Peter Smith (0906317) Erasmus Report
Before I left
Having decided during my second year that I definitely wanted to do Erasmus, I applied to go to
Germany and chose to go to Bonn on the recommendation of the Erasmus co-ordinator at the time. I
had absolutely no idea how to find a place to live, the first of my priorities, and so I got the name of
my Erasmus co-ordinator in Germany and emailed him. Luckily, he was very on the ball and he
directed to the University’s “Studentenwerk,” who are responsible for university accommodation.
Most German universities have them and the application for Bonn was relatively simple, as well as
having the option to be done in English for those not fully comfortable with their level of German.
Having applied for a room online I was allocated a room and an arrival date of the 1st of October, one
week before term was due to start, it really was as simple as that! The only hiccup before I left was
the difficulties I faced in trying to select modules in advance but I was assured by my co-ordinator
that the week I had before term started would be sufficient for me to make my choices. And so, very
excited, on the 30th September my friend and I packed up the car and set off for Bonn.
Arrival
I arrived a day early in Bonn and had hoped to be able to be let into my room a day early. There I had
my first lesson in how not to take things like that as read as I arrived to find an empty office and a
phone number of a resident tutor which was never answered. Luckily, I had a friend staying in Bonn
with whom I already agreed I would stay. The next day was the moving in day and so I took myself
off to the Studentenwerk offices and waited in line for about two hours before I was able to pay my
deposit and get my keys. One piece of advice I would definitely offer with regards to this signing
session and these first few days is to take some hard cash with you, as the last thing you want is to
have to do what I did and take money out at regular intervals, incurring charges each time I did so.
Anyway, I got to my room in the afternoon and set about the process of moving in and pottering
around until the evening, when the Erasmus “kick-off” started.
The Erasmus welcome week at Bonn was really well organised and allowed me to make friends fast.
Many of the people I met were the people with whom I spent the first few weeks of the year (some
of them are still friends even now!) and without them I may well have been on my own a lot so it
was definitely worth going to the welcome stuff! Especially as, luckily for me, not all Erasmus
students speak brilliant German at the beginning and so a lot of the welcome week stuff is
conducted in English. All that means that if you want to practise your German you have ample
opportunity to do so, but if you are nervous and still adjusting you won’t miss out on anything.
Also in the welcome week was a meeting with my Erasmus co-ordinator and my fellow maths-based
Erasmus students. At this meeting we were supposed to be told the outline of our years and what
modules we could do, but the co-ordinator was absent (not the last time the “organised Germans”
myth was busted) and so we just pottered around a bit but didn’t actually achieve anything. This,
allied to my own, I must confess, apathy, left me severely unprepared for the start of the academic
year and so that is the section I shall cover first.
Academic:
One of the things you will hear repeatedly during the welcome week is that Erasmus is an academic
exchange programme and not just a year off. While it is tempting to view the year as a big holiday, it
is inadvisable in my experience to just leave things and assume they will figure themselves out.
Unlike at Warwick, you will not get emails reminding you to sign up for modules and, at least in
Bonn, the assignments may not count towards your final grade, but instead make up the sole
criterion for whether you are allowed to sit the exam at the end of the semester. Therefore, leaving
module selection to the first week of lectures, as I did, is not a great idea.
Having said all that, if you are on the BSc course Erasmus is a great opportunity to branch out into
other subjects besides mathematics, if you are so inclined, or can be used as an opportunity to
relearn things you found tricky at Warwick. That is exactly what I did. I took up a new language in
Bonn which I have continued at Warwick as well as doing a few courses which allowed me to learn
things I struggled with from my second year. I did of course do some new material as well, but I feel
better prepared for final year, rather than less well prepared and still had plenty to enjoy some of
the other aspects of life in Bonn.
Night Life:
Depending on where you come from, the night-life in your new place might seem wild or a little bit
tame. Even though I am originally from London, years of being at Warwick left me unprepared for
city nightlife. While Bonn’s nightlife is only a little better than that offered by Leamington or
Coventry, not actually a bad thing; Cologne is nearby and train travel for students is free in the whole
state courtesy of the student ID. Cologne has a population of more than one million people and so
it’s easy to imagine what its nightlife is like. Bonn itself is packed with small but lively clubs all
throughout the city and each of the halls of residences have their own bar in the basement, where
there are sometimes great parties taking place. So, although Cologne is probably a better shout if
you want a big club night with around a thousand people packed into a club, Bonn does not
disappoint and there is pretty much always something on every night of the week, except Sundays of
course! As well as nightclubs, Bonn has its fair share of nice bars and pubs, including a few Irish pubs,
which are inexplicably popular on the continent. I say inexplicable because they are not actually
anything particularly special, except for the higher priced imported drinks, but they’re always full
and are a good place to watch English football.
Food & Drink:
Anyone who goes to Germany says the same thing about it. The Döner kebab really is better than
anywhere else. Bonn is full of kebab shops and they’re all pretty good, so it’s always easy to find the
perfect post night out, or even lunch time, snack. As well as that, the German reputation for good
pork is well-justified.
