Krisztina Hornung’s Erasmus experiences
I spent the fall semester in Brühl, Germany. Brühl is a beautiful town situated between Köln and Bonn. The university of Brühl is one the best universities in Germany, known as the Europäische Fachhochschule, specialising in economics. There are three options for international students: you can learn European Business Management in English or German with a given schedule, or you can be a regular student when you choose your own subjects. I chose the English-taught European Business Management with eight subjects: International Marketing, Case Studies, European Financial Management, Business Strategies, Working in International Teams, Cross-Cultural Business Training and, of course, German as a foreign language. It is a special programme for international students. I met students from Spain, Scotland, Romania, Mexico, France and Russia. It was interesting to meet people from different countries and cultures. The education system of Germany differs from the Hungarian system: we learnt more practical things than theories. We worked in teams and wrote case studies using different theoretical approaches. For example, we tried to introduce Narva energy-saving light bulbs in four countries (one of them was Hungary) or develop a Spanish supermarket chain in Portugal.
The international office team helped us a lot. They organised two Welcome days when I met the other students and the teachers before the classes. Two field trips also contributed to this programme: one to the European Parliament (Brussels) and one to the European headquarters of the UPS (Köln). UPS is one of the biggest American logistical companies and we saw the planes and the separation of the packages.
We were a really good international team. We organised a round trip in Germany visiting Hannover, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Weimar and Berlin, of course. Some of the Spanish students spent four days in Poland. I visited Paris and Basel with a Romanian and a Spanish student. I spent a lot of time in Köln: I was in the tower of the Kölner Dom, in the Chocolate Museum and walked a lot on Schilder Gasse which is the biggest pedestrian street in Europe. The Erasmus Initiative team organised stamm-tisch programmes for us in Köln when we changed languages. So I learnt a little Spanish or Russian and they tried to learn a little Hungarian.
This semester was one of the best experiences of my life.
Krisztina Hornung