Karl Somoray, Bachelor of Engineering/Mathmatics
Short-term program: Hessen University “Hessen International Summer University – Kassel”
Germany (June/July 2018)
During the Summer of 2018, myself and along with around 15 other QUT students were very fortunate enough to receive a mobility scholarship from the Hessen International Summer Universities. From this, we were able to complete a short course over at the renowned University of Kassel, at Kassel, Germany where I studied Adaptations to Climate Change, Environmental Engineering and Renewable Energies and German (Basic).
The University
Being only experienced to seeing the QUT campuses (and some of the UQ facilities), one of the biggest things that shocked me was the vast difference of facilities that the University of Kassel had compared to QUT. I found that both the buildings and the facilities of the University of Kassel seemed more `aged’ than the QUT campus, but nevertheless was a host to numerous experienced academics in renewable energies and had connections to multiple institutions leading the renewables field.
While I’m happy to be back on QUT campus, the one thing I miss is the MENSA! Conversely to the food court we have at either KG or GP (where we have multiple stores in one spot), the cafeteria at Kassel instead has multiple outlets for different types of meals, desserts etc. all cooked by staff at the university. Every day the meals are different, and the best thing about is that it’s very cheap and tasty!
The Country
For my stay, I lived at a quaint little street at the outskirts of Kassel with 3 other ISU students, including my friend from QUT! Fortunately as well, the scholarship paid for our months stay, including meals that our host parent was extremely good at making!
The relatively small town of Kassel in which the majority of the time we were in, was a refreshing place to live in, outside of the usual bustling city in Brisbane. With my host family as well as the ISU, we explored several spots around Kassel that I wouldn’t have thought to explore.
The Experience
By far the most memorable moments in my trip however were the short excursions to different countries/cities during our free time (enabled by getting a Eurail travel pass beforehand, which was definitely worth the price we paid for it) and hanging out with the ISU students.
So my tip for future students is to make the most out of every day of your trip! Meet new people and explore as much as you can. It’s a short exchange that happens once in a lifetime, so don’t skimp out on time and have fun, because before you know it, you’ll be boarding your plane back home, and you’ll never know what experiences you’ll miss out on!