On Monday-Friday you can eat at the university cafeteria (die Mensa) quite cheaply and the food is
pretty good. A lot of students go there for lunch making the Mensa a natural meeting point for
people. If you want to do your own cooking there are plenty of supermarkets in Bonn, the main two
being Lidl and Edeka. Lidl is cheap and cheerful, with some surprisingly good food whereas Edeka has
better quality food and more choice, although naturally you pay more for the privilege. A lot of what
we would consider cheap supermarkets in Britain, like Netto, Aldi or Lidl, can be found in Bonn and
are a good option for your weekly shop! In terms of drinks, Germany’s beer is miles better than ours
as you can get a cheap beer for 50 cents in the supermarket and it’s actually really nice most of the
time! Wine is also easy to get hold of and surprisingly good value in that a cheap wine can actually
be pretty decent. Spirits are much the same as in England and so are soft drinks.
Culture
Bonn’s status as a former capital means a number of important buildings are located there. One only
has to walk up the Rhine (well worth doing due to the beauty of the landscape) to come across
governmental buildings of great importance as well as headquarters of many big German
companies. In addition to that, both Bonn and Cologne have many historical sites worth visiting. The
“Haus der Geschichte” in Bonn is free to enter and tells an interesting story of life in Germany after
the Second World War. Cologne Cathedral is also well worth a visit, particularly if you brave the 500
odd step climb to the top for the wonderful views of the area it offers. Furthermore, Bonn is
Beethoven’s city and so the very house in which he was born is right in the middle of the city. That’s
just a snapshot of what there is to see in Bonn, it is well worth reading up on Bonn and Cologne
before you go to see what you might like to visit.
Sport
Bonn has no professional football club so if you want to go and watch the Bundesliga you need to go
to Dortmund (Borussia Dortmund), Cologne (FC Köln), Leverkusen (Bayer Leverkusen), Gelsenkirchen
(Schalke 04), Moenchengladbach (Borussia Moenchengladbach) or possibly Düsseldorf (Fortuna
Düsseldorf) or Duisburg (MSV Duisburg) depending on which league they’re in. Those seven teams
are all within reach of Bonn for free (more on that later) and tickets can be very reasonable. As with
England, the bigger matches sell faster so look in advance if you want tickets. In terms of playing
sport, the university has the opportunity for you to play many different sports so check out the
Hochschulsport website once you’ve arrived. There may be a small sign-up fee but then you’ll be
able to play around twice a week for the duration of the semester. Local sports clubs are hard to find
in Bonn so you’re better off looking in Cologne for that. I didn’t join one so have no idea how they
work but you may meet someone through the Hochschulsport who can help. Also, the
Hochschulsport was where I met all of the German friends I made so go along in an English team
football shirt and someone is bound to talk to you!
Travel
When you arrive and pay the social fee you will be given your semester ticket. This entitles you to
free travel on the entire public transport network for the entirety of Nordrheinwestfalen! This ticket
allows you to travel completely free on the bus, tram and underground throughout Bonn and allows
you to visit many of the largest cities in Germany completely for free so full advantage must be
taken! Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Münster are well worth a visit even though the journeys
may be long. Also, if you want to travel further afield you can buy tickets on the Deutsche Bahn
website but look well in advance because they can be expensive. If you want to save money for you
and up to four friends to travel, it is possible to buy a “schönes Wochenende” tickets allowing all-day
travel on any regional train within Germany for 8€ per person. The regional trains are quite slow so
there’s no point taking a 1000 mile trip with this ticket but it’s good for visiting a place like Koblenz,
Frankfurt or Heidelberg.
Cross-country travel is also possible with Meinfernbus. I managed to book a 9 hour trip to Berlin (3
hours to Dortmund for free then a 6 hour bus ride) for only 44€ return and the buses also go to
Strasbourg or other German cities. The coaches are actually pretty comfortable and it’s a great way
to get around.
In terms of flying, Cologne/Bonn airport is nearby and is served by low-cost airlines EasyJet and
Germanwings as well as BA but if you really want cheap flights then Ryanair is the way to go. They
don’t fly to Cologne/Bonn so a three hour trip to Düsseldorf Weeze is required for those but the
flights really are insanely cheap. I regularly found flights for a tenner and because Weeze is up by the
Dutch border it was only a 45 minute flight to London.
General
In short I would definitely recommend Bonn to someone doing Erasmus. It is well located within
Germany which gives many opportunities for travel as well as being easy to fly to from the UK. There
is plenty to do in Bonn and the surrounding area and there is a lot of provision for Erasmus students.
I have no regrets about going on Erasmus and am very pleased I was given the chance to do so, and
am glad I chose Bonn. If you go, make sure you take proper tea bags with you as that is one of the
few things that is hard to find in Germany, and be prepared that bacon and milk won’t be quite what
you’re used to! Otherwise, Germany is not that different from the UK and it’s not actually too
difficult to settle there! Even if it might seem scary at first, just try and introduce yourself to as many
people as possible as soon as possible and you’ll quickly feel at home.