Win!See!Lai!Venus! Year!3!(FINA&OM)! 2018!Spring! WHU ...€¦ · Win!See!Lai!!! 2018Spring!Exchange!Program!! WHU!@!Otto!Beisheim!School!of!Management!! !! 1! I.!Monthly!Activity!Log!!

Win See Lai Venus

Year 3 (FINA&OM)

2018 Spring

WHU -‐ Otto Beisheim School of Management

Vallendar, Germany

2018 May

Win See Lai 2018 Spring Exchange Program WHU -‐ Otto Beisheim School of Management

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I . Monthly Activity Log

January

I arrived at the small town on the third of January. There were one-‐week long orientation activities, including a campus tour and some information talks. Some welcoming activities were specifically organized for exchange students so that we could meet some new friends before the start of school. I joined some of them like the regional tour and international dinner. The regional tour was a nice one as the school brought us to a nearby castle and brewery. They also held a beer tasting session to try different kinds of German beer which was quite fun.

The school started on the 9th of Jan. In the first quarter of the semester, I only took 3 courses. So I had quite a plenty of time to get relaxed and chilled at the school and small towns nearby.

February

I dropped the German class in the first week of February. So my schedule got less tight and I planned 2 trips in this month. Luckily the courses in WHU didn’t bother much, which allowed me to visit Prague and Paris before exams.

Beer tasting, Koblenz Bonn


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The school organized a very interesting activity named as ‘running dinner’ in February, in which local students would be the host and exchange students would be the guests. Both locals and exchange students were divided into groups, and each exchange group had to rotate to 3 different local groups for the appetizer, main courses, and dessert respectively. This was a great opportunity to chitchat with local people, and of course you also got the chance to taste some local food prepared by local students!

I had 2 exams scheduled in late February. The last week of February was extremely cold and this marked the end of the first quarter.

John Lennon Wall, Prague Musée du Louvre, Paris

Running Dinner, WHU


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March

The second quarter of school started on the second of March. I used most of my time to travel. I visited Spain, Italy, and Austria.

April

I only had few classes in April (Well… due to some very special class structures WHU had, I only had one or up to two classes a week :O) .)

I spent a week in north Europe and visited my friend in Amsterdam. My friend and I dressed in orange and went for a boat trip to celebrate the King’s Day with local people. It was extremely fun as everything on street was in orange, and everyone danced on the street freely!

Sangrada Família, Barcelona River Arno, Florence


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May

The semester ended on the forth of May, so this became a travel month for me. A friend from Hong Kong and my family took a long-‐haul flight to Europe and joined my travel schedule. I visited different cities in Germany and other places in Europe like Portugal and the UK. The half-‐year long journey finally ended in early June.

King’s Day, Amsterdam

Stonehenge, UK

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria


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II. General Exchange Information

Visa Procedure

The German consulate needs a lot of documention to process a student visa. Please find the list of document @ https://hongkong.diplo.de/hk-‐en/service/05-‐VisaEinreise/-‐/1611680)

Be careful about the fifth item: WHU forgot to send me the letter of acceptance. I did email them for more than 5 times to get my letter back since their replies were pretty slow. So, this is important to send an email to ask if they have already sent out the letter a few weeks before the visa appointment.

Transport

Most public transports in Germany were operated by DB (Deutsche Bahn). So, buying a Bahn card is absolutely a must. There were 25 and 50 Bahn Card, which means for every trip one can enjoy a 25% discount and 50% discount respectively. However, the 50% discount did not apply to all journeys like long haul trains and only 25% would be offered in this case. So maybe 25 Bahn Card is a better choice.

If you buy the card at the ticket center, they will give you a temporary certificate showing you are a card holder before you receive the actual card by post, while you can only show a QR code in their App buying online. I bought the card online and waited to receive the actual card. However, the letter was believed to be lost during delivery and the QR code expired 2 months after the purchase. This led to a mess as I had nothing to show the ticket checker on train that my card was still valid. The checker forced me to buy a new train ticket immediately at full price. And when I told the staff at the ticket center that I didn’t receive the card, they were quite rude and said this was ‘my problem’ and asked me to pay another 15 euros for a new one as ‘I lost the card’. Perhaps it is better to buy at the center cause at least you have a paper to show you are a card holder.


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Finance and Banking

I didn’t apply for a block account in Germany since it was time-‐consuming for the setup and some may charge you monthly for administration purpose. I brought some Euros from Hong Kong and took cash from ATM with Union Pay. Nearly all merchants in Germany accepted Visa, so using electronic money wasn’t a problem at all. As far as I know, North Europe and Amsterdam did not have Union Pay and you can only get cash with Visa Plus.

The following is the breakdown of my expenses:

Item EUR HKD Flight 6200 Accommodation 1,830 18300 Grocery 2,000 20,000 Transport 200 2,000 Travel 4,000 40,000 Sum 87,500

Food

The price level in Germany was similar to that of HK. A normal meal cost around 8 to 15 euros. I usually cooked at the hall, given that their grocery and fresh ingredients were even cheaper than HK. It was only about HKD15 per meal.

