This report is written in English as it is easier for me to express important details of my experience in English. I hope it serves as a clear and easy reference for both international and domestic students at KUBS who are eager to experience new cultures and adventures.
Hello. My name is Enkhburd and I just spent one Fall semester at the European Business School (EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht) in Germany.

1. Preparing to leave

Upon admission, EBS will send plenty of emails describing formal procedures for VISA, arrival, course registration and so on. The information sheets provided by EBS have good descriptions of what to do. Applying for blocked account and insurance is a must. EBS will provide few options on both. The two banks offered are Deutsche Bank and Volksbank. Opening an account at Deutsche Bank is faster but I would say Volksbank is more convenient because ATMs are more common around campus and nearby cities or villages. Volksbank is quite old fashioned but it works fine. As for insurance, Barmer Gek is most efficient and fast but its not the cheapest. I applied for my visa right after I got the necessary documents from banks, insurance and EBS (letter of admissions etc) and visa came out in no time. For any inquiries, Ina (international student coordinator) will reply to emails efficiently. EBS exchange student facebook page is also useful.

2. Settling in Germany (procedures and housing and arrival pick up)

My visa had duration of 3 months stay, so we had to apply for residence permit. EBS handles document submission to the immigration office once you arrive in Oestrich. The immigration office do not give out Registration cards, but instead they stick a stamp on passport and it is recommended to get a copy of passport and visas. Keep in mind that working hours for things are short in Germany.
EBS is located in a village called Oestrich-Winkel, one hour away from Frankfurt. They organize a pickup service for those arriving exactly before the Intensive German Course period. It is very convenient and the driver drops everyone right at their doors.
EBS organizes a flat hunt for all exchange students and its first-come, first-serve. There will be an online platform for that. One it opens, students will look through the PDF files including all related information to available spaces and send top 3 choices. Later Julia sends individuals emails on results. It can be quite competitive. 4 main areas of choice are Frankfurt (1 hour away every morning by train), Wiesbaden (30 minutes away), Hallgarten (over the hill, bus leaves every once hour) and Oestrich-Winkel (Hattenheim station is near Schloss, Oestrich-Winkel station is not). I lived in a 3 floor flat with 5 flat mates in Hauptstrasse, Winkel. I took the bus or cycled to campus. Personally, I would recommend Oestrich-WInkel cause it is closer to campus, all the supermarkets, river, train station and most other friends. Houses were very comfortable and roommates make it more fun. We had private rooms but mostly hung out in the communal kitchen.

3. School life

EBS has 2 main campuses which consist of 4 building areas. The main campus which most business courses are held is the Schloss campus. It is Oestrich-Winkel, near Hattenheim station. The Schloss campus has 3 buildings in total, so it is easy to walk around. There is also Burg building 15 minute walk away and this is where the intensive German classes are. Other campus is in Wiesbaden.
Like KUBA, EBS has an international student organization. They produce a booklet with information about living in Germany and host events. Students are divided into groups with leaders but there weren’t much gatherings (likely to change). Most of the time we had hangouts at each other’s place organized by exchange students. There are events such as Semester Opening/Ending party and student gatherings which happen at the campus. During fall semester there is Entrepreneurship forum and EBS symposium which happen for 3 days each and I would highly recommend them. We met Partners from BCG, people from Daimler, Facebook, and McKinsey etc.

4. Courses

At EBS, courses are offered in modules. Most modules often contain 2 courses inside and they happen in a sequence. For example, when one course finishes the other continues until the end of semester. Also, your schedules can look quite messy. Unlike Korea where course schedules are fixed on certain 2 or 3 days and hours of the week, courses at EBS are scheduled sometimes once a week or twice a week. Sometimes I had classes all days of the week, but one week I had no classes at all. Class hours can be quite long and sometimes courses overlap with one another. In my case, one course overlapped with 3 other courses. Thankfully, it was acceptable because it overlapped with them each for 15 or 30 minutes.  Also, if there are too many students registered for a course, attendants are chosen by lottery. Since I failed at the lottery I could not take Consulting Workshop Module. The following are the modules and courses I have chosen at EBS:

1. Entrepreneurship Module
   1. Essentials of Entrepreneurship: This course covers the basics about Entrepreneurship, funding, management and so on. Some group works are involved and it is better to team up with both exchange and German students as they know more about how things work around EBS. Does not check attendance. The exam will cover the slides and your groups own business idea. Very popular course so the lottery may take place.
   2. Innovative Entrepreneurship: Starts as a lecture covering details about writing business plans and models. Then students work as groups to write drafts of a business plan for their innovative startup idea. Finally students pitch to actual investors which is a good experience because they give feedbacks.
2. Innovation Management Module
   1. Lecture Innovation Management: Covers very detailed slides about management strategies and innovation processes. Most lectures were to be 6 hours long or so, but were often rescheduled. Classes were scheduled on Saturdays and one time only 30% of the students arrived because the Semester Opening party was the Friday before. The exam contained many questions, somewhat repetitive.
   2. Innovation Management Case Studies: Checked. Class can finish late by 2 hours or so because there may be too many presenting teams. The course is very popular among exchange students and there were few Germans. Professors give immediate feedbacks to presentations and they can be rough.
3. Real Estate Economics: Class consisted mostly of German students. The professor is very knowledgeable and nice but he goes over the contents very quickly. Before exams and presentations he gives summary about what he wants and what the exam covers. Overall, it is a somewhat easygoing course covering a difficult topic.
4. Studium Universale III
   1. Foundation of Ethics: Classes always have heated discussions. Professor likes it when students participate with smart arguments but continues asking until he gets a satisfactory answer. Most students were German. There are quizzes at the beginning of the lecture and it was a 5 minute ethical analysis essay about current topics (Volkswagen scandal) or previous readings, so it is good to come prepared. The exam was quite difficult as there were only 3 questions (you choose 2). Exam duration is 40 minutes so there is a lot of pressure when sorting through thoughts. 
5. German Language
   1. Intensive German: Interactive German and in 2 weeks, students cover basic grammar and vocabularies. Then students can choose to continue throughout the semester or drop it.

 

5. Eating

Many of my Asian friends had trouble getting accustomed to European cuisine. While traveling, they found out that most popular dishes in Europe (yes, Germany especially) consist mainly of various types of meats and potatoes. Some can be heavy for the stomach and salty for the mouth if one is used to light meals. Personally, I enjoyed them as I am used to such meals.
EBS Schloss campus has one cafeteria (Mensa) and one café/wine cellar (Cafta).The mensa serves lunch in a buffet style. Usually one meal will cost you 3.95 Euros or you can have salad for a cheaper price. Lunch usually has 2 choices of main dish and you can add any side dishes. Coffee and sandwich or snacks are served at the Cafta. Special events such as Semester Opening Party and Symposium are held at the Mensa and you can enjoy wine made from the grapes in EBS’s vineyard. There are vending machines to buy coffee and water. There are no drinking water dispensers (?) but tap water, even from the bathrooms are drinkable.
Note that everything except bakeries and restaurants are closed on Sundays, so we did some groceries on Saturdays. There are plenty of supermarkets around campus. My home was between two supermarkets; Rewe and Edeka. Between Schloss and Burg, there are Aldi, Rewe and Penny mart. Large supermarket chains such as those above are cheaper than supermarkets in Seoul. Sorting through trash and recycling is enforced in Europe. Returning all the bottles and cans at the supermarkets can be tiring but they return good money. Supermarkets offer cheap food options as they have almost everything needed for cooking. For those missing home, Asian markets in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt offer good selection of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and South East Asian ingredients. There are specialty stores for meat and dairy products and bakeries are excellent. Also, every week there are farmers markets in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt where you can enjoy street food and buy things and they are available on only certain days of the week or season. Lastly, there are Christmas markets in the winter season. Some markets are huge and most are beautiful with festive foods and souvenirs and music.
One thing that may surprise many Korean students is that there aren’t many coffee shops. In fact our village had maybe 3 cafes. So students often study within campus. There are few restaurants around but many students go to Frankfurt or Wiesbaden for special meals. It is very common to gather at one’s place and have meals together.

