The courses here in South Africa are pretty tough and you have to work a lot more than in Germany. Some of us already decided to do one of the online modules next semester, so that we have more time to concentrate on the other three courses. Luckily this next week is the last one and then we have only two exams left.

A few days ago we did a class outing with one of our lecturers, she was always really dedicated to push us. So, the class outing was real South African style: we did a wine tasting (including a tour around the wine estate and its cellars) and afterwards a champagne tasting with nougat. If you can say one thing about this country for sure: the wine is awesome. Most of us liked it very much, just some boys would have preferred a beer tasting, I guess. In the end we all got home a little tipsy but had a great day.

One thing one must do when coming to South Africa is enjoying the meat at Mzoli´s. This is a little shop that sells and Braais (the SA word for BBQ) meat. Just meat. You get a big silver plate and they put masses of your favourite meat on it. It really looks like a mountain out of meat. Then you go into a little room at the back and bring your meat there so that it can be grilled. After about 45 minutes it is ready and maybe the best meat I ever ate in my life. Of course you do not get cutlery for eating (we are in a township!!) so you just rip it apart with your fingers. Tissues are provided 🙂 Sometimes it really feels a bit brutish but I actually know a vegetarian girl who loves Mzoli´s meat.

However, it´s getting summer here which is really nice. The rain sucks after a few months and now we all want to get a tan. Unfortunately the wind goes with the sun here but this also means that it does not get too hot here. The landscape is very beautiful when all the bushes and trees get greener then they already are in winter. Now also the wine starts growing and promises a big crop for next year.

Most of us want to start travelling after the end of the semester. Some do a big five-country-trip through Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. The other ones keep it a bit smaller or stay just in South Africa to see all the other cities like Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. However, I am sure all of us will have a great time and gain a lot new experiences.

As far as I am concerned no MHMK student got rubbed, raped or something else so we are all really happy about this fact and hope it will stay like this during our holidays 🙂 Our English got better but sometimes there are still some vocabularies lacking. All in all it is much easier to do a presentation in English now or chat to other people fluently. 

Meanwhile I got really used to the cheap prices for having dinner at a restaurant. I am pretty sure I will miss this a lot when I go back to Germany. Sometimes I really look forward eating real bread and drinking water that does not taste like chlorine out of the pipe. It is not like homesickness, more like cherishing the little things that are missing here. So I have a to do list with things I want to directly after I came back (and of course things I want to eat and drink). Nonetheless we are really enjoying the time in Stellenbosch and Cape Town and don´t think about going home yet. Cheers! 

If you don’t understand the behavior of them maybe you’ll understand after the following. In my last post I promised that I’ll inform you about the trips here in Malaysia that you can do and what we did so far.

I already mentioned that Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia and because of that it is a very good place to come around and visit other interesting and wonderful places.  Out students are totally into making pictures and videos and in my last post, I’ll just create an impression page, with a few words to every part of it. – Stay tuned.

In our first weeks we explored Kuala Lumpur (I already showed a few photos) and the Batu Caves. Batu Caves is a limestone hill with a lot caves and cave temples; 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur. This cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. You have to walk a lot of stairs up to get to the Caves. A lot of monkeys live here and you have to watch out, because they love to eat human food, steel your bags or just make fun of you. We also made a tour through the Dark Cave, 70 minutes through darkness, just with a helmet and a little flashlight. Amazing to see the stalactites that formed for over than thousands of years.

(Photo credits: Laura Holder)

One part of our students here decided to visit Langkawi. Pulau Langkawi  is at the northwest coast of Malaysia and an archipelago made up of 99 islands. This breathtaking place is surrounded by turquoise sea, coconut trees and your feet will stand in powder-fine white sand. This island has an excellent treasure in Underwater World.The same group went to Singapur, a city state in Southeast Asia. – It’s a huge city where you can party day and night. Something they had to enjoy.

