Name: Davide
Age: 28
Country of origin: Italien
Study course: Mechatronics
University: University of Applied Sciences

My name is Davide and I am 28 years old. At the end of 1999 I came to Germany as an Erasmus-student. Back then I studied environment engineering in Italy.Through other students I was introduced to the study course mechatronics and decided to arrange my whole studies in a different way.

At the beginning it was really difficult, I was sitting at a lecture and understood only 5 to 10 % of the things that the professor said. Some professors I couldn't understand at all. First I also didn’t attend a German class. Later on I have tried to correct this flaw with watching a lot of German TV and having daily conversations. The situation has now improved a lot!
I have to admit that the language was not the only problem: The studies in Italy are organized in a total different way and over here I often ran around through huge buildings without signs, to find someone who could tell me what I have to do where and how... But after some time things become much clearer.

At the moment I live at the Querenburger Höhe, an AKAFÖ-hostel. It's the best hostel at all in my opinion: The location is great and I have my own kitchen and own bathroom. The only drawback is that the neighbors don't really mingle with eachother.
The contact between foreign and German students is very good. For example there is the Erasmus Student Network, a group that offers many possibilities to become acquainted with others. They even offer trips to Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam etc.. 

Over here I have already worked in different areas. At the moment I am working as a bartender at the student pub "Zur Vorlesung", but I have also worked as a teacher for Italian, as a translator and assisted with taking down fair stages.

By my standards Bochum is a fairly big city, even if there are not many tourist features. I like best that there are so many students from every corner of the world. And as an Italian I have to emphasize how much I am missing my family and the Italian cuisine.

What I will do after the studies? We will see...Maybe I will even return to Italy.