Student Reports: Kyle Goodrick, Munich, Germany, August 2014-2015
I will remember my time in Munich as the best part of my college experience, easily. Over the last two semesters I had the amazing opportunity to spend the full year in Munich, Germany. Being able to spend an extended time abroad is an experience without comparison; experiencing a full year’s worth of seasons, traditions, and celebrations is absolutely fantastic.
During the fall semester in Munich I studied at the Munich University of Applied Science, or in German; Hochschule München. While studying there I took several classes in engineering (including one in German) as well as several German language classes. Taking an engineering class in another language is quite an experience, but luckily I had taken four years’ worth of German classes before my arrival in Munich. Engineering classes also make it somewhat easier, because math is the same in every language and many of the figures we used came from English language textbooks, so it was somewhat easier to get a little context for what the text surrounding the figures was about. In general, I found the lecture style and class organization in Germany to be very different from the States. Throughout the week I had only one class per day, but each lecture was two to three hours long with a short break in the middle. In addition, there were no graded homework assignments, midterms, or quizzes. While this worked out great during the semester, it meant that the 90-minute final was the only grade you received for an entire semester. While I enjoyed the free time this system allowed during the semester, I am very glad classes are not run this way in the US.
Outside of classes, Munich was a fantastic city to live in. There is always something interesting happening in the city and it is filled with culture. Almost every time I was out in the city I could see someone wearing traditional Bavarian clothing, either casually at a beer garden or for one of the many festivals held within the city.
Getting around Munich is also incredibly easy. The public transit system is amazing and as a student it will take you anywhere in or around the city for a very steep discount. In addition to the public transport, students in Munich can also get surprisingly affordable housing. While normal rent prices in Munich are among the highest in Europe, there is a central Student Union in Munich that offers affordable housing for students that come from outside of Munich. These Student Union accommodations are fairly similar to what you would find in the dorms at UT, though fortunately, everyone has at least a room and a sink to themselves. The Student Union also ran several student-only cafeterias at the various campuses throughout the city that offered lunch at reasonable prices.
After my semester at the Munich University of Applied Science, I spent five months at Siemens conducting research in wireless networks. I especially enjoyed the work culture in Germany and found it to be quite different from what I was used to back home. The work environment is very relaxed and there is no pressure at all to work excessively long hours. In fact, the normal work week is actually only 35 hours instead of 40, and it is very common for employees to leave at 4 PM or even earlier. Full time employees (i.e. not interns) also receive much more vacation time than is typical in the US and it is not uncommon for employees to take an entire month off at a time. While the benefits for full time employees are extremely nice, internships are handled much differently than in the States. For engineering degrees in Germany an internship is required to graduate, so there are many students looking for internships. In addition, for these required internships, Pflichtpraktikum, the normal labor laws do not apply, so the pay is very low (< 5€ / hour) and there is no vacation or other benefits. You do receive full-time academic credits for the work though, so it can still work out well. I was able to work with the German department at UT to apply the credits towards a minor in German and the full-time credits also allowed me to keep my scholarships from UT.
Although Munich is a great city just by itself, its central location in Europe and proximity to the Alps make it an even more desirable city to study in. Its great location made traveling throughout the rest of Europe simple and made outdoor activities like hiking, climbing, and skiing extremely accessible.
During my time in Munich I traveled all over central and eastern Europe Including Vienna, Budapest, Zurich, Innsbruck, Brussels, and Prague as well as parts of Italy, Croatia, and Slovakia.
There is a large bus terminal in Munich that has multiple buses to most of these places every day at inexpensive rates. The long distance buses are also often faster than taking a train. In addition to traveling to see the gorgeous cities of Europe and the amazing cultural sights, I also went on several trips into the Alps.
