Germany
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Learning A Third Language in My Second on My Year Abroad: First Impressions
By Miranda Dreisin, (Universität Leipzig, Germany) I grew up only speaking English in an area where a lot of other people spoke another language fluently at home, and I distinctly remember from childhood wishing I were able to do the same. I was put in a German class in Year 7, and really enjoyed it, and by the time I was 16, being able to be proficient in another language was very important to me. I thus chose A-Level German, and at 18, decided to carry that passion through to degree level. Three years later, I am now studying in Germany, where having learnt another language from scratch is hardly…
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Returning to the Bloc: Student Life in One of Leipzig’s GDR Plattenbaus
By Miranda Dreisin, (Universität Leipzig, Germany) Living in Leipzig means living among history – and in my case, inside it – in an apartment block defined by the housing policies of communist East Germany. My block belongs to a type of housing called Plattenbau, roughly translating to a prefabricated building or an industrial apartment block. For decades, Leipzig stood on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, shaped by the socialist policies of the German Democratic Republic. When I chose to spend my year abroad here, it was a choice influenced by my desire to better understand the history that is strongly written into the city. Leipzig’s Communist Past From…
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Prague in Winter: The Best Things to See and Do
By Miranda Dreisin (Universität Leipzig, Germany) One of the best things about living in Central Europe is how easy it is to travel – often on a whim, and usually without much hassle. Last month, I planned myself a very last minute weekend trip to Prague, which is only around 3 hours drive from Leipzig, Germany where I am currently studying. I took a cheap FlixBus before sunrise, and woke up having already arrived in the Czech Republic. I’d only visited Prague once before, and that was in summer, so I was curious to see how to make the most of a winter visit in just two days. I unfortunately…
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A Great Start to My Year Abroad in Leipzig, Germany
By Miranda Dreisin (Universität Leipzig, Germany) Like many language students, I had eagerly anticipated my year abroad since the start of my degree, and it was a key reason as to why I decided to study a language at University. However, with the end of second year, and the progression of summer, I quickly became daunted by the prospect of moving to a city where I had never been before, where I didn’t know anyone, and where I was to be studying a degree in a different language. The main thing that significantly reduced my stress was the bureaucratic preparation I did in advance and it allowed me a much…
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Inter-railing for a week around Europe
By Hannah-Louise Sampson, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany After my study exchange had come to an end, I decided I was going to inter-rail for a week as a way to slowly return to England.
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Reflecting on my time abroad in Germany
By Hannah-Louise Sampson, University of FU Berlin, Germany I am back from my study exchange in Berlin now and I’ve been reflecting on my experiences living and studying abroad. Hopefully I can give some insight to anyone thinking about studying abroad. I surprisingly wasn’t too nervous moving to Berlin and perhaps, that’s because I knew it was only for a semester and I wasn’t far from home which acted as a sort of safety net for me.
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Cafes & bakeries in Berlin
By Hannah-Louise Sampson, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany Berlin is popular for many things, from it’s vibrant night life, diverse culture and rich history, you’ll never be short of things to do. Amidst all its excitement, one of my favourite things to do is enjoy a coffee and sweet treat at a cozy cafe, while I romanticise my life ( it’s becoming my main personality trait…) Whether I’m going solo or catching up with friends, I absolutely love the vibes of a good coffee shop. So, I’ve made a list of a few of my top café picks in Berlin. Isla Coffee Located in Flughafenkiez, Isla coffee has it all; good…
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Academic differences from Semester 1, and all that jazz…
Mitch, second year, studying English Literature at Freie Universitaet Berlin I’m just going to come right out and say it: a literature BA from FU Berlin, while similar in some ways, is actually very different (in this blogger’s opinion) from the version of the degree you get from, for example, Manchester.
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The anti-perks of studying abroad
Mitch, second year, studying English Literature at Freie Universitaet Berlin As promised, my last blog was on the fun, positive side of Berlin and studying abroad (or a taste of it anyway). This blog is something a bit different – mainly because my study abroad experience certainly hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine all the way through. These occasional periods of negativity, which eventually lead to greater insight into myself and therefore a positive outcome, are anti-perks.
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Wherefore art thou, Berlin student discount?
Mitch, second year, studying English Literature at Freie Universitaet Berlin Every time I write a blog, I wonder how to start it. I know that that’s kind of reasonable as I’m starting out on what I hope is a new idea, but I find that as I write, my ideas come to me a lot more naturally than at the beginning of a post. So, here I am, starting a post again. Wondering how to start it. So I’ll start by saying how amazing Berlin is for student discounts for cultural stuff! Yay!
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Inter-railing for a week around Europe
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Worth the wait!
Mitch, second year, studying English Literature at Freie Universitaet Berlin So. It’s definitely been a while. Like, a really, really decent while. Everything’s been quiet on the blog front while everything’s been hectic and busy on the ‘year abroad life’ front. I’ll start not by making excuses, but making a plan: this blog will be a general (hopefully interesting) ramble on things that have gone on for me recently on this period of time abroad – because it really is amazing in its own unique way. Then, there’ll be two blogs on all the fun things/hard things that have happened, all the stuff I’ve enjoyed (or not) and why/what I…
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My post-Brazil, pre-Berlin (positive!) post-mortem
By Mitch Mainstone, English Literature (Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany) So. Berlin is now a thing in my life. A big, leafy, musical, beautiful thing that up until a week ago I’ll admit I had no real conception of. I think that if I write that I feel that same way about myself, but reflecting back on myself as I am at the moment, in some future ‘conclusion of study abroad’ blog, then I think this year will have been a successful one! I’ll start this by saying that both my uni-home of Manchester and my home-home city of Bristol have an incredible amount to learn from Berlin’s public transport system. Study…
