Inside DFI // Once Asked Questions // Interview mit Frederik Birn // Exchange Student
Frederik ist zum Anfang des Semesters als Austauschstudent bei uns DFI.
Mittlerweile ist er aufgrund des Lockdowns zurück an der VIA in Aarhus.
Hey Frederik! You just came to Hamburg and the DFI as an exchange student. How was the process of getting here?
Actually, it was super easy. I got in contact quite late because there were some little confusions thanks to COVID. But after I got the mail address of Nir things went pretty fast. He was just like „sure please come over“ and „if there are any other students who are also interested just bring them. Go go go go“ haha. In comparison to other universities, it was just very personal and not a whole lot of bureaucracy. The coordinator at my school was very helpful as well and everything got cleared pretty soon.
Were there any difficulties because of COVID-19?
No, not really. I did a test just to be safe but actually, there were no other things required like quarantine or something. But I kept it down a little and stayed home at first.
Are you already kind of settled here?
Sure. I actually had no difficulties with finding a place to stay. Nir sent me a little info sheet with some websites where I can find accommodation. On this sheet, I found the website wg-gesucht.de and it was like crazy. I’ve looked up quite a lot of flats I wanted to stay in and nearly started to write some applications. But after I created my profile I got like 15 people writing me instantly if I wanted to stay with them. It was so easy I couldn’t believe my luck at first. Now I think maybe it’s just because people didn’t get their flat rented because of COVID too.
What do you think about Hamburg? Is there anything that reminds you of home?
Yeah. Actually, the Schanze itself reminds me a lot of home. Aarhus itself is a big city but it also is so small that it feels quite local, to be honest. Same here kind of. People are really friendly and it’s kinda got the same vibe to it as Aarhus. I went to Altona as well and took a bike from there around some parts of the city. I quite like it 🙂
You didn’t really have any classes yet because we’re between the semesters. How are classes at the VIA?
What I love about the classes in Aarhus is that it is so practical. Same as here. It’s the best way to learn in my opinion.
Sure you’ll get graded but in our business, nobody will look at your grades anyway. It’s more about what you’re doing or what you did and I love that.
Only learning theory like in normal universities is quite boring to me and doesn’t feel right. I don’t mind theory as long as you got the sense of how you use it in real life.
The only difference I see till now is that the VIA is much bigger than the DFI. There are just more campuses and different majors you can make. For example, we got a campus for design, for film, and another one for nursing. It’s different but most things are practical as well.
So what is your profession actually or what are you studying?
Schei*e 😅😂. So mostly it’s photography I think haha. It’s part of the film school at VIA. But I had to go through all the classes as well like lighting or editing. So that was… aah yeah it went bad, haha but I’m glad that I went through everything to learn it at the beginning. But if you actually want to dive deep into a topic you’ve got to learn more for yourself. So you learn a little bit of everything and while that you figure out what you really want to do out there.
Can you tell us something about your past projects?
Actually the last half a year I’ve got into 3D design and animation. So after that exchange, we have to do an internship for the next semester and I’m trying to get an internship in VFX graphics. Other than that we were not able to shoot too much in the last times. Again thanks to COVID but I used that time to do more work on my portfolio to get that internship.
What do/did you expect from your semester abroad?
So because our exchange management person mentioned that the DFI has got kind of the same vibe as our school just in a design kind of way I had no worries or anything when I chose to come here. I literally got here with no expectations but instead, I really wanted to experience another approach to things.
As I got the mails from Nir everything just seemed very cozy and chilled here so yeah. That made me very comfortable to choose the DFI and now I’m here. Actually, since I’m here my expectations just got confirmed. What I mean is that it seems that it’s not like that bound by rules and if you guys want to do something you’ll figure something out. Also I quite like small schools because everybody knows each other and it’s not like.. „oh here comes the headmaster be careful“ or anything like that. It’s just like more close or something haha. For example, just a few moments ago Jesta came by and just said Hi. So we chatted for a couple of minutes. And that’s kind of the same vibe as back home so I really like it.
Would you recommend a semester abroad? Why?
Sure thing! I think there is nothing like getting the experience of studying abroad and getting to know other people and other creative ways. So if you’ve got the opportunity to go to another place then do it 🙂
Thank you for the Interview Frederik!
Hope you had a nice Semester here with us 🙂
Feel free to pass by any time.
Im nächsten Factory Friday wird und Luca von seinem Austauschsemester an der VIA berichten. Vielleicht hast du ja noch weitere Fragen zu unserem Exchangeprogram 🙂
Freitag, 29. Januar 2021 ab 11 Uhr
Hier geht es zum Zoom Meeting!
Du willst Filme von Frederik sehen? Check diese Links:
Und wo das her kommt gibts noch viel mehr:
Interview & Foto by Lorenz Staffeldt //