Meytal Sandler, from Israel, is working towards a PhD at the University of Cologne’s department of linguistics, where she started studying in 2005. She recalls her motivations for studying in Germany, her first impressions of Cologne and the university – and explains why she’d recommend all of the above!
After finishing high school in 1999 I was recruited to the military, which is compulsory in Israel. After that I wanted to see the world.
Normally young Israeli people go on a world tour to South America or the Far East, but then I met my German partner and heard about the possibility of studying, as a foreigner, at low tuition fees in Cologne.
For me this was a chance to see the world, learn a new language and earn my education all at once.
Choosing a university
While comparing universities and programs, I visited a few lectures at the University of Cologne and was enthusiastic about the possibilities it had to offer. I liked the direct contact with professors, collaboration with other students – German and international – and the city life, as well as the emphasis on self-study and one’s own rhythm of learning.
In addition, the linguistics department has a good reputation in fields I’m interested in, such as language documentation, typology, universals and intercultural studies.
I also met several students of Jewish Studies at the university’s Martin-Buber-Institut für Judaistik. I loved the atmosphere there and the wide and profound horizon they were exposed to.
I decided to study General Linguistics as a major, with two minors: Jewish Studies and Oriental Philology/Islamic Studies. This way I got to learn a discipline and a science, and to apply and deepen it within my two chosen fields of interest.
A nice kind of culture shock
I started studying in the winter semester of 2005/6, and arrived just before 11 November – the start of the carnival season. I learned carnival songs in the local dialect (Kölsch) and went with my German-language classmates to a bar, where students from different nationalities were singing and dancing together.
This was a really nice kind of culture shock, and by then I felt I was also a part of this city.
My first impressions of the university were that it was big, but not impossible to get around, and there were many welcoming events for us “firsties”. There was a breakfast event where I got to meet other new students and get tips from older students, and more official assemblies where the course requirements were explained and university facilities presented.
The library training session, where I learned how to get around and find what I needed for future research, was especially helpful.
Collaboration and individual development
Studying here means access to state-of-the-art research methods, knowledge and initiatives, and cooperation with many institutes and associations.
At the same time it’s where the ‘mensch’ – the person as individual – is put at the center and has the opportunity to unfold and develop his/her own expertise and ideas.
I enjoyed the mix of theory and practice, opportunities to learn and discuss in small groups, the inter-disciplinarily of the subjects and the attention from lecturers – who push you forward as long as you show your motivation and commitment.
I’ve learned not only about my own science, but also a lot about myself, as well as about different cultures and disciplines along the way.
I also got a lot of experience in giving talks, which is crucial in almost every academic field, where you exchange information and knowledge and wish to get feedback on it.
One highlight was for me the chance to work on a project on the documentation of an endangered language – Beaver, an Athabaskan language in North America. I got to learn its basic grammar and vocabulary, see how the process of writing a thematic lexicon is done for a language that is almost extinct, and visit the Max-Planck-Institute of Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, where I participated in a training program for field researchers.
Mega-city meets small village
Cologne has a vivid cultural scene, with art, music and literature fairs and many green spaces. It lets you enjoy the anonymity of a mega-city while living in one of the ‘Veedels’ – the city’s neighborhoods, which have the atmosphere of a small village, where everyone knows one another.
While the Kölner – the people of Cologne – are mostly friendly and welcoming, there are still cultural differences that could lead to misunderstandings.
One thing that’s hard to adapt to is the du/sie differentiation – that is, the familiar and polite forms of address in German. Young people hardly do that any more among themselves, but you still have to use it in official circumstances. This can be very confusing at times!
Another thing I find hard to adapt to is of course the cold and long winter. But this is a time of year to enjoy sitting with friends in warm places, drinking tea, cooking or playing music together – or go to the library and study! So maybe it’s not that bad after all…
What to do, eat and see
Definitely not to be missed are the Carnival and the Christopher Street Day, which both celebrate diversity and open-mindedness in a colorful, cheery way.
I’d also recommend enjoying the city’s history and art museums, or taking some guided tours. Every neighborhood has its own story that’s worth hearing.
Local foods also have their own stories, like the Halve Hahn or Himmel und Ääd. Learning about these, and the local dialect, is one of the keys to understanding the Rheinischer Frohsinn – the sense of cheerfulness of the Rhein-people, which makes them so unique.
While in Cologne, you might also want to travel around and see other parts of Germany and Europe. You can go almost everywhere from here on a low budget – London, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam are all within reach.
But the trips I’ve most enjoyed are those inside Germany, to local castles and hiking trails like the Rheinsteig, Drachenfels, Eifelpark or the wonderful Museum Insel Hombroich.
What next?
Well, I am already doing what I wanted to do – working at the university on exciting projects and developing my own research for a PhD.
But I would like eventually to be able to bring new insights to the Israel Academy, since Israel also has a lot of work that needs to be done in the field of language documentation, preservation and consciousness to language diversity, as it is also a multicultural society.
I see in this sense a strong basis for cooperation between researchers from both countries, and this has great additional value as well.
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