Tomas studies sociology at Universidad de Valparaíso in Chile. He came to Stuttgart for two semesters, took a Minor Program at HdM and also wrote his bachelor's thesis here. We interviewed him about his experiences studying and living in Germany and he is sharing them with us here.

 

 

Hi Tomas, can you please tell us a bit about yourself, first?

Sure, thanks for having me here! I'm 27 years old and I come from Chile. I love music: I like to play the harmonica and piano. I also play soccer and like sports in general. And I really enjoy meeting my friends here. I enjoy that very much and I think this is something that I will miss.

 

What is your impression of Hochschule der Medien?

Fortunately, I had a normal semester without Corona, first. I noticed that the buildings and the people are very nice. It's an international place, I like that a lot. And it's all very practice-oriented. At my university we have a lot of theoretical lectures, but here we do a lot of group work and talk about today's world. Not from the textbook, but from newspapers and videos and I think the system is a bit better here. My first idea was to just do one exchange semester, but later I extended it and that's why I'm still here.

 

 

What courses are you taking here at Hochschule der Medien?

Here I first studied in the minor “Journalism & Communication Management” and then wrote my bachelor thesis in cross-media editing. I know that's weird - but I asked because I still had to write my bachelor's thesis in Chile. That's why I asked if I could write it here too, and they said: “Yes, but about cross-media editing, not about sociology,” which is what I usually study. That's why I changed my second exchange semester to a "normal" semester and wrote my thesis here. And luckily I got a good grade.

 

How did your time here help you with your German skills?

I thought my German level was better, but when I came here I got rated at a B1 level for my language course. Fortunately, because I was thus able to remember all the vocabulary again. Grammar is always difficult, too, with all the declensions and so on, so I did another German course here.

 

 

Where do you live here in Stuttgart?

Filderbahnplatz. The best place in Stuttgart! It's a building in Möhringen with a lot of exchange students. A few Germans live there, too, but most of them are exchange students, and that's perfect. It's a very international place. Hochschule der Medien recommended that I live there, and I didn't have to think twice!

 

 

What is your favorite place in Stuttgart?

I have a lot of favorite places here. Maybe Schlossgarten - it's a place I keep going to over and over again. There are a lot of people there, you can relax, we play Frisbee ... so yes, Schlossgarten is my favorite place.

 

What is your personal conclusion about your semester abroad?

I thank Hochschule der Medien for giving me so many opportunities. I think I will never forget my time in Germany. I've learned a lot, I've grown and ... well, I want to get a Stuttgart tattoo now, because this city has become very important to me!