Being busy

The beginning of studies here was nothing but easy. The course that I originally wanted to attend was cancelled so I was left with basically no other choice than to take classes in German. My German is good, but -as I would very soon find out- not enough to take a class in politics. It would perhaps be easier if I had any prior knowledge of Politics in Germany. I can’t even express how stupid I felt myself in the first lesson. There was a discussion about AfD, which is a right wing party in Germany. Even if I had enough knowledge of the topic to have an opinion, I had no means of expressing it. Furthermore, we were given a written task via moodle. Where is this moodle and how do I use it! Another info that was forgotten to tell me. Shortly put my first week at the school was utter nightmare. Nothing went right and I felt like there is no way I’m going to make it. 

Well, now the second week has come and gone and I am feeling good. The classes are interesting and I actually know what I am doing. I stutter a lot,but mostly I actually can speak my mind. In German. I refuse to take the easy path and use English.

In the meantime the work in cph has went on as usual. I took part in two seminars. One was about youth work. The other was held by many different organizations with presentations and workshops around the theme globalizing. I met so many people and learned not only facts, but also work methods and really cool tools to use in future work. I focused especially on methods suitable for children and youth. I played a board game. In the game players are focet to balance between climate chance and economics. More info here (in English). I love board games and was actually hooked on when I got into it. So it's not only education, but a nice game.

Another example is the phone-kit below. There you can see where the parts of your phone actually come from. The kit is able for renting and comes with all the necessary info and tasks to make a informative and nice lesson.

Apart from games and learn-kits there is a ton of inspiring material online. There are countless of animated videos and documents. Some of them are good, some of them great. But they are nothing new to be completely honest. For me this game was something that stopped me for a while. In the game you choose a person and make their life decisons. The choises are hard and can lead either to happines or sorrow. The game shows very realisticly how hard life can be. The websites http://www.flucht-und-migration.org/ are great also in other aspects. Too bad it is all in German, again.

It is kind of sad almost all material I gathered there is in German and is thus harder to use back in Finland. But here is some I'm going to bring back anyway:

This booklet is an example of making global learning fun.

There were few offerings of learning material -kits for schools.

Combining getting to know towns eko-shops and treasure hunt is inspiring and fun. Thumbs up!

Itroduction of the treasure hunt and one task.

The week of walking

Monday - the day of German unity

On 3 oct  was the day of German unity. It is a national holiday here so I got an extra day to lay in my bed and get better. During the weekend I got sick and tried to rest as much as possible.

Tuesday- The beginnig of studies

 There was a small info for exchange students who arrived later. There were only five students including myself. Three of the other ones were from the faculty of business and one in social studies. Basicly the coordinator gave a pile of papers and explained everything that needed to be done. And that, unfortunately, was not a short list. Another unpleasant surprise was that nothing were ready in terms of my studies. I was not registered in as a student ant thus student ID card was not pessed, I did not have access to school intranets etc. I got also invited to the official welcoming events, such as sunday brunch. What I’m still lacking is the contact to other students. I did give the other social studies student my contact info and am hoping she will send me message if there is something nice happening.

In the evening there was another event at cph-house. It was a thank-you dinner for people who had financially supported the organization during the last year. The event was called freundeskreistreffen. It consisted of presentation of the house, a dinner and a interview of the artist who made paintings in their new auditorium.

Later I went out to find another interesting place. It was local hlbtq-center called Fliederlich. On tuesdays they have open youth group so it was a suitable time for a visit. It was already late so not too many young people were in. Nevertheless I had a really nice conversarion with a volunteer working in the house. She told me about the organization and their field of work. When leaving I took with me a big pile of info fliers. Perhaps I need to make a post entirely about hlbtq work in Nürnberg.

Wednesday - the day of walking around.

I woke up 7.30, Breakfast downstairs at 8.00. Insurance company down the street 8.30, I dropped there some of my papers. Shools International office 9.30, I got the password and username for school intranet. Shool cashier 10.00, I paid the student fee 112e. Back to my room 11.30 I found out that the password I got does not work. I sent a email to tech-support. The answer was that I need to go to the tech-support office to get a new one. After a luch break and calming down from the frustration I went to the yet another new building for my new password.

At 19.00 there was again an event in the house. This time the event was in the field of culture. It was the opening of the exhibition Glänzende Aussichten.  The artpieces are caricaturen around the themes lifestyle, consumption and climate change. 

The rest of the week

Einwohneramt is the place where you have to go register in when you move to Germany. I was told in the orientation day that you have to be there very early because the lines are unbelievably long. I took the tip in and went to the building 7.30 when the doors opened at 8.00 - and the line was already there! During the 30 minutes I waited outside dozens of people gathered by the door. When the place finally opened and everybody rushed in, I got the line number 53 and it took almost an hour to get to a serving counter. In the end I was happy there are some things that are better organized in Finland.

