January - June 2011
Saskia Köhler & Johanne Schneider, Fachhochschule Hannover, graphic design
Before
When Saskia and I decided to go to Breda for an Erasmus-semester, we didn´t know a lot about Breda. We just knew that the Nederlands have got a big reputation in design and by the way, they are right. : )
The website of the Avans Hogeschool wasn´t really helpful for us and caused more trouble instead of answering some questions. Therefore it is better to take a look at http://www.akv.stjoost.nl/eng. For our application we had to send a portfolio and a letter of motivation. In the middle of November we knew that we were accepted as exchange-students and our first minor would start in January. We stayed for about 5 months and took part in two periods of about 9 weeks. Our first period was the minor „Information Design", our second one was „Identity & Strategy“ in the 2nd year class of graphic design. Both periods contained 3 courses and theory lessons.
Arrangements
We thought it would be difficult to find a room in Breda, but luckily we both found rooms easily as there are a lot of international students in Breda, who also go abroad and want to rent their rooms. Most of the classes are held in Dutch so we tried to learn Dutch at home in Hannover, but there was only a little language-course and it was more for fun. It´s a pity that there was no Dutch course for us in Breda. But almost everyone at AKV|St.Joost spoke very good English, so communication in English was no problem and the students and teachers are very frienly and try to help you a lot. It is also good to have a VISA-card before your stay, so you don´t have to pay fees at the cash-machines.
The school
AKV|St Joost belongs to the Avans Hogeschool but has an own bulding, it´s an old seminary. The school has a lot of workplaces, PC/Mac-rooms, a little shop and a cafeteria. The atmosphere ist pretty good at school and the relationship between teachers and students is nice. In our case the teachers were very commited and tried to help you to find out more about yourself as a designer. You can get corrections for your work every week and the feedback is honest and helpful. It is the same for the final presentations at the end of a period: the marks in the course were public for everyone.
Breda
The town is nice and lively, maybe it´s typical Dutch: people go out after work and have a drink in town. Breda is a sweet shopping town, has a good nightlife with a lot of bars and as it turns into summer there are nice festivals like the Jazz Festival. There is also the Grapic Design Museum in Breda with changing exhibitions. As we´re in the Nederlands it is very important to have a good bike, it´s the means of transportion #1! It´s also nice to travel by train and it takes only about an hour to Rotterdam or two hours to Amsterdam.
After
We really enjoyed our stay at AKV|St.Joost and can recommend this school to design-students who want to go a little bit further with their studies. The 5 month have changed our attitudes towards studies and deisgn and we would do it again, Breda was the perfect choice for us.
