Personal Development
This was my first time travelling overseas and living on my own. I had gone back and forth about going on exchange for years but am very glad I did. Despite my initial desire to expand myself academically, I found that the non-academic aspects of the experience were most important and impactful to me. Meeting people from all over the world, making new friends, experiencing different cultures and learning a new language has been fantastic. I went from having never travelled to visiting several countries and organising trips which combined with living on my own has made me a more confident, adaptable and open person.
Academic Development
Having done research on the learning/teaching style at European universities, I wasn't too surprised with the system. With that said, the teaching style at TUM is very hands-off and learning is mostly self-motivated with study materials being quite limited - especially for the 100% (~90 min) final exams that typically do not have past papers available. As such, in-depth study of the lecture notes and tutorials are a must if wanting to do well. Overall though, I didn't find my study habits to change too much, but I do recommend starting final exam prep/revision much earlier than when at UQ as memorisation seemed to be more prevalent.
Regarding workload, I found it to be much lighter during the semester as there were no assignments or mid-semester exams for the courses I took, with only two classes per course (lecture and tutorial). However, the final exam period was much more stressful due to the 100% exams and limited study materials.
Content-wise, TUM offers many more courses than UQ with all sorts of core and niche topics available. I found all my courses to be very interesting but would say that the teaching quality at UQ is better as more materials are given and getting help seemed to be easier in my experience.
For reference, I study Electrical Engineering and the courses I took (all master's level) were:
- BioMEMS & Microfluidics
- High-Frequency Components, Amplifiers and Oscillators
- Optoelectronics
- Statistical Signal Processing
Professional Development
Travelling overseas for the first time followed by settling in a new country and living on my own meant that I had to adapt and learn on the spot. Because of this, I am more confident and less apprehensive about doing new things or tackling problems in unfamiliar environments without any help from family or friends. My organisational skills, on-the-fly problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills were all greatly expanded from being on exchange and I now know with certainty that I am capable of handling a variety of situations and obstacles without much issue. I believe these skills are important, especially in the constantly evolving engineering landscape and also think that the overseas component of exchange will help when pursuing opportunities in different parts of the world.
Budget
I used Excel to budget everything and broke expenses down into various categories such as plane tickets, accommodation/rent, health insurance, travel, food, etc. I would semi-regularly update my budget to see how much money I had leftover and consider future expenses. I also overestimated costs to provide a form of safety factor which I found helped as sometimes estimates for costs were conservative. Doing things this way I never was caught off guard and was able to live comfortably.
I made sure to have enough money saved to afford the entire experience but also received the OS-HELP loan as well as an IGET grant of $2000. The extra funding was very helpful and enabled me to do more things whilst on exchange including going on a couple more trips than I would have otherwise been able to. This also gave me peace of mind financially so I could focus better on my studies without worrying about groceries, rent, or other expenses.
Accommodation
TUM Student Union Housing is a relatively cheap option that can be opted into when applying to TUM and I heavily recommend doing so. You may receive a self-contained bungalow (as I did) or an apartment. Both of which have the necessary facilities (kitchen, bathroom, etc.), however, you do not get to choose your specific accommodation so it is possible to get accommodation where you have to share a kitchen and/or bathroom.
With that said, speaking to other students on exchange who opted for private accommodation, they had to either pay significantly more (1000+ vs 400 Euros per month) or had to live far from campus.
I personally enjoyed my accommodation and am glad I went that route as it saved a lot of potential headaches if I had to organise it privately whilst being in Australia. You'll also be living near other exchange students making it easier to meet new people and go to/hear about events.
Highlight
Travelling to Scotland, Ireland, and Krakow in Poland with friends were some of the most fun times I've had. Seeing and exploring castles, forts, the highlands, and the beautiful countrysides is something I look forward to doing again in the future. The confidence built from organising these trips and travelling along with sharing these experiences with mates I had made whilst in Germany is something I'll always value.
Top Tips
Research all that you can and start early. Decide what's most important to you regarding personal, academic and professional development and see which universities offer what suits you (e.g. The US is probably best for professional opportunities in Engineering whilst Europe offers a more culturally enriching and diverse experience). I recommend budgeting well and overestimating costs as well as having extra funds in case of unforeseen expenses (like taking a sneaky trip to a different country over the weekend) - I used Excel for this and updated the spreadsheet as I went along and found it was fine.
In Germany, you don't need a local bank account and I was able to use Wise for the entire duration including when paying for rent and health insurance. I also recommend bringing a WiFi router and checking that internet is included with your accommodation (if staying in student housing this should be given, but only wired/ethernet is provided).
As an Australian citizen, you will be able to stay in Germany for up to 90 days without a visa and may apply for a residence permit to stay for longer. However, Australians can reset the 90 days (in Germany only: https://australien.diplo.de/au-en/service/visa/short-term-visa/2073662) by travelling outside the Schengen area (such as a day trip to London) and this is something I recommend doing if wanting to avoid paying the permit fee.
This is an experience that will likely take you out of your comfort zone and challenge you in completely new ways; If able to go on exchange, I highly recommend it even if it seems like a lot of work initially as the personal growth gained is something I'll always appreciate along with the many memories made.
