Majestätisch ragt das Schloss auf dem Hügel über die umliegenden Ortschaften. Aus dem hohen Glockenturn schallt ein dumpfer, tiefer Gong. Über dem Schloss ziehen laut schreiende Vögel ihre Runden. Direkt unter dem Schloss führen Treppen in einen dunklen Wald.

Die Flure sind wie leer gefegt und die Treppen scheinen sich jeden Moment verschieben zu können. Aus den Waschräumen erklingt ein leises Tropfen- Die maulende Myrte?

Das große Portrait im Hallway zeigt einen herrschaftlichen Mann, Mieczkowski, den Gründer des Colleges, dessen Augen einen zu beobachten scheinen.
Nun aber schnell- das Meeting in der Great Hall steht an. Alle Schlossbewohner müssen an dieser Willkommenszeremonie teilnehmen- Muggle haben keinen Eintritt. Es stellt sich die Frage: In welches Haus werden wir eingeteilt? Durch das Fenster kann man ein paar Jungen beobachten, die Quidditch spielen. …

Moment mal- Quidditch? Nun ja- hier müssen wir uns wohl verguckt haben. Und wir sind auch nicht in der Zauberwelt von Harry Potter, sondern in Manly, Australien, am International College of Management. Die Ähnlichkeit mit Hogwarts ist dennoch verblüffend.

Das International College of Management liegt tatsächlich auf einem Hügel unweit vom wunderschönen Manly Beach entfernt. Ein Paradies. Das Schloss versprüht internationales Flair, darauf weisen auch schon die zahlreichen und großen Flaggen an der pompösen Fassade hin.

Da wir eine Woche vor der Orientierungswoche angekommen sind, waren die Flure zu Beginn tatsächlich ziemlich leer. Mit der Zeit füllten sie sich jedoch und mittlerweile herrscht überall im Schloss ein buntes Treiben.

Unterschiedlichste Kulturen und Studenten und Professoren von allen Kontinenten treffen hier aufeinander.

Der Campus ist sehr groß und bietet eine Vielzahl an außerunterrichtlichen Aktivitäten. Bootcamp, Yoga, Surf Clubs, Chor und die eigene ICMS- Student Bar tragen zu einem abwechslungsreichen Alltag bei und stärken das Zugehörigkeitsgefühl.

Auch abseits des ICMS kann man viel unternehmen. Der zu Sydney gehörige Stadtteil Manly trumpft mit wunderschönen Stränden und einem umfangreichen Freizeitangebot auf. Viele kleine Bars und Restaurants laden zum wohlfühlen ein und geben dem Ort Urlaubscharakter.
Dienstags und Donnerstags treffen sich sowohl On-Campus- Studenten, als auch Backpacker und Einheimische in der Shark- Bar im Zentrum von Manly, um mit einem Bier oder einem landestypischen Apple-Cider den Abend zu genießen.

Manly bietet außerdem die Nähe zur Metropole Sydney. In einer halben Stunde kann man bei beeindruckender Aussicht mit der Fähre nach Sydney gelangen. Ein atemberaubendes Gefühl: Kaum ist die Fähre aus dem schnuckeligen Hafen Manly’s ausgelaufen, lässt der Blick auf die spektakuläre Skyline Sydney’s, die Harbor Bridge und das Opera House den Atem stocken.

Unser Fazit der ersten zwei Wochen hier in Manly: Wir fühlen uns schon pudelwohl und genießen die australische Kultur und das Campusleben am ICMS in vollen Zügen. Wir sind sehr gespannt auf die nächsten Wochen und Monate hier und melden uns bald wieder.

Sonnige Grüße aus Sydney,

Rebecca, Ira und Nina

Time goes quick, and this city offers such an impressive variety of activities, sights and gastronomy opportunities. As every cosmopolitan centre it is almost impossible to get bored, and by the way locals know how to entertain themselves if you know what I mean. However, keep in mind that the main challenge will be the language barrier. Quite an unexpected issue that each of us realized ones here.

That is to say that socializing becomes arduous, but not impossible if you are firstly breaking the ice. Generalizing is never an optimal way of describing someones culture, but I have to say that people are really friendly.

