Experience reports
Former PEM students are willing to share the experiences they have made during their time at the University in Lemgo and Trieste. You can have an insight about their pesonal background and how they started in the working life after their graduation.
Olaf Elstermeyer, graduated in 2017
Olaf Elstermeyer joined the PEM program because he was motivated by the idea of experiencing having contact with people from all around the world, also he thought that joining the program will would give him the opportunity to improve his English skills by being forced to speak English, those times he was afraid of speaking English due to that 5 years after his abitur was not speaking the language at all. Furthermore he was attracted by the idea of a semester abroad in Italy.
During his bachelor he joined a PEM conference excursion in Italy. He figure it out that Italy is a beautiful country to have a conference. During the excursion he got to get in contact with PEM students who recommended him the master program. He was so convinced that he joined the PEM.
What he liked the most from the semester in Italy was the best combination of studying and life style. When classes were finished, sometimes Olaf and his classmates were going to a lake in the Alps they prepared themselves with some typical Italian food like „prosciutto“ and were making group learning in the lake side.
When he got back from his second semester in Italy he was convinced to continue his international experience from Italy that is why he decided to share an apartment with one of his international colleagues when he came back from Italy. Furthermore he experienced to taste different typical food from different countries.
Olaf Elstermeyer works in an international company in the additive manufacturing sector, the PEM studies have helped him to work with colleagues and customers from all over the world being aware about the cultural differences. He also acquire his Additive manufacturing knowledge from his studies. Thanks to the PEM he learned to think like a group and not to follow the German individualization too much. Furthermore he lost the fear of speaking English.
As a conclusion he is the idea that to join the PEM people need to be open- minded and that each person is self-responsible whether the overall package of study content, cultural contacts and tourist attraction will be an enriching experience.