The German exchange group was also able to take part in the Global Classroom in Melaka. For this 1 week program a few of us went to the Unesco World Heritage town, to visit another Limkokwing Campus. This Campus is in the Portugease Settlement in Melaka and is next to the ocean. It was just an awesome feeling, when you woke up and saw the ocean right underneath you, although you had university. The city has a lot of museums, for example the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum and the Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum; we got a tour through this historical part of Malacca and we also visited a few of the museums. A very common thing in this city are the heavily decorated bicycle rickshaws that cruise through the non-smoking town and bring you from one place to another. The goal of this 1-week program was to get in touch with this World Heritage City, get to know new people of Limkokwing University and to bring out a design package for the city.

(Photo credits: Laura Holder)

The next stop had been Perhentian Islands. Perhentian Islands exist of two main islands; Perhentian Besar and Perhentian Kecil – but we decided to visit Perhentian Kecil, the smaller island. The crystalline water is home of a sea turtles, jellyfish, small sharks, reef fish and has a wide variety of coral reefs. Dreamland, wonderland, just awesome and everyone was so happy to be there (No one wanted to leave). Turquoise clear water, white sand and a jungle.  This group made a snorkeling trip, they had been swimming with a turtle and baby sharks and spent their other precious time on getting tanned in the sun. Every night you could see an awesome Fire show at Long Beach. To give you a better impression of this wonderful place, I’m going to upload a video of this 3-day trip and post the link to it in he next Blogpost.

Right now another group is in Bali and enjoying the midterm break. After this break we have to submit a lot of assignments and also write exams. So I hope they enjoy the holiday and as you can see on the pictures – Bali seems to be very interesting!

(Photo credits: Sophia Gisinger)

I’m not able to write more about our trips, but I’ll promise that the next post will be longer.
I hope everyone is happy, best regards from Malaysia.

London is a place everyone should have been once in his life time because it is a pulsating city. There are many attractions you are able to visit like the London Eye, the London Dungeon, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden,..

Unfortunately not only the list of amazing things to see but also the prices seem unlimited- prices in London are extremely high.

London is the third most expensive city in the world.

If you are planning to visit London you should bring a filled purse with you!

Our University is located in Greenwich, a small village directly at the river Thames with a little market and stores.In contrast to the small village our University is huge and looks a bit like Hogwarts.
Four buildings turn the walk to a lecture into a whole journey.

In our first week we had a warm welcome through a fresher’s week with a little fair and lots of giveaways.
It immediately felt like being part of this huge student body at Greenwich University.

The groups that were built up among the MHMK students by coming from a same campus opened really quickly and groups across different campuses were created.

In order to create a familiar MHMK feeling, we (the Student Ambassadors for this Campus, Vanessa and me) are planning a little event in a traditional pub near our campus.
Surely, this will be fun!

There had already been some parties and some of us had even been to an “Octoberfest” at Canary Wharf with German beer and German songs.

Others had been to the London Fashion Week sitting next to the catwalk.

Even on campus there are some really  interesting things to see – for example there was a huge film set last week and the campus was turned into a hotel and a tube station. Even bigger productions as “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “The Golden Compass” are set on campus. The latest film produced last year at Greenwich campus was “Thor 2” with Natalie Portman.

The University of Greenwich is worth a visit in any case and the people here are very friendly and cooperative.

Aisling Conboy who helps us with any problem is planning an event with us at the moment – A James Bond Treasure Hunt. We are going to visit original James Bond sets and tour through London on 26th October.

We are definitely looking forward to this event!

And we are looking forward to our further time in London as well!

So keep calm and carry on!

Many greetings from London!

Vanessa Davaroukas & Lara Niemeyer

The city of quality food and good weather, palm trees and parties, fashion and ZARA-outlets. Clichés of people who are easygoing, social and always late. But what is the Spanish capital really like?

I didn’t know much more either as I first landed at Barajas airport at the end of September. Anxiously holding the notes from the Spanish crash course I’d done the previous weeks, I kept repeating the basic sentences in my head. I was trying to get ready to use my minimal Spanish knowledge to communicate my way through the city.