Keep in mind that one common characteristic is shyness while speaking English due to the fear of making mistakes, be the one starting the conversation! For this reason consider taking a basic Korean course, here at Kookmin University you will have a couple of options such as a semester course (if it fits with your schedule) or shorter options but do not rely on the contacts on the webpage and visit the Global Center, Room 205 ones here.

Are you asking yourself why you should start writing down info about where to find what even at Uni? Well be prepared to walk in a big campus where a map is needed in order to find your lectures and any facility like the dozen of coffee places, minimarkets, fast food and food courts.

Before figuring out Uni you will need to understand how public transportation works, do not worry is not a big deal. In fact subway, bus and trains are very efficient and unbelievably clean. Ones you will have a few points of reference you will be golden, and I warmly recommend to download any of these free city e-guidebooks while looking around, here instead some free ones about South Korea.

If you can not leave without a weekly contact with nature this must be the place. Not referring to Sorrentino’s movie but to an amazing variety of hiking and climbing possibilities at half an hour to one hour from the city center where public transportation will bring you. And here comes the best, our partner University is located at the base of the Bukhansan National Park so you will have the best view from any of the buildings, especially the library.

Our referent and great local support here, Prof. Uhm, took us for a couple of hours hike starting from the College of Design, worth it go and a habit to get during fall.

What about the courses and the quality of teaching?

Let us say that the academic system is very different over here, being a 17000 students Institution means rough competition and even the enrollment requires a lot of attention. Make sure to read carefully all the guidelines you will receive before the semester start. This was the first year of partnership between the two Universities so I am confident next year’s experience will follow a smoother flow for all the fellow students choosing this amazing location.

Within all campus faculties the College of Design is the jewel in the crown when you ask feedbacks outside the Uni. Due to this keep in mind it will be hard to get a spot and the standards will be quite demanding. MM, MCM and Journalism students are under the same major of Communication here, so the lectures will be the same. So far so good, I am really enjoying the level of teaching and the workload is fine seen we have a limited number of course. Local students are instead taking an average of 8 courses and having weekly assignments and team works (we do too) makes it quite tough.

On the third week of October we will have our mid term examination period, followed in December by the final one. Lastly, classes are mixed with both local and other international students so you will have the chance to meet other peers which are non-German-speakers. Our 17 people group is housed all over the city and we are following different courses, this means that if you are planning to travel alone you will experience a lot more not being all the time with your European fellow students. Of course this does not mean avoiding each other, but not even hanging out on daily bases.

Welcome to Kookmin South Korea

Back to the housing issue, Seoul is not cheap and I would compare it with Munich. University dorms are really cheap but keep in mind a few things: you will not have cooking facilities and you will share a 4 people room. Furthermore I warmly suggest to not choose those on campus but instead pick those in Gireum with less rules such as early curfew. You will be checked regularly to ensure your room is clean (decent) and you will truly need to follow rules otherwise you will be kicked out. If you are a 3-4 people group will be realtively cheap to rent a room within a guesthouse. If you are looking for an apartment make sure to have a local buddy helping you out because nothing is translated in to English. This is to say that if given the option from the University, do apply for the global buddy initiative do it, it is great to have a local friend that will help and show you around.

The Student Union building hosts all campus clubs offering all sorts of activities. You should just walk by and ask to be admitted, not all of them are easy to join. For instance the Tennis and climbing ones require a good level, but martial arts are also starting from a beginner level. Being and outdoors junkie meant of course joining the second one mentioned here above, I can tell you that this was the best idea since I got here. Getting in touch with the locals and being taken camping, night hiking and climbing while making new friends is really amazing.

Had the chance to experience quite a bit after my first 3 weeks in South Korea, and I am already questioning if I will manage to see everything which is on my to do list, I am loving it! Some of MHMK fellow students have started blogging sharing tips and experiences, worth checking, and do not forget to check the blog, on next post you will find a Korean receipt to try at home, a comparison between lederhosen and hanbok, and a must see and do guide.

Ps. If you are still wondering what was the title about, well this means Hello Seoul in Korean 😉

Eleonora Raggi

San Diego is hot and it barely ever rains. When it does, there are only a few raindrops. Of course it’s still summer but we were told that the temperature won’t change much, not even in December. The good thing is that almost every building has got an AC so that you don’t have to worry about the temperature inside.

