In the spirit if saying ‘yes/ ja’

After years of university overshadowed by Covid-19, I was bursting at the opportunity to expand my horizons. To me, this meant leaping at the opportunity to study abroad.

After backpacking Europe in 22’, Berlin was a city that I felt really inspired me creatively [the gritty art scene, nuanced design, collaborative working spaces] and I could see a potential future establishing a career there. This lively and multicultural hub of innovation called to me when choosing which university to apply to, and with the tick of a box… Berlin became a reality.

Landing in Berlin after three weeks of jam-packed European travel, I had nerves about how the course would be…and a lot of washing. After night one of settling into the hotel, meeting my roommate, unpacking for the next weeks and having some much needed rest, a group of us met in the plaza and walked to the main building of the university for our orientation. A 17th century lecture hall filled with international students- it was certainly an overwhelming start. After many hand shakes, introductions and lemon sodas, we jumped straight into the classroom with Professor Sander [whom I adored] from Florida University. The course structure felt quite familiar as he was outlining how the next two weeks would play out- it was remarkably similar to those two week BCII sprints that our cohort had completed over the last three years. Feeling at home with the process and marking my journal with due dates, extra information and notable group excursions I was ready to turn these goals into a reality.

Within the first few days, a lot of fast paced team building took place. Unusually, 15 of the 22 students had already been working on this brief for two weeks and us 7 ‘newbies’ had to put in our preferences as to which group [with entirely different problem spaces] we would join. I joined a group focusing on developing a solution that tackled the sustainable distribution of groceries and the relationship between consumer and producer. While we did a lot of the brainstorming in the classroom, we also took the group work out into the Berlin biome, with Sander’s encouragement. We addressed some of my journaled goals without even realising, as we sat in the local park, snacks in tow, both sharing laughs and culture, whilst inching toward potential solutions.

In the spirit if saying ‘yes/ ja,’ I hastily signed up for one of our innovation excursions to the EUREF Campus which is the home to over 5,000 employees all working on the common goal of powering Europe “sustainably, collaboratively, openly and jointly.” We were given a guided tour of the campus which was impressive in it’s design- dotted with countless electric charging points, solar panelled roofs and food hubs. I entered with very little knowledge on the engineering behind efficient energy creation and after seeing the different generators first hand I felt a little more aligned with the engineering behind this amazing technology. You could really believe that Berlin is one of the leading innovative cities just walking on this campus. The most memorable technology In my opinion was this ordinary looking street lamp, upon closer look, was actually a charging station for electric vehicles [Fig 2]. I think it was the combination of clever, urban immersion with supreme functionality that inspired me.

My team, comprised of two computer science students, two engineering and myself as design and BCII became a really interesting dynamic when we started to tackle the prototyping and feasibility sections of our project, which eventually was known as ‘Zero Waste, One Route, Two Smiles. Very quickly, chaos became routine, as our class would meet in the breakfast area to share a ‘guten morgen’ and a coffee and stroll to class as one. I felt myself already forming strong connections as well as learning about each individuals culture- what life is like at their home university, their travel aspirations and their experience.

I would use the spare afternoons after class and the weekends to visit different parts of the city. Some highlights included; trawling through the racks of a four storey thrift store, going to a naturalist lake in the middle of a forest and sharing a ‘prost/ cheers’ on the rooftop at sunset with my classmates. Wow, even writing about those moments, I am close to tears, happy nostalgic tears.

On the last day of the course I sat down with Professor Sanders for half an hour to gain his insight into the dynamics of potentially living and working in Berlin, as well as the potential to pursue some kind of entrepreneurial endeavour. One of the most potent things he said to me during this conversation was, “Sophie, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, you can ask for forgiveness later,” and it was this potent line that really concreted the fact that working abroad in Berlin 2024 was a very real pathway. Referencing my journal, he also noted that foreign workers in Berlin make up almost a quarter of the population and reassured me that most modern workplaces are happily English speaking when necessary.

At the end of the two weeks, I noticed that the idea of ‘studying’ I had before commencing the course was very inaccurate. Whilst I did spend late nights completing and designing the presentations for my team, Sander himself emphasised that the ‘studying’ aspect was more-so about exploring, networking and using the time out of class to enrich our understanding of the Innovation and entrepreneurial space. I felt it was those abstract conversions to and from class, the ramblings over dinner and the chats on nights out that taught me the most. It was almost as if- as soon as we clocked off from formal class- we were able to discuss the problem space in completely different ways.

At the award ceremony in which we were presented with our ‘graduation’ certificates- it was when the shudder of the camera went off and I had my classmates next to me that I felt a wave of accomplishment but more-so gratitude for the opportunity. I learnt so much in this compact space of time and made lifelong friends, connections and memories that I will forever cherish in my Moleskine journal.

Sophie Whitehead
Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication & Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation
Engineering Innovation – Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany
Global Short Programs Travel Scholarship

For more information about the UTS Global Short Program visit: www.uts.edu.au/thinkglobal