1. The Schloss:\u00a0<\/strong>Heidelberg feels like a mixture of Oxford, York and Durham: it\u2019s a quaint town nestled between two hills on the river Neckar, and the Uni is the oldest in Germany. It\u2019s therefore no wonder that it\u2019s full of american and japanese tourists photographing the architecture. This beautiful castle ruin is where they go first. This icon of HD isn\u2019t just for visitors \u2013 your climb is rewarded by a stunning panoramic view over the town, as far as the hills of the beautiful Pfalz wine region. The \u2018Schlossbeleuchtungen\u2019 spread out over three separate nights between June and September draw a huge crowd: the castle is specially lit up and fireworks shoot up from the castle on the hill and the \u2018Altebr\u00fccke\u2019 below, their reflection shimmering in the river.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Marstall:\u00a0<\/strong>Consistently voted the most popular student restaurant in Germany, you can instantly see why. This charming sixteenth century building not only as high quality buffet-style food at extremely fair prices, but also a caf\u00e9\/bar and lots of beer benches under the trees outside. There are student parties here, and in the summer a huge outdoor screen is set up outside for the big football games, drawing thousands. Marstall also has an adjoining caf\u00e9 (the best cake is in the main one though) which is not only a great place to work, but also hosts film viewings, dance classes and gigs.<\/p>\n 3. Unterestra\u00dfe:\u00a0<\/strong>Situated in the heart of the old town, this is the \u2018strip\u2019 of this sleepy town. Kneipen (pubs), bars and clubs are packed one after another down a long and narrow cobbled street. It\u2019s earned its reputation among the older residents as the loud and rowdy bit of the old town. No wonder when you have the draw of the tasty local \u2018melonenschnapps\u2019 at 1\u20ac a shot.<\/p>\n 4. Neckarwiese:\u00a0<\/strong>In the winter months this just looks like a pretty strip of grass by the riverbank in Neuenheim, but in summer this is where it all happens. The first heat in late spring brings out the school leavers, enjoying their freedom after their four-hour (!) exams. Summer brings out the students with their BBQs, and families of small children. On a hot night the Wiese is loud and crowded into the early hours.<\/p>\n 5. Bismarckplatz:\u00a0<\/strong>The beating heart of HD\u2019s infrastructure, this is where all the trams and buses meet. The 31 and 32 buses are always full of students taking the final five minute part of their journey to \u2018uniplatz\u2019 in the middle of the Altstadt. B.platz is where the \u2018new\u2019 town stop and the old begins, and it\u2019s always packed. It\u2019s got the shops everyone needs to go to \u2013 Galeria Kaufhof (big department store), M\u00fcller (huge three story shop full of toiletries, cosmetics, stationery etc.), dm (the german version of Boots, just without the pharmacy), Saturn (technology), MacDonalds and H&M. Don\u2019t be caught out by the tram\/bus frequency coming from London. If you\u2019re travelling after 9pm and haven\u2019t planned your journey you can end up stranded here for some time.<\/p>\n 6. Neuenheimer Feld:\u00a0<\/strong>North of the Neckar lies Neuenheim, the Chelsea of HD. When you move left of this area of expensive housing you hit the expansive Neuenheimer Feld area. This is so much more than just the campus for medics and scientists. It\u2019s almost like its own town with numerous clinics, loads of student halls, another huge mensa (student canteen), zoo and all of HD\u2019s sports pitches and indoor facilities, both of the uni and local sports teams. North of this new-build metropolis (for HD standards) is the real \u2018Feld\u2019 \u2013 a huge, flat area of allotments and commercial vegetable plots where you\u2019ll always find plenty of cyclists and runners.<\/p>\n 7. Philosophenweg:\u00a0<\/strong>Supposedly named after the famous thinkers who have worked in and visited HD, this is the pretty walk that everyone goes on. It\u2019s a path along the side of the hill on the northern side of the river, and boasts stunning views of the Schloos and the Altstadt below. It\u2019s a healthy climb loved by tourists and locals alike and gets very busy at Sylvester (New Year) and for the Schlossbeleuchtungen for the view of the fireworks. If you have time, carrying on up to the top of the hill is worth the climb \u2013 hidden behind the trees is the \u2018Thingst\u00e4tte,\u2019 a Nazi-built amphitheatre built into the hill. This is actually also the site of two beautiful monastery ruins nearby.<\/p>\n 8. Hauptstra\u00dfe:\u00a0<\/strong>This is said to be the longest high street in Europe, and I have to agree after walking so often from one end to the other (it takes a good fifteen minutes). The street starts with the big commercial names \u2013 T.K Maxx, Lush, The Body Shop, Starbucks \u2013 and then continues on to pubs and museums before turning into tourist-central in the heart of the Altstadt. Here there are numerous little cafes with outdoor seating, and lots of tourist merchandise shops. It\u2019s extremely busy in good weather and at weekends, and so isn\u2019t always a pleasant walk, but it gets a mention because it\u2019s such a central part of HD\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n 9. Weihnachtsm\u00e4rkte (Christmas markets):\u00a0<\/strong>In November every \u2018platz\u2019 (square) available gets covered in the typical wooden huts of the Christmas markets. The town is the busiest it gets, and students enjoy a mug of Gl\u00fchwein in between lectures (winter gets a lot colder out here!). The M\u00e4rkte are a bit love-hate. For the visitor they are charming and festive, but if you live in the Altstadt the unique smell of onions mixed with cheap Gl\u00fchwein can get a bit wearing. Plenty of locals here are not great fans. Visit once or twice, however, and it keeps its magic.