Report January - Anastasia Guskova

What are your monthly expenses? What amount is comfortable for living in your city?

The most expensive things are the rent for my dorm room (350€) and my health insurance (112€). I spend about 150-200€ on food, but this is the amount for average groceries from the mid-price segment. The tuition fee is 140 €, but it only needs to be paid once every 6 months. My expenses also include paying for my mobile phone and the radio tax (GEZ) which is mandatory for everyone in Germany, even if you do not have a radio or TV. Therefore, the amount requested at the embassy for one month is usually enough for living – it’s about 700-800 €. Now, due to COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible to save on some things (for example, travel), so a smaller amount could be enough, but everything obviously depends on the person.

What has been the biggest challenge since living in Germany and how did you overcome it?

For me this was the beginning of my studies. Especially, trying to understand how the student portal works, how to register for lectures, how to borrow books from the library. Until now, few things are not yet 100% clear.

What's your favorite class?

Ironically, the most difficult and at the same time most interesting class for me is programming. I never coded before and I didn't know any programming languages. Therefore, of course, this is difficult, but I can’t tell you how happy I was when I wrote my first code and it worked! You really believe that anything is possible. It’s also great that you can find information on the internet in Russian, and in German, and in English, and it will be universal. There are a huge number of videos with a detailed description of the algorithms and international forums for programmers that help you, for example, find a bug in your code.

How did you celebrate New Year’s?

I celebrated New Year’s with international students, as my German friends went home for the holidays. We organized a Russian-Turkish-Spanish party with traditional dishes and champagne. My Russian friend and I made a Russian salad and dressed herring salad. All the ingredients for the salads could be easily found in the supermarket, even mayo. Since the time difference between Moscow and Germany in the winter is two hours, we've been able to celebrate New Year’s twice. At Moscow time, I phoned my parents and friends and congratulated them.

Do you have a part-time student job?

During the first semester I did not plan to work, as I decided that I needed to focus on my studies and understand how everything generally works in the German education system. I knew that it would be difficult with the language (and in fact it was), so I saved up a nest egg in Moscow in advance. In Moscow, I took extra shifts at work. But I plan to work as soon as the restrictive COVID measures are lifted. Although my friend now works in the delivery service, so it is possible to find work at all times.

Do you think it’s possible to combine work and studying or do you believe that your studies will be affected by it?

I have not tried to combine study and work in Germany yet, but from personal experience I believe that it will be quite difficult, but possible. In Germany, students can work no more than 20 hours a week, so there will be enough time for studying.

Did you develop a new passion or interest since living in Germany? What do you do in your free time?

Organizing leisure time during the lockdown period is quite problematic. Most often my leisure time is German, Netflix and cooking. I've saved many different recipes and am little by little trying them all out. Also, I’ve now set myself a new goal of walking 10,000 steps a day. First of all, it is at least an hour in the fresh air, which is very good for the body, especially because the air in Würzburg is so clean and there is no constant smog like in Moscow. Secondly, it’s time away from the computer and the phone, since now the studying is completely online and there is an enormous pressure on the eyes and back. Thirdly, it’s an opportunity to listen to audiobooks.

Do you take part in all of the classes or were there some you didn’t go to? Is there a group project or another project this semester?

In the beginning I attended every lecture, especially because right now it’s no effort at all. I just turn on the computer and log into Zoom. But over time, I began to understand that it's going to be difficult to code, since I had never coded before. I decided to postpone this subject until the next semester, as I needed more time to learn how to code. There were no large projects, but the professors often give us small tasks during the lectures and then split us up into breakout sessions in Zoom which is a mini conference of 5-10 people who are randomly selected. The professor usually allotted 10-15 minutes to complete the task and then we collectively discussed our findings during the class. Professors and, in general, the approach to education is completely different from the Russian one. Here, the main focus is working independently. It means that professors upload all presentations they use in their lectures onto an online student platform, as well as additional links to articles and a recommended list of literature. It is then the student's task to read up on the subject matter and figure out some information by themselves. The professors don’t check the attendance of lectures, since they expect that the students themselves should be interested in getting an education. Also, it was necessary to register for the exams on the student portal from 30.10 to 20.11. If you forgot to register, then that's it - you can’t take the exam this semester. Therefore, you always need to register, especially since there is an opportunity to withdraw the exam registration a couple of weeks before the exam date, if you realize that you didn't have enough time to prepare for it or decide to postpone it until the next semester. On the one hand, it’s this flexibility of the German education system that I really like since you have freedom in drawing up your schedule, but on the other hand it takes a lot of time to figure out every aspect, and it is very easy to miss the deadlines.