{"id":8509,"date":"2021-02-15T10:51:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T01:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/?p=8509"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T01:51:08","slug":"german-sport-university-cologne-study-abroad-experience-vol-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/sgu\/news-en\/2021\/02\/15\/8509\/","title":{"rendered":"German Sport University Cologne study abroad experience (Vol. 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

From October 1, 2019 to March 11, 2020, Mr. Ryo Morikawa, a Master’s degree student of sport sciences at Waseda University, visited German Sport University Cologne<\/span> as a visiting student through the Top Global University Program. Below is a report from Mr. Morikawa.<\/em><\/p>\n

2020 Top Global University Project
\nHealth Promotion: The Joy of Sports and Exercise
\nGraduate Students Academic Travel Support<\/p>\n

Return Report<\/p>\n

Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University
\nMaster’s Degree Student
\nRyo Morikawa
\nGerman Sport University Cologne, Germany<\/p>\n

1. About the Program<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/strong><\/h6>\n

This report is about the exchange semester I\u2019ve spent in German Sport University Cologne. The program was established as a part of Top Global University Project: Waseda Goes Global.<\/p>\n

2. German Sport University of Cologne<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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My partner Alex<\/p><\/div>\n

German Sport University (GSU) is located in Cologne in Nordrhein-Westfalen, western Germany.\u00a0 GSU is Germany\u2019s only and Europe\u2019s largest sport university. GSU has been paying a lot of attention to create a global environment. International students increased from 62 countries in 2012 to 93 countries in 2019.\u00a0 Staff of the international office had welcomed me very kindly, and the support they gave to the exchange students was just astonishing.<\/p>\n

One of the systems which helped me out a lot and I enjoyed the most was the system called \u201cBuddy system.\u201d Each exchange student is assigned to a partner from GSU whose role is to show around the campus. But most of the buddies did not only just stop with a tour guide around the school. My partner was Alex, and we became very close. He showed me around the city and how to live and enjoy the life in Germany like a German. The first 2 months would have been much harder for me if he wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

3. Classes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I spent my semester in \u00a0Germany as a Master’s degree student of Human Technology in Sports and Medicine (TSM).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Timetable at the class<\/p><\/div>\n

One thing that amazed me about German education was that it shows you a clear vision of what kind of skills you can acquire and what kind of future career you may get. When you could visualize what kind of career you want to pursue, it is much easier to focus on what you are lacking and work on it for improvement and to become one step closer to your vision.<\/p>\n

There were 2 characteristics about German classes that made the studying more efficient and effective. The first point is that it puts a lot of focus on the output. Every theory seminar required you to give a presentation and express your opinion about the topic of discussion. The second thing was that all lecturers cooperated with each other to relate all the classes to each other. For example, in the Biomechanics Lab on Wednesdays, we would capture data, and in the Data Programming class on Mondays, we would process the data we had captured last week. Besides this, I did some statistical test to the processed data on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

4. Life in Cologne<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ll summarize the life in Cologne by 3 topics: food culture, soccer, and friendship among the exchange students.<\/p>\n

A. Food in Cologne
\n<\/strong>Needless to say, Germany has one of the best beer in the world. Every region has its own kind of beer, and the beer in Cologne is called Kolsch. We drink Kolsch with a Kolsch glass, specifically designed to drink Kolsch. Many Kolsch brands has their own restaurant, and these restaurant are called Brauhouse. There, you can get authentic, high quality German food. Every dish makes you want to Kolsh, and you\u2019ll understand why beer is so popular in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\t\t