<\/p>\n 10. Steingasse:\u00a0<\/strong>At first glance this appears to be a very touristy little street (\u2018gasse\u2019 actually translates as alley \u2013 there are lots of these!) leading to the picturesque \u2018Alte Br\u00fccke.\u2019 Look a little deeper and it\u2019s actually got some of the best places for food or a coffee in town. Joe Molese arguably ahs the best burger in HD, and you\u2019ll mostly only hear german voices here. The pizzas, salads and sandwiches are far from typical german cuisine, but are very popular. One of the waiters there is the nicest you\u2019ll ever be served by. Casa del Caff\u00e8 has the best hot chocolate in town \u2013 perfect for meeting a friend on a cold day. It\u2019s so cosy that people stay there for hours. Vetter is the closest HD gets to a beer hall. The food is seen as a bit too Bayerisch by the proud local residents of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, but their home-brewed beer is \u2018beliebt\u2019 by all. There is always a buzz to the place in the evenings and in summer students buy their giant beer bottles and take them down to the river (before returning the empty bottle to get the \u2018Pfand\u2019 back, of course).<\/p>\n Heidelberg is very much a student town. Similar to Durham or St. Andrew\u2019s, the Altstadt is full of students in term time. The large student population has grown significantly over the past few years (on many courses there is no limit on the number of students), which has put huge pressure on private sector student housing. If you sign up for a place in a Wohnheim (halls) – make sure you don\u2019t miss the deadline \u2013 it\u2019s down to luck where you end up and what kind of flatmates you get. I know people who\u2019ve had great experiences, living in a flat of social German students, and others who still don\u2019t know their flatmates. Everywhere in HD is reachable by bike: your maximum journey can\u2019t exceed 20 minutes. Absolutely everyone gets a bike \u2013 it takes a while to get used to cycling on the right-hand side! If you want to find something in the private sector, start early. Everything goes on wg-gesucht.de, and if you\u2019re lucky you can organise everything through email and Skype when you\u2019re still in the UK. I got really lucky and have a two minute walk to lectures, but that kind of proximity is the exception to the rule. Most people have a ten minute cycle to lectures.<\/p>\n Starting Off:\u00a0<\/strong>Whatever university in Germany you start in, the first few weeks will be a baptism of fire in the ways of German bureaucracy. I\u2019m talking about forms. Forms for phone contracts, bank accounts, the all important \u2018Stadanmeldung,\u2019 forms to confirm health insurance coverage, to register at the library (they will want to see your Stadtanmeldung) and of course to become formally enrolled in the university. Try not to panic and get through them one by one \u2013 thank fully it will only happen once.<\/p>\n There is an orientation week for international students before the start of term. The most useful part is your trip to the IT building Neuenheimerfeld. There they help you to work out the internal online system, called the LSF. You\u2019ll get a username and password in your enrolment documents. Despite the fact Erasmus covers tuition fees you\u2019ll still need to pay a small amount to the \u2018Studentenwerk,\u2019 which you can do online through the LSF.<\/p>\n Heidelberg, like other Unis, offers a pre-term language course in September. I would really recommend doing one of these (I actually did mine in Munich). Not only can you settle into the novelties of a different culture before term starts, but it also gives you a crucial language advantage as your ears get one month to settle into a new routine.<\/p>\n Another important thing to know from the start is that 1 ECTS point equates to exactly 1 \u2018Leistungspunkt.\u2019 You will need 22 per term. How they all add up is the challenge.<\/p>\n Different types of lecture:\u00a0<\/strong>At King\u2019s you\u2019ll be used to \u2018lectures\u2019 of two hours, where the lecturer does all the talking. A \u2018seminar\u2019 has usually meant something smaller, additional to a lecture. The Heidelberg system is very different.<\/p>\n The list of modules is called the \u2018Vorlesungsverzeichnis.\u2019 The one at Heidelberg is challenging to navigate. You\u2019ll need to look in the section called the \u2018Neuphilologische Fakult\u00e4t\u2019 to find modules for the two key departments of \u2018Germanistik\u2019 and \u2018Deutsch als Fremdsprachphilologie.\u2019 Within the section \u2018Philosophische Fakult\u00e4t\u2019 you can find information for other departments such as History, which would be called \u2018Arts and Humanities\u2019 at King\u2019s.<\/p>\n Before leaving London I had heard plenty of people tell me that clich\u00e9d line \u2018your year abroad will be the best year of your life.\u2019 Of course I was looking forward to going to Germany, but I felt a bit sceptical about all the hype.<\/p>\n It turns out there\u2019s a reason it\u2019s become a clich\u00e9. It\u2019s just true. As everyone says, you will learn a lot about yourself you didn\u2019t know you didn\u2019t know. You will meet amazing people. And most of all you will get to soak up the german language like a sponge.<\/p>\n Heidelberg is a little piece of paradise. The town is, quite literally, something from the front of a chocolate box. You\u2019re worked hard and there are plenty of challenges at this university, but the environment is so conducive to study and it is such an academically excellent institution that I would recommend everyone studying German to put it in their top three choices.<\/p>\nAccommodation<\/h3>\n
Studying<\/h3>\n
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Key differences<\/h3>\n
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Reflections from home<\/h3>\n
General information<\/h3>\n