l'étude dans Europe

Reading the guide for international students in Germany got me excited. I wanted to go there and experience the student atmosphere right away. The number of festivals, musicals, operas, open air cinemas, flea markets, football fans, bread, winter sports and races that they have actually had me clamoring for a student visa and flight straight to Deutschland right now. Ah… if only.

I got the guide from the recent European Higher Educational Fair held in the Makati Shangri-La during the weekend. In the pre-registration form, I was asked to rank 3 countries where I would be interested in studying. I put Spain first because foremost, the Castilian language is similar to our very own Filipino; therefore, studying it wouldn’t require as much effort as when you would study French or German. The second compelling reason is because of its great football with many international players opting to play there. Sabi nga ni kuya Pat, Spanish football is all about strategy and you would need lots of them to be able to make a good team. And I can’t possibly pass up a chance to see some of them famous players live in the Primera Liga, no? The second country I placed was Germany. Because of the 2006 World Cup and their extensive promotion, Germany seemed like a really interesting country with interesting people. And, they also have the relatively well-known Bundesliga. There goes the football connection again. Well, I don’t think European country could possibly be separated from football. So yeah, that’s a second compelling reason to go study in Germany. And I think learning German would be interesting. For the last, I placed the UK, because if I’ve no time to learn a foreign language, I would be sticking to the only other language I know which would be English. So there’s UK. And besides, they also got great football there with the English Premier League. A runner-up would’ve been Italy. I was thinking whether I should put it, because I was planning to take up Italian during my last sem, and their interesting cuisine of pizza, pasta, breads and wine. Add in their distinguished defensive play against all the other teams in the World Cup and the Italian Serie A with Kaka among its more famous personalities and there, another compelling reason to go study in the boot-shaped country. However, there seems to be some political instability with the resignation of the premier (or was that prime minister) recently, and well, I don’t think it would be very good. I also didn’t consider France because of reasons in the same thread, like the student protests conducted in Paris for some months, I think. Well, the speakers at the fair changed my mind. I only got to watch the presentations by France and Spain. I missed out on Germany because it was the same time as Spain. UK was later in the day and Alessa and I joined her sister and her friends at Max Brenner’s in Greenbelt.

France seems a very ideal place to study because of the very low tuition rates. This due to the fact that the French government allots ¼ of its budget to education, so a year in the undergraduate would cost as low as 300 euros. Compare a four-year baccalaureate here (around 14,000 euros – the basis was P60,000 a sem) with a two-year masters degree in France which is about 8,000 euros and you’d find that studying in France is as good as studying here. Living expenses are also quite cheap. And foreign students have the same rights as French students so you can work as well. Yeah, France is so tempting.

The presentation by the Spanish delegation only informed us time and again that learning Spanish is very easy for Filipinos, and that we could easily pass the beginner’s exam. For the intermediate and superior levels, enrolling at the Instituto Cervantes would be an advantage. Compared to France, their tuition fee is slightly more expensive at 600 euros. On the other side of the room, I thought I heard those sitting in the Germany presentation laughing. I wish I was able to sit in there. Germany’s education system I only learned from the pamphlets I gathered. They even have university for the applied sciences where the tuition fee is free because of the free education rule in that state. You only have to pay for some student services which is as much as 54 euros. How’s that for cheap? But that’s for the applied sciences. I’m not sure I want to venture more into it. But Spain has its charms. Barcelona, Madrid… I think Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind contributed to the country’s appeal for me. Ye should read it too.

Well, it’s nice to think about other things when you’re stressed. Something for me to chew on as I think of my future, since it’s practically nonexistent as of the moment.