Impressions from the north

Here are just some impressions from the northern coast of Germany. Most pictures are from around the area of Helgoland, Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Bremen.

Well the first thing people from the south of Germany notice, is that everything is totally flat. Nevertheless the countryside is not boring of uninteresting. The marshlands here are really unique. In some places complete fields are flooded and small rivers wind their ways through little copses. You can see many deer and a lot of places for horseback riding. Those of you who had a chance to read Theodor Fontane’s “Der Schimmelreiter”. It really looks like that. The northern coast itself with the associated mud flats and dikes can also be quite charming. However everything depends here on the weather. Unfortunately the weather sucked here throughout most of time in January to March 2008 and the sun only showed up for a couple of days. The weather is in general not as good as in the south. Even though Bremen has less rain than Munich there are fewer sun days throughout the year and it is mostly grey in grey even though it is not raining.

Living in Bremen

Bremen is a much laid back city. People are mostly short spoken but friendly if asked for help or otherwise. The Bremer version of Schwabing the “Viertel” is probably the best place for going out. There are a lot of bars and small restaurants there. However people who are more into clubbing also won’t get bored in Bremen. When the sun shows eventually up for some time many people gather on the "Schlachte" (on the right picture), to enjoy a cool beer after work. I also like Bremen because of its "small scale" concerts. Having been to the “Weakterthans” concert and going to “the Hives” and “Gentleman” in the near future I can just recommend stopping by here and try it yourself some time.

The city is also much more international than Munich. There is a big cultural variety here and Bremen reminds me in this respect much more of Berlin than any other city in Germany. This is also true for the university. Having been the starting point for the 68 student revolutions the University feeling and student composition is probably unique in Germany. In some places the University is really run down, but it has its own feeling and style.

Bremen also has its own version of the Oktoberfest, the Freimarkt. They even have a Bavarian tent. But believe me the feeling is not the same than in home sweet home Munich.

The city of Bremen

Bremen is a really nice town. The city itself has about 500 000 inhabitants. Even though it is not a big metropolitan city like Munich, Hamburg or Berlin the city offers everything to make you feel like a real city dweller. The city has everything from its own concert halls, theaters, museums, cinemas to a lot of restaurants, bars or other party places to nearly all shopping possibilities. Getting around the city is fairly easy even though there are no subways. However the bus and tram system is really good. Everything is connected over the main station.

If you don’t like public transportation this is also fine. The city of Bremen has bike trails nearly everywhere and cyclers are much more respected than in many other parts of Germany or the world.

Arriving and moving into the dorms

I moved here to Bremen in the very last days of September 2007. Having been working on my Bachelorthesis throughout the whole summer everything was a little short planned. Therefore I did not have much time to look for an apartment in Bremen. I was happy to receive answer that I got a place at the dorms right on campus. My sister, brother in law and Simone were so nice to help me move one load of my stuff (actually everything that you could fit into a Passat station wagon) up here.

Those of you guys who have been here. Yeah you are right. The "Chinese skyscraper" is not exactly the most beautiful building on earth and I admit that the "home, my sweet home feeling" does not really arise, but for the time being it is ok. And even though the place is probably one of Bremen's most ugly buildings it has one gigantic advantage.
The place is right on campus 30 meters from my classroom building and another 20 meters from the university mensa.
So who of you can claim that he woke up 5 minutes before class and was still at time for lectures (sleeping in classroom does not count)!
Beat that!