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FOMATPLAY okay Malte, thank you for being here today. The first question is would you like to tell us about your journey and what brought you here in Italy? MALTE okay. the journey... how I came here, in particular? I took the... FOMATPLAY why are you here? MALTE why in general. Okay. So, the motivation. I wanted to have an experience abroad, basically. um then there's the question where do you want to have experience in abroad? if there's a possibility to and there are from my home university, from Austria, plenty of options. um but I had some connections to Italy before because I spoke some part of the language I took some courses. I wanted to go to the south. I wanted to see a different culture which is probably different to my initial culture, which would be German, and see maybe if there's difference what are the similar things; and I found deeply to be a good opportunity um... becau-, and then there would be the question: why Naples? should I address? FOMATPLAY sure, yeah. MALTE uh so there's um... like, when you are abroad I think or, like, at least what I knew, was that north and south Italy are a bit different. And I was, I have been to the north of Italy; I saw some cities I was moving around, I saw landscape. And so I, I didn't have to experience with south Italy. I was looking for some bigger city than my, my-, the city I'm living in right now , Graz. so I found that Naples is a very good opportunity because there's like one of people hmm Naples was very nice uh connected to a seaside and has a little of landscape around: like some mountains uh, Sicily is not far away, Puglia Calabria uh... so there there were many reasons why Naples um... could have been a good decision I would uh try and I was happy uh that I got the uh... the possibility; after applying for the ERASMUS program. FOMATPLAY okay. and how about Naples? I mean, have you ever felt mistreated here? and in Italy in general? MALTE so... like from social perspective I think not. there's no FOMATPLAY why so? MALTE no offense to-, there was never an offensive situation. Probably I'm a good spot here because I am a white male person, I look, probably, not not tough; so maybe people are less offensive against me. I had the experience of a stolen phone, which is a bad situation. but probably it's nothing about the city in general but it's about like, okay, poor situation for some other people living. FOMATPLAY hmm and how did you deal with that experience in terms of reporting? and yeah... in terms of reporting. MALTE I din't report anything. I felt like I couldn't change the situation um... it was 3 in the morning I had to get an airplane and I thought the chances are very low that I would get the phone back and I had to, I had to cancel like this but it was a trade off. I must have canceled the flight so I did decide to... FOMATPLAY okay. and now there are some things that you couldn't accommodate with here Naples? MALTE Are there? um accommodate in a very uncomfortable way... um... I don't think so. I think there's a lack of um, let's say, how do you say, sport facilities? facilities where you can do sport. this is something, I think, very cultural. where I'm coming from sports is like a trend probably is a trend for northern or western society. I think it's not established right now here in Naples that much; as you can see with like the lack of facilities. I think probably it doesn't say anything about my type of people, of young people, whatever. but yeah you can... if you are interested in doing something you can find a way, you can run throughout the nicest city for running as well. but yeah you can do something. FOMATPLAY okay. Since you have mentioned the Eramsus Plus project, the Erasmus project, what kind of aspects are different from the German university? German or Australian university? MALTE it's... okay, I have only; I think I've only an idea of the system in medicine I think it's very, very different. although it's six years in total um we are studying theoretically for only five years and starting a complete [tirocinio], and like an internship on the sixth year. and um that's not happening here in Naples. the practical course like the internships and the hospital are, compared to my home university, not that integrating, let's say. I am... it is also part on me because I didn't force people or, like, professors or doctors to pull me into the system. maybe also because my Italian is not at the highest level. So for me, I focus more on studying the theoretical part here and I took the exams um... I know from other people that they do internships and there are good professors in Italy as well; uh but also as far as I could see, um or like, as I have experienced, there's uh very, very, very little initial training; very little possibilities of doing hands on and I think especially for doing something practical medicine this is super important for um for training, training. this is, I think, a very huge difference. FOMATPLAY yeah. okay. And what kind of support network did you find here? MALTE I found myself in like a very, very good situation because I knew somebody from Austria before. she introduced me to some friends, to some people. I think the there's, a so called, ISEM group which is working Europe wide. In Naples they are crazy nice, crazy good organized, I think. I mean nice nice and like organizing a lot, bringing people together in that way, uh integrating; they are helpful uh