One of the first things we wanted to do was to check out the beach. The coast is very long and you can get to the beach from anywhere in town in no time. There are a lot of activities you can do there and of course one of those is surfing. You can take surfing lessons if you are a beginner or just rent or buy a surfboard and go for it and try it by yourself. Other things you can do are for example renting a bike and touring the coast or play beach volleyball.

A big thing in the USA are sports leagues and they are different to Europe. Almost every bar has got TV screens showing Football or Baseball. They don’t only show the NFL but also the college leagues or even high school matches. It’s known that US-Americans are very patriotic. Before each game somebody sings the National Anthem and you can also see a lot of flags in town.

So, how is living here different to how it is in Europe? One thing you often hear when people talk about the US is that everything is bigger. The streets are wider and if you don’t have a car it takes much longer to get somewhere.

What about Public Transportation though? Well, we haven’t used Public Transportation so far and you certainly cannot compare it to Europe. We know that there are some busses you can take but that takes a lot longer. So we would recommend a rental car for future students who plan to come to San Diego. If you share it with other students it’s not that expensive and it really pays off. The gas prices are also lower than in Europe. You get everywhere much faster but at some places you have to search a while to find a parking lot.

Most of us here pay between 600 $ and 900 $ rent per person for the apartments. There are no places which are cheaper than that, not even for students. Some Students were not very happy with their accomodations and had some trouble when they got there. So that’s one thing you should consider and try to find something before you get here.

Furthermore the prices at the grocery stores are not as cheap as we thought, especially cheese and meat are quite expensive.
There are a lot of fast-food restaurants here and many of them are rather unknown in Europe. It might not be healthy if you eat there everyday but it sure can be tasty. But if you are a vegetarian you’re going to have problems finding something.

Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday in San Diego, where many bars and restaurants have special prices for tacos and drinks. It can get very crowded but it’s a lot of fun. Yet, if you are under 21 years old, they won’t let you inside the bars. That is because the age limit for drinking in the USA is 21. They strictly control the passports before you get in and it doesn’t matter if you look older than 21, they will only let you in, if you have your ID with you.

San Diego is not that far from Los Angeles or Mexico. Many of us have already visited Los Angeles but the city is so big that it takes time to see all of the sights. You should avoid to go to LA at the weekends because it’s really crowded.

And if you plan to go to Mexico they recommend you to drive your car next to the border, park it there and then take the bus or walk. Some car rentals don’t even allow to take rental cars to Mexico.

At the National University we only have 1 course per month which I think is good. You can focus more on each course and at the end of the month we have to write the final exam. We only have 3 lectures a week so we have a lot of spare time, which is cool. After the first week we got to know the other students from Germany, not only the ones from the Macromedia. Unfortunately we barely get in touch with other American Students, at least not at the NU, so it’s up to us to get to know people from San Diego.

The school has a Soccer team but it’s not classic Soccer that is being played there. It’s a smaller field with only 6 players on each team and some of the rules are also different. There is also the possibility to play Cricket or Tennis.

That’s my first impression of San Diego after being here for 1 month. Time passed by really quick and I’m looking forward to the time that lies ahead of us.

Sawadee kha!

Let’s start with our orientation days at our university: the Chulalongkorn University, which is right in the center of Bangkok and very close to all big shopping malls and food courts. Some Thai Student Ambassadors did a very good job at the orientation days. They guided us through the first week, organised a lot of fun ice breaking activities and helped us a lot with answering all of our questions. They also went to a big shopping mall called MBK Center to buy our (very cheap) uniforms which look really cool and authentic.

During the orientation week we had a lot of interesting and fun things on our schedule: Original Thai perfomances, delicious food, a speech of the president of Chulalongkorn University, guided group campus tours and rallies to get to know the different buildings and faculties of the big University Campus.

In the second week we had a great eco trip from the faculty of Communication and Arts to Klong Kone to plant mangrove trees. For the most of us it was the first trip outside of Bangkok, so we were all very excited about what to expect. After around 3 hours in the bus, we arrived in a very rural area right in a mangrove forest near the water. We were shipped with little boats to an awesome lunch spot. It was a bamboo tree house right in the water and we had the most delicous seafood lunch over there.

