Former exchange student statements

About my exchange term at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg

By Jannes Philipp Mönnighoff in August 2010

I arrived in Gothenburg with the Stena Line ferry on January 8th. It was a cold winter – about minus 15 centigrades – and the whole city was blanketed in snow.

As the term at the Academy started two weeks before the rest of the university, I was one of the first exchange students to arrive, my student accommodation Olofshöjd was quite empty the first days.
But then I got in contact with my neighbours who had stayed the winter and I could already guess that we would have a good time together.
The next Monday was my first day at Artisten: I met our International Relations Coordinator Margareta Hanning, she took care of the organisation of my studies and gave me a very warm welcome.
It turned out that throughout the whole term, whenever I had a question, whatever concern, I could come to her and she would help me.
So I joined the first classes that week and started to work with my singing teacher Gunnar Forshufvud. I was actually surprised when they asked me to sing on the ESS welcome meeting for all the other exchange students just one week after my arrival, but I agreed and it became my first great musical experience in Gothenburg to rehearse and perform together with my lovely pianist Karin.

January passed by with many new acquaintances both in Artisten and amongst all the other exchange students, with lots of activities and parties that our student buddies had organised to get everybody in contact with each other and – one by one – my neighbours at Olofshöjd arrived and joined the "Kitchen Family". We started to get used to "Hej" and "Hej då", to "Hur mår du?", "Tack" and "Varsågod".
We explored the Willyʻs, the ICA and the Coop supermarket, bought our tram tickets at Pressbyrån and went for first island trips to Brännö, Asperö or Styrsö.
A great thing about Olofshöjd is that it takes just 15 minutes by foot to Artisten. You go down Framgången, watching some friends having breakfast behind the windows in the other kitchens in the morning, you walk Utlandagatan where they were just about to built that wooden house that should have itʻs roofing ceremony later in spring and you turn left to Eklandagatan at the corner with the tiny flower shop. Then you pass Humanisten faculty through the snowy park with the lake on the left and walk some more metres and enter Artisten through the back door with your key card, because the main entrance wouldnʻt be open before nine oʻclock in the winter.

Studying at Artisten turned out to be different to what it's like in Hamburg in many ways. The first thing I noticed was the teacher student relationship: Not only the fact, that you call everybody by his or her first name but also the way teachers and students interact with each other made a big difference. I felt that it was more of an equal and liberal relationship, where students regard their teachers more as assistants for their own development than as leaders or idols. During the (relatively short) time of my staying I enjoyed that high degree of freedom very much. On the other hand, different students from Artisten told me that they felt insecure or not enough guided and supported by their teachers.

Then there was the ever changing schedule that confused me in the beginning: In Hamburg, the times of most classes are set at the beginning of the term and repeat more or less reliable every week, projects take place independently from the regular classes.
Different in Gothenburg: It seemed to me that students spend most of the time working for particular projects that were staged after a relatively short time of intense rehearsals rather than having regular classes. I can say that I was quite impressed by many of these performances. In March and April I worked on a Schubert concert together with the pianist Karla Martínez from Cuba who was in Gothenburg as an exchange student too. It had been a spontaneous idea of Karla when we met in the chamber music course in early March and then became a great project for both of us and kindly supported by the school – particularly by our teachers and Margareta. After all I am very happy about my decision to do an exchange term and I am grateful for the versatile support that ERASMUS gave from my application until today. For me it was an important experience and a lot of fun!
 

A Belgian exchange student

by Lara Rosseel

I enjoyed the helpful people so much in the school!  It was wonderful for me to feel there was always somebody (or more people) that were ready to help.
When I'm back now, I see that I really had a splendid time,
I had also a beautiful time!, and I miss all the wonderful things already ;) the sun, the nature, the snow, the food, the school, the concerts, the
people, the language (that I didn't understand so much ;) yet), being
on a 'travel', the woods, the water, the islands..
What stays most in my mind about the people, is that they were so
friendly and honest.
I don't know why, but I don't always have that feeling when I'm at home. I had a nice time.
Lessons taught me to enjoy playing, and teachers were good motivators
and helped me to see who I am. They helped me a lot to find peace (or
rest) in myself. And also to learn from what they were giving from
themselves. And of course not only the teachers taught me a lot.
Being there was a great experience!

Different from Germany!

by Lena Sonntag

During my time at the Academy of Music and Drama I got very important impulses for my musical life. 
The structure of the course is different than in Germany, maybe freer, but in some ways complementary. I felt very welcome by the students and teachers. My special thanks go to all organ teachers at the academy who are great artists but also warm-hearted people!