whenever I found other people besides that who could help me out. uh I found the people in the, in the med school very um open in any regards. you can-, I'm not sure if this is Italy or Naples, but you can ask people around if you don't find your way. I don't know. home or to [bagno], I don't know. so.... as soon as one is probably not super close and super afraid of getting in contact with somebody, I think one will find, yeah.. people to be around. FOMATPLAY okay, and what do Neapolitans think about EU citizens living here now? what's their attitude toward the EU migrants? MALTE The EU migrants? I think Naples is uh, it's a special city in that.... like from that perspective. because Naples is also city of a lot of tourists. so... then there will be a questions like "how can-, as a Neapolitan, how can you uh see the difference between somebody who's staying here for a couple of months, for example; or a couple of years, or somebody who's only visiting for like a day, two days, a weekend, a week as a tourist? walking around [Centro storico] or [quartieri spagnoli], wherever, or the the [lungomare]. So I'm not sure if, like, a random person can have an opinion on that. as soon as you're getting into close contact with somebody and telling them "I'm living here", as soon as you start to speak Italian or try at least to speak Italian and show some interest, you find another single person who would not be interested, who would not be interested to show some of their part of the city, some of their experience, some of their mindset maybe. uh who doesn't want to uh get in contact with you a little. that said, there is the part of people not like around random people, who cannot distinguish and they might say that is here, what what's happening here is a lot of tourism. people are not aware of what's... like, who is living here, uh for example the [Forcella] district is I think a great example. I'm living there. and you see like a huge gentrification in my opinion; compared to Berlin. I know this phenomenon, like, I have the feeling of understanding parts of it how how this evolves and [Forcella] is nuts in that regard. like 7, like prices are rising like crazy. and in the [bassi] the people have no money left. for nothing. for food. that's right in the corner. FOMATPLAY that's true. and how do you feel about the attitudes to migration in Italy? MALTE I think it's hard to tell uh for me because I'm not living here; I'm not really migrating; I have only the feeling of young people-, like, I saw only young people who are migrating to this to Naples or northen Italy. I think they found themselves well... I don't know about this job situation, I don't know how easy it is to find a job uh to make a life here. I think it will be easy to find friends and people who help you but this sort of, like... it's not only the only part of migration. FOMATPLAY hmm okay. I want to ask you something about Brexit. what kind of memories do you have of that referendum? and did Brexit affected you, in a way? MALTE so, I think Brexit didn't affect me a lot, although, maybe, you want to import something from the UK, then you see it like practically there will prices um; you see it in the news there's some discussion but I think who's really not suffering, but like... the impact is on the people in the UK. either it's good or bad but I mean there's there's . FOMAATPLAY and what were you surprised about the results? MALTE um... like that they decided to exit? FOMATPLAY yeah MALTE um... surprised about humanity in general. of how humanity want to, wanna be protective. I don't know who don't want to participate and maybe, yeah, maybe there's there's discussion to be held, to be done. yeah, I don't know. I think I did, I was not that surprised because it's a decision... FOMATPLAY okay. do you think that the EU institutions have an influence in your life? MALTE yes, I think so. yeah. maybe not, not that I notice immediately when I go to grocery shopping, but I think projects are like financiation of projects for moving, trains, streets, restoration of buildings... I think there's, I don't know... but like from my feeling not the worst publicity on that; also, like, they, they show, like, EU shows when they did something, when they supported something monetaryized, monetaryized. um yeah maybe like this. FOMATPLAY hmm okay. and what you know about your freedom of moment rights as an EU citizen? MALTE as an EU citizen, especially as-, like I have a German ID and I think there's not much more freedom you can have moving; uh or like regarding movement also um... you are in a good spot of, like, having the the luck of not lacking money. so, I mean... sure, I have to look what-, how I can move around but I can, I can afford to buy an airplane to somewhere; I can afford to buy a train ticket; I have.... I can freely decide. although maybe the train would be more expensive like freely in... how do you say? in parentheses? not parentheses, like these things... it's like set me free uh huh deciding administrative of like do I want to pay more for for taking the train and being somehow ecological there? but I think I can move very free. that's, yeah. that's, that's okay. there's maybe the comparison to other countries, nations, who are where the movement is even more easy. even like the cities are better connected and I think regarding that Europe so, like... it's highly developed, let's, let's put it like this. FOMATPLAY yeah. and how would you describe freedom of