After that the adventure begun: All of us were standing in the mud and it covered our legs and hips. We had the challenge to plant as many mangrove trees as possible since it gives you luck. It was the dirtiest but funniest activity we ever did. Afterwards we had the opportunity to do a kind of water skiing behind a motor boat which was a very cool activity as well.

Besides all those fun trips and acitivities, the real Uni- life has also started. We have 3 or 4 different classes, each day one. Most of the time, the MHMK people are seperated from the Thai students which was unexpected for most of us. At least the class called „Thai Culture“ we share with other nationalities. Our professors come from America, one from Russia and from Thailand as well, so it is nice that there are different cultural influences in our classes. One of the most different habbits in University life over here is, that they are very strict and check attendance e.g. by taking pictures of the class everytime. Nevertheless we kind of figured out how to find a good balance between going to classes and have some nice weekend trips around Thailand.

Living in Bangkok feels like living in another world. To observe how the people are influenced by culture and religious rituals is as exciting as weird compared to our western style of life.

As in the last years the MHMK students from all over Germany are living in different apartments around Bangkok (Nonsi Residence, CUI House, AirBnB Apartments etc.). On the weekends a lot of us meet up to go and see some touristy stuff like tempels, markets and other special places. The nightlife in Bangkok is also really cool: you can get everything from the cheapest Bars like „Cheap Charlies“, local clubs at Khao San Road or upper class clubs at Thong Lor or nice Rooftop Bars. It is definitly worth a visit.

It is very special for Bangkok or Thailand to eat out most of the times. Street food is so cheap, good and popular over here so the locals rarely cook at home. The only thing that bothers us a little bit is the breakfast: Thais eat rice and fried chicken early in the morning so if you come to Thailand be prepared to eat that kind of meal for breakfast or spend a lot of money for imported german muesli.

All in all we are very happy over here and really enjoy our time in this distant country.

The Mental Asylum closed in 1997 and the California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) moved in. But don’t be scared, the Mission Revival Style architecture fully transformed in a modern, friendly and open Campus.

Friendly and open pretty much describes the students, staff and almost all inhabitants of that area. No matter where we came, people hugged us and asked us all kinds of questions. On our orientation day on the campus we were invited to a family living in Camarillo for dinner. They have a big house on the hill and try to connect all international students each year. They offered to take us surfing, camping or to all kinds of other activities. They also offered help in the “daily problems” such as finding a house or a car.

And those things are necessary in California. If you don’t live on-campus you need to find a place to stay. The first nights the most of us slept at a Motel or rented a room via airbnb. They formed groups to find a place together and found two very nice houses in Oxnard, only a few feet from the beach.

The easiest way to buy a car is through craigslist. That’s pretty much a mixture of eBay and autoscout24 / mobile.de. You usually buy from private people so the cars are affordable. But be careful, some old cars have their problems. A good way to get all information about the car you want to buy is to check out “Kelly’s Blue Book” (www.kbb.com) There you can read the usual price range, typical problems and all kinds of other stuff you should probably know before you buy a car.

My car for example, a 2000 Dodge Durango, overheated on our way to Yosemite in the middle of nowhere. A really friendly French guy we met on a parking lot helped us fixing the car “MacGyver-like” by cutting an empty beer can open, taping it around the radiator-hose so we could make it to the next town and get it fixed properly. We arrived in Yosemite by night but waking up like this compensated all our troubles:

After a few days we drove back home without any further complications and enjoyed the last few days before the classes started by hanging out on the beaches and exploring the area or shopping at the nearby Outlet Mall.  There is so much to see if you like mountains, free and wild nature and the ocean. They say, there is nothing like a sunset over the Pacific. Somehow they are right.

We are just done with our first week of class and got separated into several groups. So there is no “Germans only” class, we are all together with the very friendly Americans. The topics we have are such as “Principles of Microeconomics”, “Intercultural Communication”, “Principles of Marketing” and “Entrepreneurial Management”. The Instructors are also very helpful and open. We are all excited how the next months will be. But nobody regretted their decision going to the CSUCI so far.

“Such a lovely place… at the Hotel California…”