The academic year is in its final stretch as student scramble to study and prepare for their end of year exams. This period also marks the final month many foreign exchange students at Stellenbosch University (SU) will spend in the picturesque little student town.
Foreign exchange students also bring a fresh perspective of Stellenbosch society. An honest, objective and distanced view which South African consciously or unconsciously.
Two second-semester foreign exchange students, Valeria Widler (26) from Germany and Michelle Koomen (24) from the Netherlands, both currently busy with Master’s degrees in Global Studies, shared their experiences as they come to the end of their time in Stellenbosch:
“In the beginning, I found the friendliness and genuine interest in other people that I encounter here striking. Of course, this cannot be generalised to everybody but there is a stark general contrast to how people interact back home in Germany,” said Widler.
PHOTO 1: Valeria Widler (26) is originally from Germany, she spent large parts of her adolescence in Berlin which she loves even though she feels the people are “cold and dismissive”. Widler has studied in Germany, Italy, Poland and is currently on exchange at Stellenbosch University (SU) from Leipzig University. PHOTO: Supplied
“My general experience has been great, but I became aware of the fact that everyone was welcoming me into their country/community because I was a white European woman.
“I became aware of classism more than racism maybe because racism is out of fashion, superficially at least, and classism isn’t. At the same time South Africa taught me what multiculturalism is, we try in Europe, but I don’t think we even know what it means. We just want people to adapt to our culture,” said Koomen.
PHOTO 2: Michelle Koomen (24) is originally from the Netherlands with her work focussing on African migrants entering Europe. Koomen also had the choice to go to Addis Ababa for her exchange but favoured Stellenbosch University (SU) as she believed SU to have lecturers and courses better suited to her interests. PHOTO: Supplied
This sentiment is shared by Carina Jansen (23) a former student of the Stellenbosch University Arts Department currently doing her Master’s degree in Visual Arts at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
“Maybe it’s because we have such a diverse country with 11 languages all with their own unique history and culture. My experiences in Europe has been one of assimilation rather than acceptance,” said Jansen.
PHOTO 3: Carina Jansen (23) is an alumni student of Stellenbosch University currently studying a master’s degree in visual arts at Maastricht University. Jansen headed to Paris in December of 2017 to au-pair for 6 months before furthering her studies in the Netherlands. Her hope is that she can take what she learns internationally, localize it and through localization help improve South Africa. PHOTO: Casey Delport
Academically both Widler and Koomen felt like SU really challenged them this semester.
“I think Stellenbosch University demands more from its students than my previous universities did. In my experience, the workload here is quite high and you cannot get away with superficial analysis that easily. Courses were up-to-date and well-thought out. Overall, I feel like I’ve learned a lot in a short amount of time and I feel quite inspired to write my Master thesis,” said Widler.
Koomen agreed as she said that SU is a good university where teachers want you to participate and lead. They want to know your perspective and are open to new ideas and theories.
“South African people are creative and keen for challenges. They are ambitious, eager to learn and willing to discuss. Always striving to find something meaningful in life. Even more than Europeans. Although the simultaneously similarity and deep-rooted separation was what I found the most surprising and interesting. From the outside there are far more similarities between South Africans than there are differences,” said Koomen.
GRAPHIC: Casey Delport