6. Traveling

Around Oestrich-Winkel, there are 4 main transport options. Buses, regional trains, SBahns and UBahns. The later 2 run within the cities only. The regional train going to and from Oestrich-Winkel leaves once every hour, or once every half hour during the day in weekdays. The buses are the same as well. There is a mobile app called RMV which report real time data on quick links within the Rheingau area for all 4. The student ID includes a transport card which you show to the conductor or the bus driver and they let you ride within the Rheingau Area for free (Costs around 110 Euros). The trains are comfortable with enough seating, bathrooms and power sockets. The local trains stop running around midnight and starts after 5AM. However, connecting Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Oestrich-Winkel, there are few night buses. Between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, the S bahn run during the night.
In Europe it is important to plan and research in advance to get cheapest deals. Travelling in Europe does not have to be very expensive. There are many cheap transport options such as the night buses, www.blablacar.com or using DB card. If you purchase the DB weekend card you can add 5 extra person on each ticket for 5 euros per person. Hostels and Airbnb or a friend’s house can offer cheap accommodations. Almost every city offers free walking tours and wifi spots. Safety can be a large concern, considering how safe it is to live in Seoul. Theft, robbery and fraud are common occurrences as it is difficult stay alert all the time. Also, the immigrant issue increases concerns, however it was not a major problem for me. The flexible schedule at EBS gives major travel opportunities but I would also recommend staying around campus to interact with other students more or participate in career or school related activities to enhance connections. It can be easier to travel after the semester has ended.

7. Shopping

Germany is a good place in Europe to shop. Although there is no drugstore or clothes shop in Oestrich-Winkel, there can be abundant of them in Wiesbaden or Frankfurt. For Wiesbaden, simply go to Wiesbaden Hbf, go out the main door, cross the road and take any bus of 4, 14 or 27 to Kirchgasse. Or you can walk for only 15 minutes. For Frankfurt you can take Ubahn to Zeil. They have similar stores such as the retail chains including H&M, Zara, Mango, Tommy Hilfiger and many more European retailers. There are very cheap options such as Primark or C&A for clothes and cheap retail chains for shoes as well. Beauty and healthcare products can be purchased from Drogeries such as DM or Rossmann.

8. Well-being

In Oestrich-Winkel there are few gyms and you can find them at the international students fair at the beginning of the semester. They bring their brochures and you can sign up on spot. I did not sign up because I preferred jogging or cycling by the Rhine river. Sometimes we ran up the hill between vineyards which is great as well. Those living in Hallgarten will have to jog up and down the hill as they are a bit far from river banks. There are also second hand shops selling bicycles or you can look into our yard and see if you can find a broken bicycle lying around. Just ask the landlord in advance. I found an old bicycle and since the landlord nor the neighbors knew nothing about it, I took it to the bicycle shop and they changed the brakes for free. I just fixed up the rest and it was good to ride. Winter can be quite cold and windy in Winkel though.
Germany has an excellent insurance system. I purchased the Barmer Gek insurance and they offered good services online. It was the easiest to sign up but not the cheapest option. I developed allergic symptoms while travelling and everything from the doctor’s check-up to medications and lotions were covered by insurance. If you have time, you might want to use up your insurance on health checks and others. Pharmacies are called Apotheke and usually have a red emblem on door. You can find some cosmetics and medicines. There are many of them in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt and one or two in Hauptstrasse.

9. Weather

Weather was warm until September with occasional need of jackets. However, it was noticeable that the temperature has increased across all Europe. We saw snow only once in Berlin until January. But the rain and humidity can make it cold.

10. Goodbye Germany

As the semester ending approaches, EBS office will notice you to close your bank account and deregister your addresses. It was a simple process if you follow the instructions in time and some parts can be done online. Students can extend their residence permit for 14 days at the beginning of semester.
 
For more information regarding EBS, Germany and traveling across Europe, please contact me via Gmail. My address is enkhburdtselmeg@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer your questions within my abilities.