This is an act that I had to get used to very quickly, as the answer to my eager „Habla inglés?” („Do you speak English?”) has been more often than not a polite shake of head and a „no, lo siento”. First lesson learned: Spaniards could not, can not, will not speak English. There are exceptions, but only to prove the rule. I even heard a theory from a fellow student, stating that the Spanish take it as an offense if you try to talk to them in a foreign language in their own country. According to my Intercultural Management professor, they are simply shy when it comes to speaking English, and so it’s nothing personal. This is, however, only a crumb of comfort for us, foreign students, who try to get by, arranging our accomodation, ordering our metro tickets, buying our new SIM-cards – and forced to do all this in a language we don’t or just barely speak. 

I had to learn this the hard way, as the airline I flew with lost my checked luggage. After two days of desperate half-English, half-Spanish phone calls and in-person visits I managed to retrieve it – and this very instant and very intensive training did wonders to my Spanish. I can only recommend the method to anybody trying to learn a language; the desperation caused by being alone without your personal belongings in a new place truly does get the best out of you. The same goes for having native roommates, by the way. You might have doubts about your language skills and too shy to even mumble a few words, but when you have to tell your Spanish roommate that there’s a huge cucaracha in the bathroom, you suddenly become as eloquent as Cervantes. Trust me, I speak from experience.

Also, what the Spanish might lack in their English skills, they make up for perfectly in their social skills. They do their best to make you feel comfortable speaking Spanish, trying to find the meaning even behind the least coherent sentences. As a result, regardless of the language barrier, it is very difficult not to make Spanish friends – they are extremely social people, always ready to go out for a drink, which in the Madrid region would usually be beer, sangria, or my personal favorite, tinto de verano, that’s taste reminds me a lot of mulled wine, only that it’s served with ice. Drinks are accompanied by tapas, small portions of finger food, such as jamón (ham), tortillas (Spanish omelette, often prepared with potatoes) or chorizo (a kind of sausage).

Even if you only orders drinks, you automatically receive a small plate of such delicacies, cleverly promoting the bar’s food offers, and making you thirsty, thus making you order more drinks. Germans used to the „Maß”-beer sizing might be suprised to see that in many places in Madrid, beer is served in comparatively tiny, 0.2 liter bottles. Often, bars would offer four-five of these small servings placed into a bucket of ice, ensuring that the customer drinks a liter’s worth of beer, but also that it’s kept ice cold at all times. This is a handy trick, especially during schorching summer nights…

… and thus we’ve arrived to the next topic that simply has to be mentioned,  especially having moved here from Germany: the weather. I am not going to lie,  Madrid’s climate is very easy to get used to, especially during the winter semester.  This year, summer-like hot weather lasted until the very end of September, and even  in October the daily temperature often reaches 25 Celsius.

But the real giveaway is  the sun. Madrid’s sunshine hours top 2,750 in a year – as a comparison, the same  data for Berlin is merely 1,625 hours a year. It makes an enormous difference as it  significantly adds to the overall well-being – it’s simply much more difficult to feel  demotivated or depressed with bright blue skies. Spaniards make use of this, as there  are countless outdoors activities and places in Madrid, starting with one of the city’s  biggest parks, Parque del Retiro (originally established by the Spanish Habsburgs,  and for this reason it is suprisingly similar to the Schönbrunn park in Vienna).

Soon enough, walking around in Madrid became one of my favorite recreational activities. It is one of the cities in which it is fun to just get lost in, observe the people, stop by a museum (most of which are free of charge for students), then reward oneself with a helado and continue admiring the diverse architecture. What makes Madrid’s landscape especially fun is the fact that it was built on multiple small hills, and so the occasional ups and downs give the streets a certain feel – not to mention the amazing views you get from some of the hillsides! To me, the most impressive view is the one from Parque del Oeste.. or maybe the one just south of the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace)? It’s a tough decision – it’s best to check out both, preferably at sunset, with a drink in the hand, accompanied by some friends.

As a very international city with a thriving arts scene and nightlife, Madrid is a magnet for students and young professionals – the city is full of young people from all over the world, making it a perfect location to spend a semester abroad at. It is home to many universities, both private and state-owned. Through the MHMK student exchange programme, we are enrolled at the UFV, the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, a private university just west of Madrid. As expected of a private university, it has excellent facilities spread out on a large campus with different sports fields.

