- Student
- 03/07/2023
And how are things at the Black Forest?
For my 3-month internship I am in a small village (less than 2000 inhabitants) called Gamshurst at the foot of the Black Forest in Germany, since the beginning of May. The place is 15 km from France in the Rhine Valley. The culture shock is bigger than expected.
I am doing an internship at Schäfer Elektronik, a manufacturer of specialist electronic converters, where I am contributing to the development of a battery system for industry. Through my employer in Eindhoven, HyTEPS, I came into contact with Schäfer and they were also enthusiastic. Although they do have a number of international employees, I am their first international intern.
Germany is of course geographically close to the Netherlands, but the culture in a small village is completely different from big-city culture I know in Eindhoven. I dare say I have had more culture shock now than if I had ended up in a college town in Australia or the US. The manners may be similar to the Netherlands, but it is mainly 'what' you do that differs. For example, you drink beer with friends (or the local football team) in the 'Bauwagen' (Dutch: “Keet”), and every public holiday (and there are quite a few in Germany) is seized upon for a village party.
The weather is also completely different from that in the Netherlands. As the village is situated in the valley between the Black Forest and the Vosges Mountains in France, it creates a kind of wind tunnel. Therefore it is actually nice weather during the entire internship period.
“Salli”
Because France is so close, the spoken dialect, Badisch, is a kind of mix between French and German. For instance, they often greet each other informally with “Salli”, a kind of corruption of the French Salut. At the office however, ‘Hochdeutsch’ (Standard German, the one that Dutch students 'learn' in high school) is spoken and is easy to follow for me. In my presence, people also switch to ‘Hochdeutsch’ at social events, although for some (and myself) this is difficult after 4 beers. Everyone speaks and understands basic English, but you have an edge if you try in German first, and only switch to English when you can't make it out.
The Black Forest is a true cycling paradise with steep climbs (18% is not funny), beautiful landscapes and endless vines. As you might guess, cycling is one of my hobbies that I can indulge in abundantly here. The first month I really had to train to be able to climb higher than 200 altimeters at all at once, but things are getting better and better and even the summit of the highest mountain in the region has now been reached by me. See the main photo taken on the Hornisgrinde (1160m) .
Trips
There are many great places to reach from the Black Forest such as Strasbourg and Karlsruhe but also Munich, which is less than 4 hours away by train.
I had also had an invitation to a meeting and drinks at the Dutch embassy in Berlin, and trains go there as well. Public transport in Germany in the cities and between cities is just fine, and comparable to the Netherlands. Provided you buy your train tickets on time, the prices are acceptable.
Embassy
At the embassy, a meeting was organised for Dutch students currently in Germany for education, exchange or internship. The main topic of the day was 'reasons to study in Germany'. The embassy would like to interest more Dutch youngsters in doing an internship or study in Germany. After all, many German students study in the Netherlands, but relatively few Dutch students study in Germany, even though it really is a different experience. There is a good chance that you will have to deal with Germans in your later professional life, as Germany is the Netherlands' largest trading partner.
At the end, there were drinks on the roof terrace. Not as nice as the roof terrace of Het Walhalla or De Salon (which I sometimes miss a bit), but with a view of the Fernsehturm and the Spree, which makes up for a lot.
Discussion