movement? what kind of image um... comes to mind when you think about freedom of movement? MALTE hmm... freedom of movement is the possibility of deciding on my own where and when to go; um in the sense of public spaces. FOMATPLAY okay. and how would you feel if this right would be removed for some reasons? MALTE for some reasons, uh... maybe war, for example. um... yeah. we, I mean it would be horrible. it was there... I mean... okay, for me this feeling, for me would be horrible because I really enjoy moving around. I think it's more than the practical thing for me, seeing different areas in life; but it would tell more about the, probably, political situation, uh cultural situation, uh situation of the uh human collective which has had to-, then would have decided to um... not cooperate anymore and I think that cooperation is one of the main causes why we are um a leading species; the leading species on earth. so it would be, it would... firstly, remind me of the first and Second World War and then, yeah, this reasoning. FOMATPLAY hmm, all right. and since you've been in Naples for some months now, which values of Naples did you find the easiest to-, which kind of values did you find the easiest to assimilate? MALTE values? FOMATPLAY yeah. MALTE the values of the people? FOMATPLAY of the city, of the people, yeah. MALTE to assimilate. haha um... I think you are... the city sucks you in, like, immediately. It wants you to go out to share thoughts, to participate in being connected to other human beings. how do I describe it? what's the word for that? that's a value, maybe. like yeah being connected is worth something and it's very easy. it's maybe uh more difficult not to do this, not to be um integrated. FOMATPLAY all right. And how active are you in Naples in terms of social experience and network of relationships here? MALTE uh... from the perspective of the city? FOMATPLAY yeah. MALTE I think not extremely crazy. I think there are some connections I made, there are some Italian um... brief encounters who somebody would call friends. uh in that given amount of time um... I think I met uh... the organization of Italian courses, for example um... you are integrated somehow into a university system. besides that, I think um doing an ERASMUS is always also a connection with European students in general, um... international students, like this. And then there's a huge factor, I think it's also like Naples; the special-, probably there will be other cities as well, but in which is people, friends of yours, are likely to visit you because it's an interesting part of Europe so you are in the situation of a lot of people visiting you, which takes time from you; makes you less... gives you less liberty of moving around and yeah, adds up some amount of time you cannot use for connecting yourself with the city. Something like this. FOMATPLAY are you planning to stay here? MELTE I'm not planning to stay here. I leave with-, in the Erasmus program. FOMATPLAY and are you planning to come back in some time? MALTE visiting for sure. This will be for sure. Naples will be, like, a place in my heart. But to have a place in my heart will be the place where I can put my heart to and I think I... for me, from a practical perspective, I... it's for you... will, won't be that easy to find some jobs. FOMATPLAY okay, okay. that's for you. but in general do you think it's easy finding a job in Italy or in Naples, in particular? MALTE I mean... and... in the Europe comparison, Europe wide comparison, from the perspective of a German person probably it's not that easy to find a job. FOMATPLAY why? MALTE because there's less jobs, there's less money, people work more. um that's why. I don't know, I don't have the statistics, it'm my own opinion... FOMATPLAY no, it's okay. MELTE I am working; so there are jobs you can find, you have to search... it's not impossible, but it's harder to... FOMATPLAY and it's maybe harder for a nurse or is it the same? MALTE maybe but maybe not depending probably on your education, or connectivity or... this applies in general so like in your Country. FOMATPLAY all right, all right. How would you define yourself as a person? I mean, are you attached to your own country, which is Germany or, maybe, Austria? where's your home-, your home? MALTE um... so since I've been living now for five years abroad, some of the connectivity vanished to Germany, to Berlin. I found also that staying in contact with your friends and family these days became, in a sense, it is more easy. so there will be a connection which is a different connection, connection than being there at the place, in the city. I, I, I think I'm aware that I am a German person um... whatever that means. I'm very happy that I can use this part of my identity um... I hope that, that this is not everything. that my identity is not, I don't know, restricted to being German or now being part of Austria um... yeah. FOMATPLAY okay. and how often do you come back? how often do you go back to Germany? MALTE less and less; in the end I would say two to three times a year. FOMATPLAY hmm okay. maybe holidays and so on. all right. um since you traveled a lot around Europe and so on, which languages can you speak? MALTE I mean I speak only German and English and I try to learn Italian. FOMATPLAY all right, okay. and how did you-, how did you learn English and how did you learn Italian? MALTE I Learned English, I started learning English in school but, I think, like, my my level