Sinan Hatun
How would you describe your Erasmus experience at UGD?
My Erasmus experience at UGD has good and not so good parts. First of all, the Erasmus Coordinators, the Professors and basically everyone I met at UGD or in a private way were very friendly. The other Erasmus students were very interesting people, and, on this basis, friendships were built.
A big downside for me was the fact that there were no lectures in English in the subjects. This was common among everyone I was talking to and I think this should change if a big group of people is coming for an Erasmus semester. The dates for arrival should be as equal as possible among the Erasmus students to make sure they can do the introduction week together. The reliability of the arrangements with the professors should be improved as well.
The missing lectures on the other hand gave my friends and me a good opportunity to explore more of Macedonia and the Balkans. I completed a 10k run in Kumanovo and saw Thessaloniki and the mountains of Macedonia.
What was your best moment of the whole exchange?
Me and my co student were able to go to a Moot Court (simulation of being a legal advisor or lawyer) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, were we represented the University Goce Delcev in this competition.
We were able to see a new city, a new field of law and meet new interesting people. I thought about the significance of this situation. We were two students from Germany, doing an Erasmus semester in Macedonia and were able to represent our Macedonian University at a Moot Court with teams from all around Europe. It showed the Integration of the different European peoples on many levels.
What does Erasmus + mean to you?
For me Erasmus + is the experience of a different culture and the celebration of this. I just experienced a Macedonian Proposal Party at the house of a good Macedonian friend. She is living just next to us and invited us to come to the party. It was a lot of fun! We only danced, because we were not able to sing along in Macedonian, due to not knowing the lyrics. The possibility to extend my horizon in a huge number of ways at an Erasmus is very valuable.
