Ebony, a student of “Games & Interactivity” from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, spent two semesters at Hochschule der Medien. She arrived prior to the pandemic and thus got to experience both on site and online lectures. She first took the Minor “Moving Images” and then “App Design & Development” and is sharing her impressions about her time in Stuttgart with us here.

 

 

 

Why did you pick your Minors and what did you like about them the most?

 

At Swinburne, a lot of my course is centered around games, but there is also studies to do with film. The two have a lot of things in common and I thought it would be really cool to also learn about film in a foreign country, as it’s a very global industry. In my Minor “Moving Images”, I learned a lot of things to do with film and I also did a lot of work in making short films with other students, both German and international. I recommend the Minor because working in the film industry, it’s more than likely you are going to be working with people from all over the globe and you need to get used to talking to people who are different in so many ways. I don’t think you get that experience when you are at home, and I’ve learned so much about all kinds of different cultures here.

 

What was your favorite aspect of studying and living in Stuttgart?

 

At home, I don’t live on campus, so I don’t really have that student experience. I live out in the country, about one and a half hours away, so I don’t get to see people on campus, I don’t get to really mingle with different people. Here, I got to do that: I was living with a bunch of people in the same apartment complex, we went out together and also went to our classes together, before they were online. I think it was a really rich experience.

 

How did you feel about Stuttgart as a city?

 

I found Stuttgart amazing. It’s a completely different city than what I’m used to back home. It was amazing to experience that. It’s one of those cities that you go in and you can just walk over the entire city for the entire day and still find so many things. Like me, eight months in and I’m still discovering so much!

 

 

How did COVID affect your study abroad experience and how do you feel about that?

 

Due to the pandemic, a lot of things were changed here; a lot of my classes were online, so I didn’t really get to go to the university and I didn’t so much have that real university experience of studying on campus. It was a little tough, but I found support in my classmates and we managed to communicate online. It was definitely not how I wanted to spend my semester, but I still think I got a lot out of it and had a really great semester.