Study Report ERASMUS+

faculty of arts

University of Groningen, NL Groning01 Erasmus+ KA1 Mobility

2019-2020

ERASMUS+

Study Report

This form needs to be completed by every student who has completed an

Erasmus+ mobility.

Last name

Weigand

First name

Miriam

RUG student number

S 3584674

Please enclose a 2-page report on your experiences abroad, using the

following headings:

1. Your study programme

2. Language

3. Finance and other conditions

4. Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after

your stay

5. Housing

6. Culture

7. Free time

8. Travelling

9. Your host and home institution’s response to Covid-19, and the extent

to which the virus (countermeasures) affected your mobility

10. Other

þ

I hereby give permission to the International Office to publish my report on the Faculty of Arts

Repository to inform future students

þ Yes

information

þ Yes

Signature Participant

………

Date: 08.03.2021

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1. Your Study Programme

My study programme at the university of Tartu was composed of a lot of courses from different disciplines. Nevertheless, thematically speaking I still choose courses that matched my study program at the Rug. For instance, as I study European Languages and Cultures with a focus on Russian and politics, I took a language class in Russian and also had a history course on Russia and Europe since the 1700. Overall, I was really happy with the level of the courses. The instructers were great and there were a lot of courses offered in English.

2. Language

I came to Estonia with the intent of bettering my Russian and not learn Estonian. However, I would not recommend Estonia as a place to learn Russian. While the teachers they have are great, you cannt fully immerse yourself in the language. Of course, many things are also written in Russian and you will definitely encounter the language a lot. But since I didn’t make any Russian-speaking friends my language exposure was still rather low. Also good to know is that you can get around with speaking English just fine. It is also possible to take Estonian courses at the University of Tartu if that is more interesting to you.

3. Finance and other conditions

My finances were slightly complicated by the fact that I didn’t receive my Erasmus grant. Luckily the cost of living in Estonia is lower than in the Netherlands and the university of Tartu still took me as a non-fee-paying student. Overall, you can expect to pay a lot less in renting costs over there. Food is also slightly less expensive. Lastly, another great point is that Estonian public transport is really cheap! Living in the Netherlands I barely ever get to travel because the costs for trains and busses are so high. In Estonia this is not the case and you will more likely be able to travel around the country during your stay.

4. Preparation and contacts with the faculty before, during and after your stay

The communication with the university of Tartu is easy to navigate and fast. They had one designated exchange officer for the Erasmus students that would usually answer after a day. Preparation was a bit more tricky to navigate with the covid situation but definitely

manageable. Nevertheless, I would discourage you from doing an Erasmus exchange given the experience I had with all this different information flying around and the lack of security attached to the Erasmus programm. It doesn’t really allow one to plan ahead and go through with an exchange since it could be cancled literally the day before one gets on a plane. This is a risk I would ever take again since you simply need to do some preparations beforehand (like renting out your place to a subtenant, finding an apartment there, etc.).

5. Housing

Housing was very easy to manage in Estonia. The university of Tartu offers dormitories to exchange students so that is a secured possibility. However, I opted to get my own mini studio since the price for that is way cheaper than that of the Netherlands. While it is nice to live by yourself, the dormitory is always a good option for your exchange since you will meet many other Erasmus students there, and not only Erasmus students but international Bachelor and Master students as well.

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6. Culture

Estonian culture may initially not seem that welcoming. The students and staff are super friendly but it does take some time to befriend Estonians. From what I noticed they seem to prefer few but very close friends. Other than that Estonian culture felt very laid back. There is not much need for formality and like the Dutch I would say they are rather straightforward.

7. Free time

I had 35 ECTs at my semester abroad. 5 of those being from a course I did only at the rug. I was usually pretty busy but there was still plenty of free time. In the winter Estonia is

particularly nice since you can enjoy the Christmas market and go ice skating. There are also a couple of really great museums I would definitely recommend. In Tartu, for instance, there is the National Museum, which is a must-visit. The permanent exhibition is a very beautifully made and interavtive exhibition that gives you an insight into Estonian history. Even if history is not your favorite subject, this exhibition makes it very engaging.

8. Travelling

Like mentioned before traveling on Estonian public transportation is very easy to navigate and on top of that very cheap compared to the Netherlands! Even with corona I was able to travel a bit but I did avoid certain hotspots. Usually you would also be able to easily travel to Helsinki, Saint Petersburg or Latvia by ferry, bus or train.

9. Your host and home institution’s response to Covid-19, and the extent to which the virus (countermeasures) affected your mobility

My host university’s response to Covid-19 was well communicated and seemed to be working quite well. At the beginning of the semester we were able to participate in the classrooms and actually see our lecturers. The library was also open. This only changed in December (which is towards the end of classes anyway), when cases rose and we switched to digital classes. I think I only had very few digital classes because before that the situation was good enough to allow physical ones. Needless to say, I was really glad about this since it makes class usually a bit more engaging and you can meet peers more easily. Covid did definitely have an affect on my stay but overall, I am really glad I was able to go since I still got a good glimpse of

Estonian life.

10. Other

The weather might also be interesting to mention. In the summer Estonia often has clear skies and it definitely isn’t as windy and rainy as the Netherlands. However, in Winter most of the time there was a blanket of clouds hanging in the sky. I would definitely advise you to get some vitamin D pills and start taking them in fall.