna have to fill out a lot of forms, make a lot of appointments. You're gonna have to go to the citizen's office and register with the city, which to me seems so archaic, but that's how they do it there. And make sure you get the free bag when you go there as well.

Ask for it because it's very cute.

Oh, wow. This was a lot of advice. Good to know before actually going to Germany. All right. Thank you very much for these insights Elsa and also for giving or sharing your experience with applying for the position through three sixty International here at our University of Auckland and for everything that's going to come.

So much of success and all the best and, yeah, hope to catch up sometime soon in the

future. Thank you.

That was today's episode of QURA and Guten Tag, exchange between New Zealand and Germany. A big thank you to my guest Elsa for sharing her exchange experiences at University of Heidelberg in Germany. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow or subscribe to the podcast so you won't miss upcoming conversations. If you know someone who's thinking about studying abroad, free to share this episode with them. Thanks for listening and bis zum Niesenmeier.

See you next time.