The university has a student body of 4,000 people studying in very diverse fields, from Medicine through Filmography to Economics. Over 15% of the students are international, like us, thus allowing us to get to know people from various countries – the university encouraged this by organizing an Orientation Day for all foreign students, inviting us for a delicious paella lunch.

To sum up, Madrid offers you everything you need for a perfect semester abroad – and more. Genuinely nice and social people, beautiful architecture, breathtaking museums, a busy nightlife – you name it. Spending a few months here is also a great opportunity to learn more about the Spanish language, culture and mentality. Being right in the middle of the country, it is very easy to travel at the weekend and visit other parts and cities of Spain, such as Barcelona, Córdoba or Málaga. I would personally encourage anybody to apply for Madrid!

Latha (là) Math aus Dublin!

Das bedeutet “Guten Tag” auf Gälisch. Auch wenn die Sprache kaum noch ein Ire sprechen kann, sind alle Verkehrs- und Hinweis-Schilder zuerst auf Gälisch und dann auf Englisch beschriftet. Auch der Linksverkehr war anfangs verwirrend. Überhaupt ist Irland sehr anders als Deutschland. Aber erst einmal von Anfang an:

In den ersten Tagen nutzten viele die noch freie Zeit, bevor die Uni begann, Irland zu erkunden.
Einige fuhren nach Howth, einem Vogelschutzgebiet, direkt an der “Irish Sea”. Trotz starkem Wind, war die Landschaft großartig und die Aussicht auf’s Wasser überwältigend.

Wenn man Glück hatte, konnte man sogar ein paar Robben beobachten. Andere erkundeten die Innenstadt, durch die der Liffey verläuft.

Aber so ziemlich jeder musste mindestens einen halben Tag opfern, um dem schwedischen Freudenhaus Ikea einen Besuch abzustatten, da die Unterkunft nicht ausreichend mit Küchenutensilien ausgestattet war.

Nachdem alle versorgt waren, konnten die ersten “Get-togethers” in den einzelnen Apartments stattfinden. Hamburg machte den Anfang und lud alle in den “Zauberwald” ein. Nachdem weitere Standorte in den darauf folgenden Tagen nachzogen, begann auch schon die “Induction Week” am College. Nachdem alle Neu-Studenten in der Aula begrüßt und ihren jeweiligen Fakultäten zugewiesen wurden, fand am Abend die erste von vielen Veranstaltungen, organisiert von der “Student’s Union”, statt. Es fing an dem Abend mit einem Besuch in einem Pub an.

In der ersten Uni-Woche gab es außerdem eine Pyjama-Party, einen Hangover-Film-Marathon, ein Beer-Pong-Turnier und am Donnerstag wurde der nationale Gedenktag an Arthur Guinness gefeiert. Hierfür begibt sich jeder in ein Pub und pünktlich um 17:59h werden die Guinness-Pints gehoben.

Natürlich hatten wir in dieser Zeit auch schon unsere ersten Unterrichtsstunden. Teilweise werden wir in Containern, die zu Unterrichtsräumen umfunktioniert wurden, unterrichtet. Die Dozenten nennen uns beim Vornamen und uns Studenten ist dasselbe Recht vorbehalten, damit eine entspanntere Lernatmosphäre geschaffen werden kann.

Direkt auf dem Campus befinden sich sowohl die Unterrichtsgebäude bzw. Container, als auch die Wohngebäude in denen die Meisten von uns untergebracht sind. Der gesamte Campus ist von hohen Mauern umgeben und durch Stacheldraht gesichert. Ebenfalls wird der Campus rund um die Uhr durch College-Eigenes Security-Personal gesichert. In den Apartments ist man zu viert untergebracht, zwei Personen pro Zimmer. Legt man sich auf die Matratzen in den jeweiligen Zimmern, fühlt man sich wie die Prinzessin auf der Erbse. Allerdings ist es keine Erbse die in den Rücken piekst, sondern die Federn der durchgelegenen Matratzen.

