Mirela Kleimann
Mirela Kleimann learns more than just a new language in Germany
"A foreign language should be learned not only in class, but above all in everyday situations. Those who are learning German or want to learn German should take a language course in Germany and take advantage of the chance to immediately use what they have learned in practical situations. That is what the Ilse Müller-scholarship has made possible for me."
Mirela Kleimann was born in Poland. At the university in Wroclaw she first completed a bachelor's degree before beginning a master's in German studies as well. Thanks to the Ilse Müller-Scholarship of the DAAD-Stiftung she was able to attend a language course in Germany.
Here she relates her experiences:
I took the international summer course “Living and Studying in Germany” at Technical University Ilmenau from 4 to 29 September. After the welcome day and placement test, I was assigned to the smallest of all groups, which was still very international. It consisted of six people from all corners of the world: Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
We called our group Curie, after the outstanding scientist Marie Curie. I could talk about her for a long time, because during the course I also wrote a project paper entitled “Marie Curie – ‘radiant’ genius”.
„Wir sind die kleinste aller Gruppen
Genauso klein wie Feengrotten.
Unseres Niveau ist schon wie Kickelhahn hoch
Wollen wir hier noch mal kommen? Doch!
Jena und Frankfurter Messe
lassen sich nie vergessen.
Wir sind ganz multikulturell
Und die Zeit läuft uns so schnell.“
Our poem – group Curie
The course was very well organised from beginning to end. Our daily routine was comprised of language classes in the morning and seminars in the afternoon. During the language classes we practised listening comprehension, grammar and reading, and talked a lot about current topics. This always resulted in interesting discussions, because we often had very different opinions. Many issues are viewed differently in different countries. Quite often we could discuss a certain problem “globally”, using examples from all over the world. I found this part of the course particularly intriguing. Of the seminars, group phonetics was one of the best, mainly because of the super nice and extremely competent instructor.
My European colleagues and I also thought the seminars on topics like German dialects, traditional German food or festivals in Germany were very interesting. Although they were probably even more captivating to those who did not know the German way of life, habits and customs as well. We also had an opportunity to get to know the cultures of other countries outside of Europe. We could even “taste” them during our international dinner. I can only recommend this, it is a great idea!
Privat
The summer course was a very wonderful experience for me. I established many new contacts, not just personal but also academic ones. I saw lots of places that I probably would never have visited otherwise and had experiences I could not have had anywhere else. I recommend the summer course to anyone who would like to experience those same things. In my case, it is entirely possible that I will decide to study in Germany in the future, because development opportunities there are excellent. Future students have lots of possibilities for taking language courses like the one in Ilmenau, which is a great idea for preparing linguistically for academic studies.
The Ilse Müller-scholarship made my third extended stay in Germany possible. I had previously spent two months in Berlin and 10 months in Marburg. I do have to say that the German way of life is not that different from the Polish. Except that Germans eat more sausages. 😊
As of fall 2017. The German version is the original.
