Students Mia and Luka from the University Graduate Study of Physics, specialization in Environmental Physics at University of Split’s Faculty of Science, spent a five months at the Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen.

Luka: I went to Bremen to write my thesis and take two courses. I had no problems with the courses, but everything was online, which lowered the quality of education. Nevertheless, I am satisfied. Comparing faculties, I thought there would be a bigger difference. As we are talking about Germany, expectations were high, but our professors are no worse than the German ones. Life during coronavirus, except that almost everything was closed, was not bad. Socializing (in limited numbers) in parks was allowed, the Erasmus Student Network organized online socializing, one could travel, if the measures allowed. We used our stay in Bremen for travel and visited 12 cities in total, from Amsterdam, via Berlin, all the way to Warsaw. All in all, an extremely interesting experience and although many complained about security measures, I personally did not mind, I experienced everything one expects from Erasmus; new places, new people, new knowledge.

Mia: took six courses and I have to admit it was a lot harder than here. Although the lectures are of the same quality, much more work is required from students, in the form of homework, every single week. Personally, I consider such a system worse because, although it creates a work habit, it requires a lot more work for the same result. From all Erasmus students, I hung out with a dozen of them. We were limited because of coronavirus so there was no big socializing outdoors, but we mostly got along and the people I met will stay my friends for life. Some of them have already visited Split. As I am a big fan of traveling, I am glad that in addition to obtaining education abroad, I had the opportunity to see other countries Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.

Erasmus+ provides students with a study stay and traineeship. One can realize traineeship 12 months after graduation if he/she applied for it before graduating. The program will soon include short-term student mobilities lasting 5 to 30 days.

Study stays in Europe for the academic year 2022/23 will be announced in February 2022, while for those in countries outside Europe, competitions are published throughout the year. The competition for traineeship is always open and applications are approved on a monthly basis. For more information, feel free to contact erasmus@unist.hr.

We should all travel and learn new people and places!