I spent my semester abroad at York St. John University. I lived and studied in York from the end of January to the end of May. The contact and application went through MicroEDU and was very easy and problem-free. The contact was almost exclusively via e-mail. Since I’m also studying English in Germany, I didn’t have to pass an English test. Before you started your studies, you could choose the modules that were suitable for your studies on the Internet and specify them as desired modules. I was able to take all of the modules I wanted and was able to change them spontaneously at the university. That wasn’t a problem at all. In general, the support for the foreign students was very good. There were always contacts on site and there was hardly a problem that could not be solved.
From the first day on you were very well looked after. Anyone who wanted could be brought from Manchester Airport to the university and even to the dormitories in a bus provided by the university. In the first week there was an “orientation week”. During this week you could get to know the university and York. The last ambiguities were resolved and you could swap courses. The week was very informative, but also exhausting. Several events took place every day: Of course there were also many opportunities to get to know other foreign students, which made it a lot easier to get started. After all, we were all in the same situation.
According to andyeducation, the university itself is not as big as you might be used to from German universities. The campus and the number of students are manageable. It all seems very familiar and familiar. The courses aren’t that big either. I usually had one lecture and one seminar per module. Of course there were more students in the lectures, but my seminars weren’t bigger than 20 students. So you have the opportunity to really get involved, which is also expected. There was a lot of lively discussion in the seminars and almost everyone gave their opinion. In two of my three courses I had to write two essays each and in one an essay and an exam at the end of the semester. We had to hand in one essay around halfway through and the exam and the second essays were due at the end of the semester. The library was always very full at these times. The library was called the “Learning Center” there and was understood as such by the students. There were many PC workstations and the volume was correspondingly high outside of the “quiet zones”. If you are used to the volume from our libraries, you first have to get used to it or go to the designated “quiet zones”. For me it was a big change to write so much during the semester. We tend to write homework during the semester break, so I had to get used to it. Dealing with the lecturers is very relaxed and they always have an open ear for the students and their problems.
The accommodation wasn’t that great compared to the rest of the university. I was staying in the dormitory “The Grange”. It was a small settlement with different types of houses about 7 minutes walk from the university. I lived in a row house with four other students. We shared the kitchen and bathroom. My room was furnished and had a small sink with a mirror. The size was okay too. The equipment and the condition of the house were simple and of rather poor quality. Blankets and pillows were provided, but cutlery, crockery and pots had to be bought by yourself. Every two weeks a cleaner came to do a thorough cleaning. You and your roommates had to take care of everything else yourself (garbage, cleaning, etc.). There were washing machines and dryers in the individual settlements, that could be used for a pound or two. All in all, you could live well there, but for the asking price, I found the apartment a bit expensive. Here the university could do even more and transfer the good impression of the university buildings to the dormitories.
