Home University: University of Groningen Host University: Queen's University Belfast Student: Leonardo Govoni (S3716279) Student e-mail: l.govoni@student.rug.nl
I’m a third-year students of Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Groningen
majoring in Film Studies and Visual Arts (second discipline), with a specialization in Arts, Policy and Cultural Entrepreneurship.
My exchange experience at Queen’s University Belfast was deeply affected by the covid- situation. As all the courses were entirely provided online, I never had the chance to go to Belfast and experience neither Queen’s University nor the city and its environment. At the same time, this obviously simplified many aspects of this exchange. Firstly, I didn’t have to look for any accommodation, as well as managing my finances as I spent the whole
semester at my family house in Italy. Secondly, I didn’t have to confront myself with a new environment and with the challenge of getting to know new people and becoming familiar with new faces, spaces and places. Nevertheless, I lost a unique opportunity to satisfy my fascination with the culture and traditions that characterize Northern Ireland.
Even though the exchange took place online, I had to prepare all the required documents and arrange the transition to a new university. The exchange office of Belfast as well as all the professors involved helped me a lot. They made themselves available and always replied quickly to any of my request. They arranged a couple of introductory classes that helped me to get acquainted with their learning tools and platforms before the official starting of the academic year. During the semester I was able to change a course with not problem, and they immediately replaced my Learning Agreement.
In general, the only complain I can make is related to the first few weeks of teaching, as they tried to maintain a hybrid approach, with lectures and seminars held simultaneously for students online and in-person. This hybrid environment made quite complex the following of the lessons. However, this situation lasted only a couple of weeks, as they immediately switched the full program online, making everything more clear and easier to follow.
From a language perspective, the experience was not problematic at all, as Northern Ireland is an English-speaking country and my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Groningen is fully taught in English.
Overall, I didn’t find any issue in translating myself into this new academic environment.
The structures of the modules I followed reflected the structure in Groningen, with a lecture and an interactive seminar each week. My Minor was entirely focused on Film Studies, which is also my Major area of studies for my three-year Bachelor. In this regard, originally, I applied for more practical courses such as Cinematography, Advanced Film Practice, and Experimental Practice as I wanted to tackle the subject of cinema differently from how I have been doing in the first two years in Groningen. Unfortunately, all the practical courses were postponed to the second semester of the academic year due to the situation. Consequently, I ended up taking three theoretical courses, namely Film and Sound: History and Theory, Film and Music: Theory and Criticism, and Documentary Film Studies. The latter was very useful as a gate opener to the history and aesthetics of the genre of documentary. The other two instead offered me a great opportunity to better understand the relationship between image, sound and music both on a theoretical and analytical level. Rather than enlarging my knowledge on the more practical side of cinema, I was able to further my theoretical knowledge of it, improving both my analytical and writing skills. In this sense, I really appreciated the quality and thoughtfulness of the feedbacks received. Each assignment was reviews multiple times and for each assignments professors and tutors provided extensive notes that helped me improving.
Even though Queen’s University still offered me the possibility to join them in person for my exchange I don’t regret the decision to take it entirely online. Moving there would have cause me only unnecessary stress without really giving me the chance to discover anything because of the restrictions in place. Indeed, this whole pandemic made me lose a great opportunity for growing, learning and improving, while also establishing new friendships and creating a bigger network for my future. I applied to the Erasmus Program aiming firstly to enter in contact with eager filmmakers from all over the world, while also learning the craft from established professionals in the industry; and secondly to satisfy my
enthusiasm for art in a city that offers a lot of fascinating opportunities in various cultural fields such as theater, music, performance arts, cinema and history. None of these came into existence.
