Germany as a conscious choice
As part of his third year of the Bachelor of Laws program at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Mihael had the opportunity to fulfill his elective requirements abroad. Instead of pursuing a standard minor in the Netherlands, he decided to earn 30 credits at a partner university abroad.
He quickly settled on Germany, he explains. “I already spoke a little German and really wanted to improve my skills.” At the same time, he was looking for something different than Rotterdam. “I’m studying in a big city. That’s why I thought it would be nice to go to a somewhat smaller place.”
That’s how he ended up in Jena: a city in the eastern part of the country that he knew nothing about. “When I asked Germans for their opinions, however, I got excited. Everyone said it was a really fun college town. The fact that it was a bit smaller and less well-known actually appealed to me.”
Mihael received an Erasmus+ grant for his exchange. Combined with his off-campus student financial aid and the reimbursement for his student travel pass, this allowed him to cover a large part of his rent and daily expenses.
Studying in German
Once in Jena, Mihael had a lot of freedom to put together his own course load. He used that opportunity to take courses that interested him. Among other things, he chose philosophy, medieval law, and legal history focusing on World War II and the GDR. He also took a German language course at the C1 level and the English-taught course “British Legal Systems.”
Virtually all courses were taught in German. This was a deliberate choice, he explains. “I wanted to challenge myself. I thought: I have the chance to do this now, so I’ll choose the courses that I’m really interested in.” As a result, the semester was also quite different in content from his studies in Rotterdam.
“It was exactly that freedom to look beyond my usual curriculum that made the exchange so interesting.”
The exchange to Jena was another milestone for Mihael: it was his first time living on his own in that city. He ended up in a student house in the city center with about fourteen other students. “It took some time getting used to, but it quickly became a lot of fun. Not only because I was suddenly living on my own, but also because I was sharing a house with people from a different culture. Germans are, of course, known for their punctuality, and in the house everyone had their own chores and there were clear rules. I had to get used to that.” Still, that adjustment period was surprisingly short. “I actually felt at home very quickly. It didn’t feel at all like I was very far away.”
A small city with a vibrant student life
According to Mihael, the fact that Jena is smaller than Rotterdam certainly doesn’t mean there’s not much going on. On the contrary: a large portion of the population consists of students, and you can really feel that in the student life.
In their own student house, they organized get-togethers and parties and had a lot of interaction with other student houses. “We’d visit other houses, and they’d come over to ours. It was very lively.” Jena’s compact size also came in handy when going out. “There were a few well-known bars and a club we went to a lot. Since the city isn’t that big, you keep running into familiar faces there. That quickly made it feel like home.”
‘It’s less intimidating than you think’
Back in the Netherlands, Mihael still thinks about his time in Jena regularly. What has stayed with him most is the realization of how quickly a completely new environment can feel familiar. “Beforehand, an exchange like that seems like a huge step. You’re going to another country, don’t know anyone there, and have to figure everything out on your own. But in the end, I realized it wasn’t scary at all.”
Mihael now shares that positive experience with others as a WilWeg ambassador. Students who are unsure about studying or doing an exchange abroad can reach out to him with their questions.
His most important advice? Don’t make that step seem bigger than it is. Be open to making new connections from the start, participate in activities, and don’t be afraid to talk to people. Because it’s precisely by throwing yourself into a new environment that you’ll discover how quickly an unfamiliar place can start to feel like home.