The wonderful Near East

Mario N.

If one goal of your semester abroad is to explore several different cultures at once while at the same time studying in a known and comfortable environment, I can strongly recommend Tel-Aviv University as the base of your endeavours. Though the young city of Tel-Aviv and its university represent a fairly western style, it is located at the center of the only state in the world with the majority of its inhabitants being jews and is further surrounded by various Arabic countries that offer interesting insights into their culture.

This report addresses everyone who is about to or has already made his decision to choose Israel as his destination and will give testimonial to the experiences I made. Further, I will give you a few hints in regard to the organization of your semester abroad. The report is structured as follows. First I will describe the preparations that were necessary, complemented by a short guide on Israel, Tel-Aviv and the Tel-Aviv University. The second part of this report will then consist of my personal experiences during my stay in the summer term of 2013.

My time in austria

Pascal S. '12

At the Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, I chose my courses from the Master in Business and Law. These courses were very difficult for   me because I did not have
the same knowledge through my medical studies program management, as my fellow students. However, these deficits could I   deliberately worked up, so I passed all my
exams successfully.
The library is particularly worth mentioning, which was open 24 hours and had a wide range of literature. The   support provided by the International Office was always perfect and there was always a help if you had   questions. The only negative was the Chief Housing, which had not really motivated and competent. The   supervision by the home university also designed to be good, so I felt well looked after. The scholarship was   paid on time before departure as well as the middle of the semester. The Alps-Adria region lends itself   perfectly to travel to neighboring countries like Slovenia and Italy. To my visited cities include Venice, Udine,   Kranj and Ljubljana.
Especially Slovenia convinced with its hospitality and openness to me as a German. In Austria, I visited the   capital, Vienna, and made various hikes around the Lake
Wörthersee and its environment. In the winter I visited the nearby parts “Bodental” and the mountain "Koralpe", where i could enjoy the amazing winter landscape.
The Erasmus program was a positive experience that I do not want to miss in my life and has contributed to my personal development.

In the heart of Seoul

Philip Z. '12

Total impression

AWESOME!!! :-D

Asia, Korea, Seoul, Ewha Womans University and the EWHA School of Business are awesome: This semester offered me so many new experiences and adventures; It was a blast. You get to know a completely different culture and people from all over the world who are also doing an exchange semester in Seoul. The university itself lies in   one of the student quarters – in suitable manner called EWHA – and therefore in the heart of Seoul. EWHA, as  one of the best locations for female students, offers a lot of interesting courses, a broad range of non-university activities and international established professors. Seoul is one of a kind and I can hardly compare it to other   metropolitan areas I’ve been to so far. I can only recommend to take this step and study abroad in Korea.

University of Economics, Wrocław

Rafael Z. '13

In the year 2013 from the end of February until the middle of June I have been studying at the University of Economics in Wroclaw, Poland. Wroclaw has three big universities: The general University, the Polytechnic University and the University of Economics. Because of that the population of students can increase up to 30% in total, what gives the city a very young spirit.  Wroclaw is famous for its old city centre and its market, which is enlightened in night with a lot of pubs and clubs. Besides the river Oder divides Wroclaw in many parts what causes a very romantic atmosphere due to many bridges.

Would I do it again? Without any hesitation!

Jan S.

A little more than one year ago I boarded the plane that would bring me to Incheon International Airport, close to Seoul in South Korea. It was hard for me to believe I was about to spend one year in a country I just barely knew from reading Wikipedia articles, listening to some korean music and trying to consume a little korean media.

After a stop-over in Dubai, I arrived in Seoul almost a month before the actual study period began. I stood at Incheon International Airport with three other students from Essen and we had no idea how to get to the university, where we would move into the student dormitory. More on that later.

Korea? – More than just Samsung and Gangnam Style

Michael P.

In August, a month before the start of the semester (September), I flew to South Korea, so that I could get familiar with that completely different culture. For the flight route I chose a stopover in Dubai (3 days) to also get an insight into the modern Arab world. Another advantage was that the flight via Dubai was much cheaper than other carriers on direct flights.

Sweden - more than just IKEA

Julian S.

Unfortunately, I studied just half a year at the University of Borås in Sweden last autumn. This whole decision to study abroad was one of the best decisions in my life. The possibility to meet open and friendly people from all over the world (Pakistan, Iran, France, Spain, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia, Netherlands, Taiwan and some more) and to get to know new cultures is something that everybody should experience during his education and it is something that I would recommend to everybody.

During and throughout my stay in Sweden my openness and my curiosity to new and foreign cultures increased a lot. My desire to travel and to meet interesting people and explore something new in the world intensified as well.

Therefore I can recommend to everybody to be brave and take the chance to experience the time of your life and make good friends from all over the world. It’s an experience that nobody can take from you.

Why wouldn't you go to Jyväskylä?!

Alexander B.

I assume unless you are already decently familiar with Finland, it is unlikely that you have yet heard of Jyväskylä—neither did I before I was offered the option to spend my term abroad there. When I started to look for a destination for my term abroad, I had already decided that I wanted to go to Scandinavia, however, I did not have a preference for a specific country. Consulting my advisor, he mentioned that in addition to existing cooperations with universities in Sweden and Norway, an university from Finland was about to join the IS-Link network. Jyväskylä, located in the middle of Finland, about 150 km from Tampere, the next town. Is this a good place to study? It turned out that Jyväskylä in fact is a great place to live and study—it offers a vivid, international student atmosphere as well as a great starting point for exploring traditional Finnish and Scandinavian culture and countryside.

Jyväskylä is a medium-sized town in central Finland. It is located nicely next to a large lake (a dozen lakes, in fact) and it is surrounded by the characteristic, wide Finnish forests (though, to be fair, this setting holds true for virtually any town or village in Finland). Jyväskylä has a large university (the university I visited) as well as an university of applied science. The town features a neat center with dozens of bars and pubs, and it is home to various technology and industry companies as well as diverse cultural events and places. Jyväskylä today is regarded as a cultural and economic core of middle Finland.

Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea

Marcel G.

From the early August until the end of December I was studying in the capital of South Korea, to be precise at the Chung-Ang University in Seoul. Actually it was my first time travelling to Asia, so I was very excited. It was my intention and desire to experience something totally new, so I decided not to go to a European or ‘Western’ country. The first days are really flashing for someone who was never in Asia before, but after a few days you get  used to it, and after a while you nearly can´t imagine anymore how it is without all these neon signs everywhere and without all these people being always around you. Around 25 million people are living in the big area of Seoul (containing all the satellite cities like Incheon and Bucheon etc.).

Humus on the beach

Julia V.

The last 5 months in Tel Aviv were the best time in my life. I am so glad that I had the courage to go abroad and gave up thinking: "oh no, I have to add one semester". Be brave - you don`t have the chance to get such experiences in any other way. For me Israel / Tel Aviv was the right choice and I can only encourage other students to spend a semester in Israel and especially in Tel Aviv.