68 reviews
4.20 / 5 based on 68 reviews
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Wincy C
Student life
Describe host city:
Activities: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment
Travel, Nightlife: Takes place both within and outside of the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
If there was a decent place to hang out here, I would not have spent my time drinking and drugging with equally bored European students. Made awesome friends though
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Wincy C
Housing
Type of housing: independent student halls
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: with a local friend
Why?
Burocracy system here makes things very complicated - ie. moving in - moving out... all paperwork and lack of open office hours to sort it.
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Personal comments
The hausmeisters are typical East Germans with no regard to your enquiries - Also make you wait 2-3 hours before seeing you if you are just arriving
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1
Wincy C
Expenses
Main source of funding:
An ERASMUS grant
Other sources of funding:
Family<br>
Personal savings
Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options
Personal spending habits
Difficult to find a job - Nightlife is dead... only way to not be bored is to buy lots of alcohol everyday.
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Telephone, Nightlife:
was more expensive than at home.
Overall:
was the same price as at home.
Food, Travel, Housing:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
Go with Deutsche Bank for account - You can make free withdrawals (not available at every bank)
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1
Wincy C
Academic
Course recommendations
The courses are badly organised - classes often clash - classes take up to 4-5 hours (per class) - lecturers were students the previous semester!!
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
Essay writing was the easy part - attending the mundane 5 hour classes was not - the courses are somewhat easy because some expect essays with lots of description and less analysis
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
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2
Wincy C
Overall
I wish I had known...
1)How anal East Germans are.
2)How bad the education system is.
3)How bad the bureaucracy system is.
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In my opinion:
Stay home.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
Burn the university. It is a joke - completely disorganised and you end up spending 3 hours (i'm not joking) doing paperwork because the Germans are too lazy to do anything themselves - They get you to run around - Also office hours are (roughly) 2-6 hours open in a week!!!
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
If you are going to study in Frankfurt Oder Viadrina, you are much better off going to a university in West Germany!!! (if you have that option)
East Germans have a communist mentality which makes things almost impossible and definately frustrating.
Be prepared for customer service in Germany - it is very much (in East Germany) based on the doctrine, "Take it or leave it byatch!"
Nobody else complains except the English students because other Erasmus students claim their universities to be just as bad or worse.
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2
Wincy C
Languages
Language of instruction: German
Was learning German a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my German
How much did you improve your German?
My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: No problems in any areas (including slang)
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
I learnt more German from meeting Berliner locals (outside of academic life) than staying at the university!!!
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