Otherwise. There is not much to be told. I got some books to read for the rest of the week and that is what I have been doing. Well, I did take some pictures while I was walking around:

The first days in Nürnberg

Wednesday - The travelday

Even with all the waiting at the airports, my flight from Helsinki to Nürnberg via Amsterdam was actually quite pleasant. I dozed off a little bit and enjoyed the tea service with pizza-roll and tiny tortilla. It was the first time for me to land on Amsterdam Schiphol airport. I was HUGE. Compared to that, Nürnberg looked small, grey and very humble. Nevertheless, there I was at the airport and was hoping to see the worker from CPH to pick me up. In stead I had the first intercultural experience here. The airport was full of people with bouqets of flowers. Later It turned out that they were waiting for pilgrims to get back from Mekka. More and more people came in and they were clapping and shouting. Unfortunately my contact person was on the other side of the room and we did not see each other before the growd went outside. Then the second obstacle: the metro, U-bahn, did not work between the airport and the city. My boss ended up driving us to the house and I got the first proper meal of the day - at 8'clock pm. 

Thursday - The day of meetings

Quite practically there is a staff meeting held in house every thursday. It gave me the opportunity to see all staff members I'd be working with. I also would have heared a bit of recent activity had I understood the language. Even when I did not catch all the conversations, it was very useful to meet everyone and hear what their responsibilities are. Afternoon meeting went on with few guests. The first was representing a project called Kopfball. Here is a video I saw about the project (link).

Later at night there was a symposium about taxes, from the viewpoint of tax avoidance. I was really tired and it was troublesome trying to understand speech of such a difficult matter in German. Yet, it sounds like Finland is not the only country that loses millions due to tax avoidance, undeclared work and other holes in the tax system

Friday - Begegnungsstube Medina e.V.    

On friday morning I participated in a get-to-know meeting at Begegnungsstube Medina. It is a place where different groups are invited to get to know Islamic culture. There was a museum, mosque and a lecture toom. The museum featured Turkish, Balkan and other oriental clothing, handcraft, currency etc. The mosque was used not only for educational purposes but also as a an actual mosque and in different events. The lecture room was orientally decorated just like the other rooms. Still, the most important part for me was the clothescorner. When school classes come to visit, children and young people are allowed put on clothing from different islamic areas. The guide said visitors usually love this part. They take a lot pictures and selfies. With this experience they are sure to remenber their visit but also get a different perspective to the culture. Women in headpieces are not anymore just something you see on the street. With smaller children the education cannot be too difficult. The guide told us an example of childrens visit. Everybody gathers in the mosque. Then the children are told imaam would come to see them. The children are taught how to greet him in Islamic words shalaam aleikum. Then a staff member comes in dressed as imaam. This is yet another example of teaching through experiences rather than boring lectures. Adults and older adults visit Medina, too. With them, topics are naturally more deep. It can be about politics or the religion. Muslim hate (or fear) seems to be hot topic in Germany, too, which does not surprise me at all.

Learn more about Begegnungsstube Medina in their facebook page (link).

The costumes corner

Me as a "convertee"

This here is an interesting piece. I did not quite get everything that was said, but the title for the piece it "You stole our dreams". And yes, the figures tell a lot.

Pictures in the info flyer in order: the museum, the mosque, more museum, more mosque

The process before exchange

Since I had decieded to apply for a student excange in Germany even before my studies in MAMK strarted, the process started early. First I learned about the possibilities in my istitute. I found out how to apply, how long excange periods are and what tasks include to an exchange program. I also checked out all the partner institutes in the country I had chosen. When the application period started, I already had clear idea of what I wanted. And what I wanted was a shorter internsip exchange in Nuremberg, Germany during autumn semester 2016.

After I sent in my application I was interviewed and since there were no problems, I was accepted to represent my country and home institute in Germany. After that I had to send some more applications: to receiving university and fund applications. I also sent my CV and open letter to an exciting organization where I wanted to do my internship. Luckily all replies were positive. The next step was once again more papers. I filled and signed Learning agreements with both the receiving university and employer. When all the documents were signed and filed it finally started sinking in: I'm going to Germany and spend there three months working and studying!

 I was, of course, very excited about my destined country and city - and I tend to plan ahead anyway. That's why I really focused on the tasks that are required before exchange. The tasks were to descibe the application process and host institutions, study the attributes of destined country and area and prepare a presentation of home country. Even though money is not an issue for me in this matter, I am prepared to use my savings and take student loan to cover the trip, I did my budget well too. I have to manage financially even if unexpected costs would occure. Additionally I have spent hours in internet and google maps getting to know my temporar home town  Nuremberg,

Now the departure is only two weeks away. I have already packed all documents that I need and bought a gift to thank my employer and contact person in Germany. I'm getting chills!

The purpese of this blog is to report from my student exchange in Nürnber, gemany. I will be writing in English and from time to time in German, describing my thoughts and experiences. This exchenge will be mostly about an internship in Caritas Pirckheimer Haus Nürnberg. I will be working there 3 days a week about 7 hours a day. At this point I have no idea what tasks my internship will include, but I know it will go very well together with my social work studies. The other part of my exchange is one course in local university of applied sciences. The course is International social work and is taught in English.