Hallo, wie geht’s?
Greetings from Stuttgart, Southern Germany!
I have been here as an exchange student since March in Hochschule der Medien. I am a student in the Print Media Technologies minor, and I have really enjoyed the studies here. In my studies at TAMK in the interactive media path I have been able to study how to make design with Adobe programs, but here I have been able to widen my knowledge about printing technologies and how to prepare files better for print. I have also participated in a project course, where we made an Image book for das Kaufhaus, a second hand store in Stuttgart. The project has been so cool and I have been able to work with different people and to work on the layout for the Image book. Another course I have really enjoyed is the practical training class, where we have in practice worked and learned about printing techniques. I have been able to work in a book bindery and to try out different printing machines. I have also learned new things about inks, and how many different kinds of inks there are with various abilities. For example some inks glow in the dark after absorbing light and some inks you can make smell like coffee for example. The studies in Germany have been quite similar to the studies in Finland. The differences I think has much to do with resources. Hochschule der Medien has state of the art printing machines for the use of teaching, which the students can use. But a difference I have noticed is that generally I feel that more is required out of students to perform and some teachers are quite demanding. Also more work is required to achieve credits compared to TAMK. But it also depends a lot on the type of course as well. But all in all I have really enjoyed the studies and the study pace and the way of studying has worked well for me.
The picture shows one of the big printing machines. The other picture shows an ink that glows in the dark after being exposed to light.
In my free time I have tried to do as much as possible taking to account all the Corona restrictions. The first three months of the exchange has had a lot of restrictions and places have been closed for a long time, but in the end of May more shops and restaurants started to open and you could go to most places if you had taken a negative corona test. But now the situation is much better and most places, like bars and restaurants are open longer and you don’t need a negative corona test anymore to most places. During my stay here I have been travelling to other cities, such as Heidelberg, Esslingen and Tübingen. I have done a lot of hiking in the nature with my friends and I have also gone to many museums, such as the Mercedes Benz museum, Porsche museum and the Art museum. I am looking forward to travel more at the end of my studies when the exams are over. I will go to a concert in Dresden next week and later hopefully travel to other cities and maybe neighbouring countries as well. I have been able to get friends from other countries, everyone lives in the same buildings here and my flatmates are very nice. I live with five other people. They come from Colombia, Chile, China, India and Pakistan so we are a vey international bunch of people.
City of Heidelberg to the left and Chile and Santiago-de-Chile-Platz at night in Stuttgart city centre and the inside of the Mercedes Benz museum
At the moment the EURO football tournament is going on, and in addition to Finland I have been cheering for Germany as well. We bought Germany hats with my friends that we wear to the games, which is really fun. I am looking forward to the rest of my exchange here in Stuttgart and I really recommend to come here for an exchange in the future.
Grüße,
Annika
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