How it all began
I was in my third year at the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology at Kyiv State University when a conversation took place that, as I believe, first made me think about how our specialists differ from "theirs." A teacher invited his German colleague to visit us - a top manager from the sales department of Offshore Tax Havens, whose representative office operated in Ukraine. For us, future translators, this was a great opportunity to practice live communication in German. But I remembered one remark from our guest: in conversation, he briefly mentioned that his German bosses did not really trust the quality of economic training of Ukrainian specialists, and therefore preferred to send German economists to Ukraine, paying them very large sums of money. Of course, this is unprofitable for firms, but... That's when I had the thought: why not try to get an economic education in Germany? Luckily, it was supposedly free there even for foreigners. And I began to "get moving" in that direction.
I was very lucky: my mother's friend, who had once married a German citizen, agreed to invite me to visit. So in 2001 I went to Germany for the first time, to the city of Nürtingen. This small town is located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, not far from Stuttgart. There I began to study materials of various educational institutions. I settled on so-called institutes of applied direction. In these universities, you can get a higher education in your chosen specialty in a short time. For example, the duration of study there for obtaining a second higher education is 3-4 semesters.
As a result, I decided to apply for the "International Management" program at the Nürtingen University of Applied Sciences.
The application procedure is quite simple. First, you must submit an application to the educational institution of your choice. Foreigners wishing to enter a German university apply to the Commission for Foreign Student Affairs of the federal state where they intend to study. It is there that you need to send translated into German and notarized copies of your diploma and transcript. The average grade is recalculated according to German standards. By the way, they have a reverse grading system: "1" is the highest grade, and "5" is the lowest. Based on the recalculation results, you are sent a list of faculties you can apply to. I sent all the required documents and began to wait.
"Show us your language!"
And then the answer came. My average grade was 1.6. This was a very good result, and so I could apply to almost any faculty. But it turned out that I needed to pass a German language exam for university study for foreign students (DSH). But my diploma clearly stated - "translator of German and English." At that time, I was simultaneously finishing my fifth year at KSU, preparing for state exams, writing my thesis, and also working at a firm. In short, I had no time for bureaucratic correspondence, and I decided to take the exam. But then it turned out that DSH could only be taken in Germany. I had to write that I couldn't come. Then I was offered to take the "Central Higher Level Exam" at the Goethe Institute in Kyiv.
I signed up for courses at the Goethe Institute and attended sporadically for about two months. Then came the exam. It takes place over three days. On the first day, we write an essay for an hour and a half, then a five-minute break, and another hour and a half of listening comprehension. Those who failed need not come on the second day. The entire second day is devoted to testing grammar: an hour and a half of grammar exercises, a break, then another hour and a half of summary writing. Finally, on the third day, an oral exam takes place in front of a commission. This involves summarizing and giving a prepared presentation.
The exam is difficult. For example, for listening comprehension they give a cassette with an ordinary conversation recorded - with various dialects, poor articulation, and so on. Grammar tasks are also very difficult, I would say, even overly academic. Such phrases and speech patterns are not found in everyday life in Germany nowadays. As for giving a presentation, the difficulty lies in the fact that you cannot memorize the text in advance - the commission immediately detects this, nor can you read from a sheet. The main thing is testing fluent communication in German. In general, some people might not cope with such a task even in their native language. A little over twenty people came along with me. Five passed, and I was among them.
I sent a copy of the certificate of passing the exam to the institute and began to wait. By that time, I had already graduated from KSU, started earning about $300 a month, and increasingly I was visited by the thought: is it even necessary to rush anywhere? Especially since I was already a bit tired of studying. And it would be good to help my parents financially... But it was they who began to push me: they said, go on, go and study! And then a notification came from the institute: "You have been enrolled, please come to Germany at your place of study no later than September 5 and register." Ah, but it's August now. In short, I started getting a visa...
I'll say right away: there were no problems with the visa, although I had to pay extra for expedited processing, but that was quite official. I contacted the German institute, explained that I would be delayed, and everything was resolved. But then another not-so-pleasant moment surfaced.
What costs what in free education?