of English was due to speaking with flatmates, friends, using it in university, writing a thesis and English, things like that. Italian, I had a very long time ago in school for a couple of years. I forgot, I think, everything. I started to follow courses for two semesters in the university in Austria; and I think also here in Naples I'm realizing, like, you are only improving when you are around with people. it's a complete different intuition of language compared to the foreign courses. FOMATPLAY and did you have the chance to speak in your mother tongue here in Italy? MALTE I had the chance. that's something positive, I had the chance. yeah. FOMATPLAY okay and how did you feel about that? MALTE I think it takes away the opportunity of speaking to Italian. FOMATPLAY okay. alright Malte, um, how would you describe yourself, your personal identity? do you feel European, do you feel Austrian, do you feel German? and how these identities are connected or not? MALTE I think I feel West European um... because I I'm not sure if I would allow myself to uh say that I'm connected to East Germany very well. uh I'm not sure um.... if there's like... if Europe is is well connected to the east part, to the eastern part. um... but yeah, it's me. I think it's my brother, it's where I grew up. I think I have a huge German identity, not in a religious way, not that I... but I would confirm everything which my country does or stands for; but I know I'm like hugely influenced. I think, I feel not that crazy Austrian. I know that I'm still a foreigner there but it's... compared to every other immigrant or like from EU, it will be much more easy to feel integrated and yeah. I am happy. yeah. FOMATPLAY and what makes you feel you belong to community? which can be the Italian community at the moment or the German community, or whatever? MALTE um... in connection with people, friends, with the family. participating. I think studying makes me feel part of the community: taking a bus, walking a street, eating together, voting for election... yeah, these are things; reading the news of my countries of my, of, like, the countries I'm living in. FOMATPLAY yeah, and do you think you could fully trust the EU as an institution? MALTE no there's no full trust to nothing. FOMATPLAY why so? MALTE um.... no there's necessity, I think, of controlling mechanisms for... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.... FOMATPLAY uh huh. alright let me-, one last question. um have you ever thought of um... about how migration, or also freedom of movement, is represented in media? No probably ahah. I haven't thought about it much depending on what, like, what migration you mean. there's like huge, huge part of the media talking about some migration but this is fully not, not only part of Europe. yeah. there's migration coming from Ukraine, for example, more like a big part in media um... there's migration coming from next of the EU, from Europe which is part of, big part of media. otherwise I wouldn't say that like, let's say, uh European Union countries are very connected, or something like trains or airplanes, or the work together. French and German government, for example, or um the Greece government is not the biggest part hmm about what migration is about. FOMATPLAY hmm okay. maybe um... since you traveled also around Norway and so on, you have lived there; uh, do you have some experiences that you can compare: your staying there and...? MALTE um... FOMATPLAY also with bureaucracy. also with bureaucracy... MALTE with bureaucracy so... so since I'm, I wasn't working there, I was studying there; it was like a very extended replication so I didn't have to organize a lot uh... I found myself in a very small village uh living with a friend who was integrating me uh nicely, kindly; um I found the knowledge in people very, very um open as well in very, very dark times. Like only the weather condition wise. not for politics wise. I think it's a completely different experience because it's cold, small, uh completely different um administration, situation; streets are um clean, there's not many people. okay Oslo. the big city, yeah; there's a lot of nature around, people tend to be more rich, monetary wise... FOMATPLAY okay, thank you. well now I'm going to ask you some very short questions and you can answer just by using a couple of words, or just a sentence. so define freedom of movement just in one sentence. MALTE deciding on my own where I want to go. FOMATPLAY okay. how would you sum up your experience as an EU citizen? using freedom of movement, obviously. MALTE good. FOMATPLAY okay. in few words how would you feel if your freedom of movement was removed? MALTE anxious. FOMATPLAY okay, tough one: where's home and where do you feel you belong? MALTE almost where you find friends. FOMATPLAY where do you feel you belong now? where do you feel you belong now? MALTE I belong to humanity. FOMATPLAY cool. how do you feel here in Italy? MALTE um, very good. what do you miss the most of-, um, yeah. what do you miss the most in your host country? MALTE um... organization. FOMATPLAY okay. would you take the same decision today? MALTE yeah FOMATPLAY I've come here. okay. the very last question. who are you? and if you could define yourself using three or four words? MALTE haha um.. like hmm I mean, interested person in things, and I'm studying something; and do want to participate in public health. FOMATPLAY okay, okay. okay, thank you Malte for joining the project