Going back to the Vaterland – Exchange in Mannheim, Germany

Many people I’ve met over here so far can’t understand why someone would come from Sydney all the way to Mannheim, Germany to do their exchange. It seems that everyone could only imagine doing the reverse. Maybe this blog will help see why this is such a great place to come or at least why I love it here.

Let me start with my reasons for coming here. First off I was born in Germany and lived here for 6 years so wanted to come back and live in Germany again, be close to my relatives and of course get my German back up to scratch. Also Mannheim is a perfect central location making it easy to get to much of Europe.

Arrived in Germany mid July for 6 weeks of relaxing, travelling and enjoying the summer weather before starting uni. Stayed with my grandparents and cousins in the black forest in the south west of Germany, went to a music festival in Edinburgh with my cousin, went sailing on Lake Constance, hiking in Austria, visited friends in Munich, Mainz and Stuttgart.

               Lake Constance

 

               Hiking in the mountains in Austria

Then finally started uni in Mannheim which is in the south of Germany a bit south of Frankfurt. The city is surrounded by 2 rivers the Rhine and the Neckar. The uni is in a beautiful baroque palace and has a very good reputation in Germany and Europe especially for the Business and Economics courses. Apart from that the student life is very good especially because of VISUM, the group for international students, which organises lots of events throughout the semester including weekly parties, trips to other German cities, movie nights, pub crawls. They also have a buddy program which was very helpful to be shown around the city and the uni and have someone to help answer questions. The uni also have weekly parties which are great!

               Mannheim University

               Wasserturm (water tower) in Mannheim

All the people over here are super friendly and as well as Germans I’ve met people from Italy, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, China, Peru, Spain, the US, Russia and of course other Aussies aswell!

Being so central in Europe it’s really easy to go travelling on the weekends. So far I’ve made it to Munich for the Oktoberfest, Stuttgart for the Cannstatter Wasen (a Volksfest similar to Oktoberfest), Aachen and Prague. Amsterdam and Budapest are next on the list.

               Oktoberfest in Munich

               Prague 

               Ice bar in Karlovy Lazne (biggest club in Prague)

I’m already at the halfway point of my exchange and can’t wait to see what the next few months hold!

 

 

Daniela Maier

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