The one where I am a student.

In the middle of march I started University at the Hochschule der Medien, or the University of Media. I am studying Media Publishing with about 30 others. It seems like, and is, such a little group, in comparison to the amount of students I „studied“ Psychology with. There are some very big differences between the HdM and the Adelaide Uni´s that I have had experience with.

>> Firstly, and this is one of the main supporters in the move to Germany in the first place:

→ Uni costs 500 euros a semester. Full Stop. Well, open that full stop – it´s free for me.

Free University Education? The avoidance of a giant HECS debt – that was a big motivator for applying in the first place. Some of you may be thinking you have to be super smart to get free education here. No, not that case at all. You just have to have at least 2 siblings.

That is it – the criteria for qualifiing for student fee free education: 2 siblings who have not recieved free education in this state in the past.

Orientation Day. The two closest to me are fellow publishers, Julia and Karl.

>> Secondly, and probably the most obvious to anyone, the language.
→ I study in German. There is yet to be any English, but I think in 3^rd or 4^th semester there are some free choice subjects that are taught in English.
It is definately a challenge; in no way is it easy. But it is a challenge that I welcome, and one that I genuinely do enjoy. I love languages, and have invested so much time in to this one, so I would feel a little cheated if half of my courses were in English. I want to study in German and have a german education and be able to say, I studied in another language.

The language aspect is also a whole lot simpler than I had imagined it. I thought that there was no way I would be able to sit in the lectures and understand everything, and that I would be learning German all the time just to keep up with my peers. This is not the case – I find it surprisingly and refreshingly uncomplicated.

There are times when I have a big question mark all over my face. However, normally every single student in the room has that same confused signal plasted all over them. It is it in the slight tilt of the head, or the turn to the neighbour and silently mouthing of, „was?“ or simply „huh?“ This happens in subjects like Theory of Accounting and Business Management, where everyone is challenged by the subject specific terms.

My good friend Eszter, who comes from Hungary and also speaks German as a second language, prophesised that as soon as Uni started I would notice a very dramatic and sudden jump in my language ability. All of a sudden I am able to make a lot more connections between different topics. My vocabulary has grown greatly (out of necessity: who learns words like „parchment“ when you do not have anything to do paper and printing).

I also am thrilled to say that my thoughts are mostly formed in German. Subjects like maths, I would have thought would stay in English, just based on the years and years of Mr. Morten drilling them in to my head. But the terms have swifty changed to German, and when I work out the problems in my head it is no longer equal and derivite, but „ist gleich“ and „Ableitung.“

I also take a class called Subject German for Media and Communication. There are 5 or so foreigners. The rest, about 40, are German´s, who are a lot better than me at everything to do with the language. But it goes to show how difficult the language is in itself, that one needs to take a course in how to express oneself correctly for the production of scientific and or economically accepted articles, like a Thesis. There are a certain set of rules (with more exceptions than those that prove the rule) that dictate how one expresses the opinion of another, or that which another person has said. As a very general rule, German's avoid this form of speach and have no idea what the rules are. The have a gut feeling. We all have this gut feeling. It just sounds right. Except, with this form, it sounds wrong. To everyone. And so foreigners are not alone in their mistakes in this area.

Tonight Madi pointed me out to another big difference that I should make sure to note in this post, as she is a fellow blogger, which one can find here, I talk about these things with her. Actually, all I have to say there, is because she is a fellow GIRL, I talk about these things with her. Girls talk about everything. We really do. Be warned.

>> E-Learning

→ As a Flinders student – I was hardly present. Which for the nerd that I am, quite shocking was. It was simply too far away, too long of an annoying drive in mostly peak hour, to never get a parking spot near the lecture hall´s that I needed, so I had to hike up the hill afterwards. And plus I never took the time to make friends so never wanted to see anyone.

However, this didn´t mean that I never „went“ to lectures. All lectures were video taped and podcased. I passively attended each one, when nicht in the ideal form.

At the HdM we do not have this option – I think the main reason would have to be the size – we simply do not have anywhere near the numbers that Flinder´s has, and most people are diligent (still), and attend lectures and tutorials.

Consequently one truely does need to be in the lectures (apart from theory of business management – the professor is new and is worse than the text book). Furthermore, in Publishing, there is not la lot of literature to help students. For example, in Print Media there is only very technological text books, which one cannot read unless one works in the field, and possibly wrote the book themself.

