Form Lab Convention on Manufacturing Processes

Author: Hannah Bylak | Majors: Electrical Engineering and German

I have been participating in the IEP and I chose this program because I would be able to spend a year in Germany, experience education environments, and the work culture. This program advances my academic goals by improving my German in subjects that I plan to continue in my career. As I take electrical engineering classes in German, I learn not only more specifics about what I study, but it familiarizes me with the vocabulary pertaining to papers and correspondence I may see in my career. Professionally, this advances my goals because I strive to work as an in-between for companies hoping to start foreign offices. This month one of my professors assigned us extra-credit if we attended a technical convention that was in a nearby city. We had to ask questions, and the two other group members I went with didn’t speak english. It turns out that most of the attendees at the convention spoke english. This meant that I ended up being a translator for my group as I spoke with people from various companies and translated the different manufacturing processes into German for my classmates to understand. My classes and instructors so far are difficult to understand. All of my classes are engineering specific and taught in German, so it’s a lot to adjust to. One of my classes is also a graduate-level class. Many of my classes overlap as well, but because attendance is not required and most are online, I am able to watch recordings. I believe an added difficulty to taking these classes is that they are online. When classes were taken online at the University of Arkansas, many students suddenly experienced drops in grades. It is difficult to connect to other students that you don’t see, so I was left without other students to study with. Our semesters here though are also different from the University of Arkansas’.  The semester here started October 18th, but will go into the end of March. Our classes here “meet” once a week. It’s similar to having one lecture for the week, one drill for the week, then being sent home with practice problems. I would like to say that also due to these classes being moved online and generally being known as difficult, most of my classes have weekly “bonus” quizzes. These quizzes give us the chance of increasing our grade at the end of the semester, assuming that we pass the final without them. I have also learned from other people in this area that the Technical University of Darmstadt is known for being extremely difficult. Students take more than the average six semesters to finish a bachelors, due to failing classes so often.

Rothenburg o.d.T. Town Road

This month, my German great-aunt took me to see Rothenberg. The city is classically known for all of the shops that supply some traditional stalls in Christmas markets or Weinachtmarkts. From miniatures for doll houses, collectors and limited-edition ornaments, and teddy bears, the quality was amazing. It’s very easy to find handmade items in Germany. They are still quite expensive, but due to the country being much older, there are many traditions and trades that were passed down for generations. I also tried a common Christmas treat known to the area called Schneeballen. It means snowball, and it is a sphere of pressed cookie dough coated with sugar and/or other assorted toppings.

I so far would recommend this program to other students. It’s difficult to keep up with, because you have to learn the German language as you learn the technical specifics for your engineering field, but overall the experience is priceless. I strongly recommend starting the visa process from the United States if possible, because working without one is difficult. The process here is also even messier due to how backed up it is from Covid. Right now, I think one thing I miss about Fayetteville, AR is the amount of sun and warm weather we have. Here it’s cloudy and rainy a lot, and as it gets colder, the sky is only gray. I can’t wait to be able to lay on my porch again and just soak up some sun.