Sinsheim-Germany

Furniture Design & Making students from Tramore Road Campus recently participated in a week-long Erasmus+ Group Mobility at our partner school, Friedrich-Hecker-Schule in Sinsheim, Germany.
This enriching experience brought together Irish and German students for a series of collaborative workshops, classes, group project, and cultural and industry-focused visits in the region.

Our accompanying teacher, Fergus Somers, worked closely with our German colleagues, Christian and Frank, to ensure a meaningful and productive exchange. The students gained valuable insights, developed new skills, and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn in an international setting.

We look forward to welcoming our German partners—students and teachers —to Cork in the near future.

Tramore Road Campus teacher Fergus Somers with students: Bru, Oscar, Gabriella & Kai pictured with Principal Thomas Brunner from Friedrich-Hecker-Schule in Sinsheim

Industry visit to a lumber yard in Mannheim

German carpentry teacher Christian engaging with our students

Gabriella DeDonatis

My experience on the Erasmus Plus programme was unforgettable! We visited Frankfurt, Heidelburg and Sinsheim which were all very beautiful and had a lot to offer. Our partner college Friedrich-Hecker-Schule was extremely impressive. They had put in a lot of care and preparation for our arrival and had organised a great programme for us. It was very interesting to experience what the German education system feels like. I truly learned so much from the students and teachers while also having fun! It felt like a very human exchange of knowledge and learning.

Outside of college, we had the freedom to explore what the city had to offer. We visited cool landmarks, went on wood walks and visited a lumberyard and Mannheim Castle museum with furniture pieces which connected greatly to the course I am studying. This trip definitely gave me confidence and made me feel so much more connected to my classmates and my studies. 10/10!

Gabriella De’Donatis

Furniture Design and Making student

Sinsheim

Happy Irish students

Heidelberg

Students interacting

Oscar Kelleher

My experience with Erasmus + is one of the most positive educational experiences I have ever had. I travelled with some of my classmates and teacher to the city of Sinsheim in Germany. I am doing the Furniture Design & Making 2 course in Tramore Road Campus and we visited the college Friedrich Hecker Schule. It was incredible to see the way that their college operates especially with the way the classes are formatted their in depth approach to problem solving and hand tool working. Even though they take a special interest in hand tool working they had a very impressive machine room with machinery for every aspect of furniture and joinery you could need. The German teachers frank and Christian where incredibly patient with their time and where willing to stay longer than needed just to show us more of how they taught woodwork.

On the cultural side of the trip we spent one of the days visiting the nearby city of Heidelberg it was very interesting to see the mix of pre and post war architecture especially leading up to the main castle, Heidelberger Schloss which is the most visually impressive building I have seen with so many different architectural styles from many centuries apart. We spent another day visiting a timber wholesalers and got to see how the family run business operated and they where very humble and patient with their time and our tour guide was eager to answer every question we had.

All in all I would highly recommend Erasmus + to anyone considering it not only because of the learning opportunities but also the cultural opportunities.

Oscar Kelleher

Furniture Design and Making student

Lauren Segretier

The Friedrich-hecker-schule in Sinsheim had very accommodating staff and students and it was a very interesting to experience the teachers' learning styles and their merging of theory and practical work in the classroom. They were very kind and knowledgeable about their craft and very willing to share their knowledge it with us. The students were lovely and tried to meet us halfway with some English and us with our poor German. It was also amazing to see the space they work in every day and all their machinery and tools they have.

The culture in Germany was fantastic and interesting especially the Mannheimer Schloss (Mannheim Castle) where we had a tour with the class from the Friedrich-hecker-schule and we all were fascinated by the craftsmanship of the furniture from the different periods they were able to show us. Overall I think it was an amazing experience and hope we can have the Friedrich-hecker students and staff over here for us to share our own culture with them and stronger our bonds with them.

Lauren Segretier

Furniture Design and Making student

Bru Vallebella

My personal experience on this year’s Erasmus+ programme was an unforgettable week of learning, understanding and cultural experience in Germany.

As soon as arriving in Frankfurt we were surrounded by the traditional built timber frame buildings. This is where the learning of how different cultures work with wood began. The questions and curiosity each student had that went on the trip made everything more interesting and enjoyable knowing each of us sharded the same passion.

We were introduced to Frank and Christian the teachers of the wood department. Two master carpenters with the utmost enthusiasm and knowledge for their work. Frank and Christian saw how keen we were to learn about woodworking and were more than happy sharing stories, ideas and great advice. I felt very welcomed and comfortable learning in their lessons. The way they thought was very interesting to me and I really enjoyed learning in their teaching style of figuring out first then communicating all together and then discussing a solution. We were thought how to use their design programme to successfully design and create our own board game using the CNC machine.

The week we spent in Germany was full of learning, communicating and memories. A great experience that I would recommend so highly.

Bru Vallebella

Furniture Design and Making student

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