Luiz' Research Stay within the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (THI)
My name is Luiz Eduardo Prince Goehr and I was an exchange student in THI for 5 months. There I had the best experience I could have asked for.
I was living in Schäffbräu, which is one of the student’s residence in Ingolstadt. There, I lived with 11 other people from all around the world. I received an email asking if I would like to live there, which at first is a tough decision, since you would have to share the same house with a lot of different people, but at the end, this was the best decision I have ever made. There, I made not only good friends, but brothers from every continent, which I know I will keep in touch forever. It is relatively cheap compared to other accommodations, but there are some issues with having your own privacy. To focus is also a hard task, but always having someone there to talk can be really good when living by yourself.
The Visa situation was actually really stressful. I had received a job offer from AWARE to work for 5 months there. However, to get the documents required for me to work was hard. The German policy is really strict and if you do not have help, it is really hard to get everything in time. The blocked account can also be a problem. I, for example, had all my money blocked for 3 weeks due to late response from the city hall. If I could say one bad and stressful point from this experience, was definitely this documents part. Maybe it was only because I was in a hurry to get them as soon as possible. The fact these documents are sent via letters did not help.
The supermarket experience in Europe in comparison to Brazil is amazing. The products are cheaper, and everything is clean and fast. The use of Eco bags for environmental reasons is also a good lesson I will bring with me back to Brazil. The food in Mensa, the canteen in THI, is also good and relatively cheap. The safety in Ingolstadt is also important to mention. I would walk at midnight through the city with no fear of bad things happening to me, unlike in Brazil.
About travelling experiences, I could say I had the best moment of my life during the exchange period. I had the opportunity to travel to 12 countries in Europe. This will be forever the best memory I had of my 20s for sure. I also had the opportunity to travel around Germany. Dividing the Bayern-Ticket with your friends can let you visit the entire Bavarian State for only 12 Euros, which is insanely cheap. I visited 13 cities in Germany, which 10 were with this technique. I also had the opportunity to visit some festivals, including the Oktoberfest, which was a great German experience.
About the differences between UFSC and THI. I would say the teaching method in Germany is better. They use the technology to help teaching, which is not very spread between all teachers in UFSC. They also teach only what is really important, not things with no relevance and which you will never see again probably. The fact the exams are only at the end of the semester is what made it possible for me to be able to travel all over Germany and Europe, so this was actually a good point. Learning in English was a great opportunity for me, and maybe UFSC could offer more courses in other languages to turn it into an international University, like THI.
The classes I took were: Wind Power, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics 2, Business Administration, German B1, Project Management. Out of these 6 subjects, I will be able to validate 4 of them in UFSC.
I guarantee I had the best academical and life-growing experience of my life during these 5 months. I would redo everything I did to have this experience again. I am grateful I had this opportunity and that I made every second of it worth of living it. Thank you.
