Please state your name, your nationality and what is your profession?
Hello my name is Lioba Schmann and I’m from Germany and I’m like the promotions and
marketing officer. It is part of the volunteer service so actually I just graduated from
school so I have no real profession yet but that is the job I’m doing currently.
Why have you come to Cardiff?
I finished and I always wanted to go abroad and spend some time abroad and when I finished
school, I was 17 so it is quite difficult to find a project when you are 17 because
having no major and stuff (degree). So I took a look at various projects and EVS was like
the only things I could do, so I wrote loads of applications to different projects and
I got an offer in Cardiff and one someway in Norway and France. So yeah I decided to
go to Cardiff because I prefer it here. I didn’t really have a choice but I really
like it here so I can’t complain.
How do you find the Erasmus programme? Is it offering you loads of opportunities?
Yes its great! I have to say you won’t hear any complaints about this program from me
because I really love it to be honest. I think I learn many things here because I kind of
worked in a newspaper before so I made a little bit in this area, but like a real job but
I get a lot of experience here. And I know a lot of people who are volunteering like
for example gardening or more manual stuff if you know what I mean. Like real work experience
to help you in your future professional career. But I am sure this will definitely help me
and I am really appreciative about this project. Also it is very good because I can practice
my English and this is really important for me as well.
Being here has it made you speak English fluently or you still think that you have a lot to
learn speaking English that is not your mother tongue?
I would say I’ve learned a lot, maybe from my perspective you get used to speaking English,
so you don’t to think so much before speaking. But grammar and vocabulary is still challenging.
Actually I did an online course to learn this (English), but I tried it once or twice and
couldn’t do more. I live with international people who are not natively English and when
I go over from residential to work better because I am surrounded by the use of English.
It’s really interesting actually because when my sister was over here (Cardiff) last
week I just spoke German and tried to switch to English. It’s really weird but also you
forget a lot of stuff and takes a few days to pick it up again.
So having the Erasmus community with you, do you feel as if it’s a comfort zone for
you where you have other German people around you?
It’s funny actually I got to know so many German people here. I’d prefer to know more
British than international people to be honest. It’s great, I think it’s really interesting
especially because we live together in a house with international people, like you see the
way of life how they cook and I dunno how they eat. Because Spanish and Italian people
cut their pizzas with scissors and I have never seen this and I’m like wow I didn’t
know that it’s actually really clever, should try it as well. Like getting inside these
different cultures, and I quite happy living with international people and not just Germans.
Because I know how Germans more or less behave, but not these international students so that’s
great. Especially in Cardiff, there are so many international students here across the
universities and the city. So every time you go out you meet someone like I don’t know
Brazil, Greece, India from everywhere really. Which is great.
Do you like living in Cardiff?
No actually I really like it because my home town is small so I know a lot of people say
Cardiff is small so for me it’s quite big. It’s weird depending where you grow up.
Here there are so much opportunities always something going on because it is the capital
and really loads of activities. It has a good connection because you can go to London and
go to the rest of England very easily. But it is difficult to get to North Wales. I really
like Wales because its surreal, the landscape, it has something magical for me and I really
like nature. The Brecon Beacons, hiking.
When you meet people from Germany or from all over Europe, what do you tell them about
Cardiff?
There are different reasons. Firstly its free, I know a lot of people want to go abroad but
it is just really expensive. I know a lot of programs where it is really expensive,
but Erasmus makes it possible for you without paying a lot of money or not at all depending.
It is a life changing experience I would say because you just get totally different things.
So I’d finished school and I wanted to take a break and find out what I wanted to do.
It helped me to be away from home to find my
life more or less and to the relationship with my family and my friends. And you get
better job opportunities because a lot of people value this, living abroad, living independently,
experience other cultures, get languages skills to learn another language and all these opportunities.
As you may have heard, there is an EU Referendum in the UK and basically if the people who
want to leave the EU can potentially end the Erasmus programme. If this was the case, what
would be your reaction towards this?
I think it will be a shame and really sad because people who come here to have opportunities
can’t to do that anymore. The politicians say you spend a lot of money on the EU and
we could use the money better. But to be honest they wouldn’t use the money to support young
people. They would never help young people and say “There you go here is £1000 and
go one year abroad and do work or one year of study. But they don’t see it important
anymore. The young people will miss so many good opportunities and I couldn’t understand it. There are
some people at work who think about the EU Referendum and they say “It doesn’t matter
if we leave the EU because they don’t do a lot for us” They are probably not aware
what the EU are doing and now I just realized because I now work in an EU organisation and
they have many different projects. And most of them are funded by Erasmus. So we have
for example a project to teach people about politics. We had an event last week and there
were lots of young people coming but it was all funded by Erasmus and without Erasmus
we couldn’t do all these projects, residentials and stuff. And there are other things like
culture and the youth sector so I don’t know how they could manage it to finance any
project for young people to experience things and learn new skills. It would become impossible.
I couldn’t understand if the UK leaves the EU and I really hope they will stay
What are your career ambitions for the long term?
When I left Germany I was sure I was going to go back to Germany to do my degree. But
now that I have been abroad and seen the opportunities I could go anywhere. In today’s world there
are so many opportunities, so I haven’t decided yet but I would like to study in the
UK. I would also like to work abroad in the future because I really enjoy this experience.
So that’s why I think it is a life changing opportunity because at least my university
plans have not changed much due to this program.
Do you think speaking more than one language plays as an advantage in terms of finding work?
Yes definitely! Well at least because you can communicate with people from other countries,
especially when you speak English because I know a lot of people from France or Spain
who don’t speak much English. So if you go anywhere for holidays you can’t communicate
at all. I think you should learn at least two languages and the more the better. Because
I think it is really interesting to learn languages because not just the language but
the culture aspect and you learn about the history, the values and stuff. You have better
chances of getting a job afterwards because you can communicate with more people. So I
think it is very important.
Would you recommend anyone to do the Erasmus programme?
Actually with everyone who think about going abroad I tell them “Do the Erasmus program!
Its great!” It’s really sad because it took me hours of research to find this on
the internet because it is not promoted anywhere. I know a lot of my friends are not really
interested in Europe, some prefer to go to South America. So I do my best to promote
it, it’s just a great opportunity and I hope in the future people will value it.
I’m actually afraid the UK leaving the EU concerning the whole of the EU. In
the last century there were 2 wars
in Europe and it was not a
long time ago. I think the EU should be like a shelter, like all countries are together
to keep the peace and help the weaker countries in bad situations and when other countries
are strong. When they are weak there is one system. I’m afraid because if the UK leaves
the EU, other people might say “Alright we are well off at the moment so we don’t
the EU or the money from other countries and we want to leave. So that’s why am afraid
if the UK leaves the EU, the whole EU is breaking and it is probably a matter of time. So that’s
why I want the UK to stay in the EU. The
wealthier countries. I don’t think Germany will, but I think other countries that are
in a better situation (economically) might leave too.