Tantika Na Nakhon, Master of Engineering Management
Short-term program: Hessen University “Hessen International Summer University – Kassel”
Germany (June/July 2018)
My name is Tantika Na Nakhon and I’ve just completed an international summer program at the Universität Kassel (University of Kassel) in Kassel, Germany. It was four-week program and I was studying in the engineering module. I chose environmental engineering and renewable energies and risk management in environmental engineering. The seminars were intensive and lots of excursion. As part of risk management, my class visited Volkswagen, B. Braun Melsungen and Wintershall and we found the risks from the real situations. I would highly recommend enrolling in both courses. Moreover, German class was useful for daily life. There are many activities that you can join such as hiking, movie night, games night and German folk dance.
Life in Germany and Highlights of short term program
Living in Germany was easy. In this program everyone had to stay with host family and it was good to learn their culture and lifestyles. German people were cold at first meeting, but when you get closer to them are friendly and kind. Kassel is located in central Germany. Thus, it would be beneficial to travel to other countries. My favourite trip outside of Germany was to Netherlands with my host family, and within Germany we took a 4 hour drive throughout the country which was also fantastic. The University organised a free trip to Fritzler. It took 35 minutes from Kassel. Fritzler is a small town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse. The town has a medieval centre surrounded by a wall with numerous watch towers.
Overall, I had an awesome experience and I wish I had the chance to do it again. It was good opportunity to explore other countries and I’d encourage every student to consider this program.
1 Comment
I’ve just come back from the same exchange, although I participated in the cultural module. It’s great that your host family provided you with additional opportunities (e.g. to visit the Netherlands). Do you have any advice regarding how to improve the communication between you and your host family? I found it particularly difficult as my host family didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak German. If you were to go on the same exchange again, would you do anything differently?