I am, therfore, at Uni everyday, and not just a few hours – most days from 8.15 am until 7.15pm.

I see this as a positive and a negative. On the plus side, I am actively present daily, and do not have a backlog of lectures to sift through. On the negative side, on day´s like Monday when I only have a 1 hour lunch break between lectures and otherwise only a break to get to the next event, the quality of learning is low. I struggle to concentrate in the later lecture block, and consequenstly skip the second half of said block. Part of it has to do with sanity and partly energy and the knowledge that if I worked on that which I skipped alone at home, it would be more succesful than sitting in a lecture hall and playing Angry Birds, because even when I try to listen, everything slides over my head.

The HdM does, however, use the Internet to support our learning. We are, afterall, the University of Media, and do know how to use that to our own strengths. We have E-learning and a lot of technological options, but a system that fails Germany wide is the recording of lectures.

>>Form of University

→ do you study at a University, or at a University of Media, for Technology, for Engineering, for Education, for Sport, for Environment? Here there are so many options for education that give the average Joe a chance, and also make it complicated for the choice of which University is best for which subject. Should one go to a specialesed or general School? In Australia, you just have (mostly) Universities which are better in certain fields. Here, there are entire Universities dedicated to fields, and not just a few.

There are different forms of year 12 certifacte, according to which one can attend specific universities. One may also undertake an educational proccess similar to an apprentichip, in that one works for a company and learns on the job. It differs in that one has a lot of school blocks in between and studies how to become a business person and subsequent job relevant subjects. Once one has finished said apprentichip, on has the right to study, which many many students do.

Year 12 also finishes a lot later in Germany than in Australia, so even though I study with mostly already educated students (i.e. Students who have finished this apprentichip form in some sort of media or business area, and or Students who have studied other subjects), even the younglings fresh from Year 12 are 20 or over. It is fantastic as there is a very wide collective pool of knowledge which we bring to the table. Certain subjects which one student is a master in can be subjects which another has never even seen before, and together we have little study groups which ease our jump in to Uni significantly.

>> Difficulty

→ 6 Semesters for a Bachelor. You study long, you study hard, you study a lot. There are incredibly high expectations of every student and if you don´t keep up be prepared for goodbye´s. Brutal, but the quality of the students with a Bachelor at the HdM is very high. 95% of Media Publishers get a job in the company that they wrote their Bachelor Thesis in. Numbers like that are hard to find in other specialised Universities.

>> Experience

A „Praxis“ semester is essential. It is part of our Bachelor. We recieve genuine experience.

Speaking of Bachelor´s – Media Publishing is a Bachelor of Science. Strange. But fitting based on how much business stuff gets packed in there.

>> Internationalism

→ The uni loves it when their students study abroad. Especially when it is in another language. English of course suggested. We also have an entire faculty called „German Chinese Printing (something or rather)“ where students learn about both markets, learn the language they don´t already speak and produce media in both.

>>Modernisation

We our decked out with Apple. All the students have macbook pro´s, iPhones, iPad´s and the computer rooms are called „Mac Labs“. Our hardware is hardcore. I have also become a typical HdMer – am currently writing from a spanking new Macbook Pro which I am completely in love with due to the speed in which I can work in Photoshop and my Publishingprograms. I am a sheep and apple is my shepard.

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I think they are all the main points, and there are quite a few – if only I had taken the time this has taken to perhaps read over my notes I took from Publishing Market´s today, I would be the student I want to be. Instead, I am chosing to be the friend and family member I want to be, and keep you all in the loop.

I also want to make it clear that I am by no way deprived of fun, despite the high expectations of University life. I adore the people I study with and do a lot with them apart from study groups, still see as much of possible of our best friends Madi and Flip and meet Eszter weekly for a strong coffee and gossip. Life is a balancing act and it is taking me a while to get my footing on the rope between Uni and friendships, but they are both very important to me, and I am trying my best!

Thank you for having the patience and or desire to get through that mamoth post - I hope you all feel a little bit more informed about the subject and please ask any questions and or email me slash comment because due to the lack of internet, I also have no idea what is going on in YOUR lives.

I miss you all terribly

xxx G