It turned out that for a future student to enter Germany, he must either have a certain amount of money in his account or a guarantee from a German citizen. I had no money. But - many thanks! - the husband of my mother's friend, Doctor Berndt Grützner, an honorary senator and member of the German Rotary Club, vouched for me. By the way, he later helped not only me but also other students. For example, consider this: for his birthday he asked his Rotary Club colleagues to give the money intended for his gift to Ukrainian students studying in Germany.
And students in Germany really need money: life in a foreign country is not cheap. Actually, for tuition, students pay about 50 euros per semester, so studying itself is really free. But, for example, textbooks are an expensive pleasure: the cheapest books cost 30-40 euros, and on average 60-100 euros. The library and lecture notes save the day. In Germany, students do not take notes themselves; professors sell their lecture notes (for 5 euros) or give them away free. Where does such altruism come from? The fact is that in universities of applied sciences, as a rule, lectures are given by people who also work at various enterprises and firms and are well-off. Giving lectures is for them to some extent self-expression, a need to share knowledge. Their lecture notes are their life and work experience, something you won't find in any book.
Ready-made notes make a student's life much easier. The class schedule is very tight, and there is simply no time for writing notes. For example, in this exam session from January 27 to February 12, I passed nine exams in thirteen subjects. Sometimes in one exam you take two subjects, for example, “marketing and logistics” or “production organization and personnel management”. Both professors simply administer the exam. Well, of course, you have to prepare with double effort.
I lived with acquaintances for the first semester; now I'm moving to a dormitory. So another 200 euros a month will go for housing. The conditions are good: single rooms, shower and toilet shared by two rooms, common kitchen down the hall.
Transport also hits the pocket: the student semester pass for all types of transport in the Stuttgart district costs 133 euros. Also, for mandatory health insurance you need to pay 56 euros a month. And you can't eat on less than 150-200 euros a month.
By the way, I would like to draw the attention of all those who are so eager to go to Germany. We are not particularly welcome there: there is unemployment in Germany, and you are viewed as someone who has taken a German's job. No one stuffs money into your pockets, and it doesn't fall from the trees either! Friends ask: you've probably traveled all over Germany by now? Yeah, right! Here you have to think about other things. According to the law, a student has the right to work no more than 90 days a year. Where, as what, and for how much - that's your problem. For example, I immediately got a job as a waiter in a bar (twice a week). The work is hard and unpleasant, but in one shift (from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.) you can earn 50-60 euros including tips. Those in senior semesters try to get into companies - there they get an internship in their specialty and are paid better. But sometimes, by the way, an internship in a good company can be completely unpaid. Then you have to work somewhere else “to stay fed”.
In general, life in Germany is expensive. It is hard for me to say how much more expensive everything is in cities like Bonn, Düsseldorf, or Munich, but in our small town, things are not cheap either.
German ‘quirks’
How are studies? Well, seems not bad. The varied student body is striking. First, our university has representatives of almost all countries: Chinese, Moldovans, Russians, Thais, Ukrainians, Koreans, etc. Second, I, for example, am the youngest in my group. I'm almost considered a child prodigy. I study with a very pleasant 60-year-old German woman and a 45-year-old German man. Well, the average age of our students is 28-30. Some Germans finish school at 22. It is common for them to skip or repeat a year during school. And after finishing school (they study there for 13 years), all graduates, as a rule, take a year off and travel. So the guys in my group are a bit surprising with their infantile attitude to life. We Ukrainian students are tougher and more practical.
Do I like Germany? Hard to say. I don't know how my attitude to this way of life will develop in the future, but now I firmly want to return to Ukraine. There, in Germany, I am bored: life is very measured, the Swabians (and it is they who live in this federal state) are calculating and stingy to the point of absurdity. Even at discos it's not fun. And girls dress just terribly, in something shapeless and baggy. And this is elevated to a principle: like, short skirts and tight tops are indecent! I came to Kyiv, and on our Khreshchatyk it's just a high fashion parade.
But all this is nonsense. The most important thing is to get an education. After all, specialists with knowledge of foreign languages, a good specialty, and a Western diploma are needed everywhere - both in Germany and here in Ukraine.