University of Applied Sciences, Fulda

Part Two

In a country which ranks much higher in the individuality index, one will have problems finding the way: ". . . the system, the whole system [was foreign], because our school, we were like spoon-fed, like everything was provided . . . I was amazed because I had to figure out how to do it, or it took me a lot of weeks to figure out what are the requirements . . . and then attendance, um, was kind of difficult because I am used to, um, knowing that attendance is a must, that it was like okay if you are not doing anything feel free to go out of the class . . ."
The Philippines rank high in masculinity. This means that competition, challenge and recognition are of significance. ". . . grades are either pass or fail, but in our school it was very important to get high grades. And it is very
competitive there and you always have to do your best just to be on top of the class . . . now it’s too painful for me to stay and do a work for two hours, for me it’s too much already . . . I said to myself, why can’t I do what I used to do before, I could stay the whole night in my room and I still enjoyed my job . . . because you are not motivated, you are not aiming at a good grade or so, everything is okay even if you reach a half of the job, it’s okay."
Establishing contacts with the professors, in spite of their friendliness is not easy. "Maybe it’s the language problem, because I know I don’t speak much German . . . and I don’t know them very well, and I see them as, like high-ranking people, so I try to keep away from them, and I don’t want to establish . . ."
Coming from a collectivist culture, where contact with others is the backbone of social life, Fulda seems gloomy. ". . . I think Fulda is too small for this kind of program, it could have been better . . . big cities where you really encounter and mix with a lot of people, although we’re like very mixed. We have many different nationalities, but right now I can see that they only stick together . . . I am very passive now, I used to care a lot . . . I was very active in extracurricular activities . . . I miss that, because it give me a lot of contacts with people . . ."