Interview: Pedro in Germany

What was your intention to study a semester abroad and why did you choose Germany?
Next semester I‘m getting the double degree in Germany, so I have to write my bachelor thesis over here. The thesis itself will be in English, but next semester, I‘ll have one subject which will be taught in „Deutsch“. So one big point was the language. Of course, I could also have gone to a anglophone country but I wanted to learn something new. 

What were your biggest fears before you came here?

Everybody told me that people from Germany are very rough and that they‘re really closed, all the teachers would be very strict and hard in grading, you know... that really scared me.
And do you think that this is true?
No! (laughing)
Not even the thing about the teachers?
(Smiles) Well, I guess they‘re nicer to us because they teach in English.

Do you see big differences between Germany and Brazil, for example in culture?
The biggest difference obviously is the weather, but there are differences in culture as well. For example, you talk to the teachers by calling them „Sie“, not „Du“ (Note: in Germany the teachers are addressed formally). We don‘t do this in Brazil, we talk to them the same way we talk to our friends. 

Have you experienced the german food by now?
Yes... (he sighed)
Was it this strange?
(laughing) No! We kind of like it but we miss the brazilian food.

Do you study the same subject in Germany and over in Brazil?
Yeah, but our courses in Brazil are more technical. Here we can choose between different courses. As we wanted to experience something different, we decided to choose subjects not especially for engineering but really interesting for our curriculum.

Was it easy to find (german) friends?
Actually yes. When we came here the first day we already get to know some people from the International Office. Then there was this „Sommer Deutsch Kurs“ (Note: Language Course) we took part of with other people from here. So finding friends really was pretty easy.

Do you live here in Wilhelmshaven?
Yeah, right now all of us are still living in a hostel but at the end of the week, three of us will move in a apartment in one of the main streets.

How would you describe the Germans?
First thing coming into my mind: They‘re so punctual! (laughing)
The Germans I experienced are usually different to approach, but when you do, you‘ll find out that they are normal people as well. 

What do you like most about your stay in Germany?
I actually really like the weather! One of my biggest intentions to come here was to experience snow. So I‘m really excited about the winter slowly arriving.

Coming into another country: Would you say that it is better to go without any knowledge or to inform yourself as much as possible before going there?
It‘s definitely helpful if you inform yourself before. We already got some information from our university and there even was a lady from the German International Office who went to Brazil to talk to us. That was quite helpful and really interesting.

But don‘t you think that there are more prejudices this way as well?
Probably yes. A good example was the day we went into the plane to Germany. 
We wore tons of layers because we were so afraid of the cold weather everyone told us about. When we went off the plane we were so shocked because it was actually really hot over here. 

So, last question: Would you tell other people to travel or to study in Germany? And if so, why?
Yeah, definitely! For example, all the teachers here are really good in English and this way easy to understand. So there‘s no need to know German in the first place. It‘s also great for everyone who wants to learn a new language, though German is really difficult. But we have german classes twice a week, so we‘re working on that!