Climate

It was about -‐5 to 10 °C in the winter time. To be honest, it was not as cold as I imagined as it wasn’t humid at all. 0°C in Europe was like 7-‐8°C in HK. Moreover, all buildings were well-‐equipped with central heating.

Communication


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People at WHU and Vallendar were pretty nice and they were very keen to speak with foreigners, even though some of them could not speak English. I felt so grateful for having them as my neighbor.

However, most of the German (especially those in big cities like Berlin and Munich) did not welcome English-‐speakers and they tried to avoid speaking with non-‐local people.

Health and Safety

Vallendar was quite safe where was mainly populated by the elderly. Don’t have to worry much if you are on your own.

Germany was relatively safe compared with other countries in Europe, but still, there could be some drunks wandering at the train station in the midnight. Try to avoid getting transit in the train station during night time.

III. Information about WHU

Orientation Activities

There was a sequence of orientation activities on January. For example, international dinner where students cooked and brought some local food from their home country was held before the school started. WHU also organized a regional tour to visit a nearby castle. Regarding the one I liked the most would be running dinner, please refer the details to the ‘monthly activity log’ part. WHU created lots of chances for exchange students to get to know each other. So you don’t have to worry about getting no opportunity to meet new friends!


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Accommodations

The school sent me an email about housing choices in the first week of October. Please keep in mind that the housing is based on a first-‐come-‐first-‐serve basis, so everyone should submit the application form as early as possible.

I lived in Humboldthöhe, which was the home for the aged. It was a service-‐apartment-‐like building and they provided bed cloth changing services once a month for free. There was a reception on the ground floor operated 24/7. It would be convenient for frequent online shoppers as the receptionists would help collect parcels without any charge. The flat was big and just renovated. Each flat had a balcony and the scenery was so stunning! I had nothing to blame except the long steep slope where the building located haha!

Course Registration

The school had a registration system which was like ‘student center’. Students could check the class schedule and register courses on the system. The registration deadline, however, varied from courses to courses. So be careful about the add/ drop deadline of EACH course or you would not be able to do it afterward. Even though the semester was divided into 2 quarters, all courses must be registered in January, that means some courses you pick were blind choices. DO NOT assume


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that you can get the course outlines beforehand because the school would not provide any information except class schedule until the first class.

Also, bear in mind that the class timetable could be ridiculously changed just a few days before the class without any notification :o) So keep checking the schedule on ‘student center’ is a must.

Teaching and Assessment Methods

The classes were interactive and students were very active to raise their ideas in class. The class size was a lot smaller than UST. Most courses I took had only about 15 to 30 students. The table below summarizes the courses I took and the assessment methods respectively.

Courses Quarter Attendance Class Participation

Seminar papers/ Essay

Presentation Final exam (Paper)

Final exam (Oral)

Bank Management

1

Seminar of Supply Chain Management

1 N/A

Seminar of Business Ethics

1

Asset Management

2

Production and Service Operations Management

2

I had two seminar courses in the first quarter. They were quite demanding that students were divided into groups for presentations and would take the lead to guide discussions in class. The seminar of supply chain management was even more challenging that students had to read some very hard and complicated research


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papers themselves. There were only 3 classes in the whole quarter and students had to prepare their own presentations for each class.

Most courses assigned a great portion of the grade to final exams, and the exams were quite easy. No worries about having too many trips and getting not enough time to do revision haha!

Social Clubs and Networking Activities

The school organized quite a lot of networking activities for students. Please refer most of them to ‘orientation activities’. Other than the school itself, the TGV(exchange student society) did also organize some gathering activities. For example, Tauschies Tuesday was one of them which exchange and local students could gather at a bar near to the campus every Tuesday. Students are divided into groups to sell some local food from their home country. Money raised would contribute directly to the final farewell party.

International Services and Activities

WHU had quite a lot of students from worldwide, so the school provided a pretty good support to exchange students. There was an International Relations Office providing different kinds of support to exchange students. One very special thing they had was the exchange students’ career center, which provided career advice as well as job opportunities for exchange students.

Sports and Recreation Facilities

There was a gym room at the school. It wasn’t big but well-‐equipped. There were always only a few students using it in the afternoon.


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IV. Items to Bring

Visa/Passport

Cash

Documents, e.g. acceptance letter, insurance cover, a few copies of passport as well as visa

Clothes/towels

Warming pads

*Basically WHU provided everything you need in the flat like cooking pans and pots, utensils, linens and cleaning supplies.

V. Useful Links and Contacts If more information is needed, get my contact from SBM Exchange Team by emailing at [email protected].

What the exchange opportunity offered was life-‐long unforgettable. The exchange program widened my horizons to a large extent. I also appreciated everyone I met during the period that great memory always lasts. J