Irland ist ein sehr teures Land. Allen war bewusst, dass die Lebensunterhaltskosten in Irland höher sind als in Deutschland, jedoch hat keiner mit einem solch gewaltigem Unterschied gerechnet. Die einzigen Lebensmittelläden, in denen man annähernd zu deutschen Preisen einkaufen gehen kann, sind Aldi und Lidl. Die besagten Läden sind allerdings mindestens eine Viertelstunde zu Fuß entfernt. So machen sich einige mit ihren Reisekoffern auf den Weg, um sich für eine Woche mit dem nötigsten einzudecken. In anderen Lebensmittelläden, wie Spar (befindet sich direkt gegenüber des Colleges) bezahlt man zum Beispiel für vier Rollen Toilettenpapier 5 Euro. Ebenfalls zahlt man für’s Busfahren jedes Mal auf’s Neue, wenn man die Linie wechselt. Außerdem sollte man immer genug Kleingeld dabei haben, da Scheine vom Busfahrer nicht angenommen werden.

Auch wenn das Wetter unberechenbar, das Bier teuer und nicht an jeder Ecke ein vierblättriges Kleeblatt zu finden ist, gefällt uns Dublin im Großen und Ganzen gut und versuchen die Zeit hier bestmöglich zu nutzen!

Beannachd leat! (Auf Wiedersehen) aus Dublin!

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (TEC) is one of the largest multi-campus universities in Latin America with 31 campuses all over Mexico. The Campus in Monterrey is the main campus.

The education system is different to the one in Germany: Instead of one exam in the end of the semester, students have to do Homework, Tests, Assignments and Presentations almost every week.

Life on campus is different here: While most of the campuses of the MHMK in Germany are part of an other building, Tec de Monterrey is almost like a little city itself: It has its own shops, cafeterias, an apple store, Starbucks and even its own pets like ducks, gooses, peacocks and deer crossing the campus.

This year the University celebrated their 70th Birthday with different activities like a big Event with traditional dances, fireworks and presentations of the different campuses. This event took place in the Unis own stadium. For the celebration Tec also organized a fair and different cultural shows, like concerts, plays, musicals and folk dancing shows.

The Mexicans made it really easy for us to feel welcome here. They are warmhearted, hospitable and helpful.

A big difference between the mexican students and the international students is that they often still live with their parents and have a intense relations with them. The parents have strict rules for their children and even receive the grade of their sons and daughters.

If Europeans think of Mexicans they picture people with moustaches, wearing a poncho, eating tacos, drinking tequila and celebrating. Well, reality is actually not that far away form those stereotypes: Mexicans really like to party and love their tequila and tacos.

An interesting cultural experience we had was the independence day. If there is something to celebrate mexicans always love to start the party not only on that day, but also on other days: So we started to celebrate the independence the day before. The celebrations included eating, drinking, Mariachi-Bands and of course many “Viva Mexico”s.

Not only in Monterrey but in whole Mexico are a lot of nice places to visit in your free time. Because security is a big problem and a lot of people don’t want to travel on their own there are different groups that organize trips for weekends, one days trips and parties.

TEC also has got a big offer of different sports classes, containing boxing, football, dancing, fitness, swimming and a lot more. But even though you don’t want to do sports, there are a lot of offers for freetime from University: for example cards tricks, cocking or even Quidditch.

Living

There are different opportunities for living in Monterrey. You can either live in the residential homes of the University. There are located right next to Tec and are controlled by security.

Another possibility is to live in a housing area called Villas Tec and, where only students live. Most of the apartments are for three people, that share a living room and a kitchen, while everyone has got their own bedroom and bathroom. The Buildings are security guarded and about 15 minutes walking away from Tec. Those buildings have a pool, a little cafeteria and on the weekends a lot of Parties. Torres Tec, is a similar housing area located right next to Villas Tec.

If you want to get closer to the culture you can also live with a host family.

As a last option you can also look for your own apartment in the TEC area. There are some that are good for international students.