Forge Your Own Path for an Unforgettable Journey (Germany)

They aim to particularly support young people whose family has a history of migration or limited access to education, or who face any other individual obstacles to travel.

Topics

• Around 60 scholarships are offered per year. Any well-developed application has a good chance of success. The possibilities are endless some example topics:
  • Anti-Consumerism in Leipzig
  • The Culture of German Bread
  • Start-Ups and their Founders
  • Sustainable Living in Copenhagen
  • Second Generation Vietnamese Immigrants
  • Basque Youth – a Photo Report
  • Nuclear Energy in France

Funding Information

• They will give you 700 euros totally independent of your academic achievement, your parents, or your nationality.

Challenges

• There are a few challenges you’ll have to crack to make your journey a truly unique experience. First of all, there’s the age restriction at the beginning of the journey you have to be at least 16 and not yet 21. You should also start your journey latest by September 30. But there’s more:
  • Travelling alone: Your journey should be the beginning of a new you. That’s why you should do it alone: to extricate yourself from your usual environment, be more open to meeting other people, and immerse yourself in the peculiarities and cultural characteristics of your host country.
  • Get going without flying: Approaching your destination slowly helps prepare you for what awaits. Flying is not suited to a journey towards self-discovery. Becoming aware of the distances that lie between the home country and the host country is a vital part of the zis project.
  • Keeping to your budget: Travelling on a budget makes it easier to get in touch with the local population and avoid the traps of mass tourism.
  • At least four weeks of travel: Your journey should last at least four weeks so that you can truly engage with your topic on a deeper level. Of course you can also travel for longer, as far as your time and scholarship allow and as long as you continue to pursue your topic!
  • Writing your project report: After your journey you will submit your project report or alternative documentation, your travel diary, and your list of expenses. Your report has to be at least 8000 words long. Adding photos or sketches will also make it interesting for others to read. A map showing your travel route is also a useful addition.

Eligibility Criteria

• Please note the conditions for non-German applicants:
  • you have to live in Germany, travel to a German speaking country or choose a topic with a context to German culture
  • they cannot assist you with any visa-applications
  • like all other applicants you are not allowed to travel by airplane and you have to cover ALL your expenses by the scholarship
  • You are working on a topic of your choice
  • You travel alone and for at least 4 weeks abroad
  • You start your journey latest by September 30th
  • You’re not traveling by plane
  • You keep a travel diary and write a project report
  • You don’t spend more money than you get from zis
  • You submit your diary, report and list of expenses three months after your return
  • You are at least 16 and at most 20 years old at the start of the journey.

For more information, visit zis Stiftung für Studienreisen.