Student Reports: Heidelberg

Living in Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a vibrant city, which is rich in history. The beautiful castle, which still stands above Heidelberg, makes it a popular tourist destination year-round, providing the city with an abundance of multi-cultural visitors.

As far as accommodations go, Heidelberg is an extremely difficult place to find an apartment. As foreign students, we are lucky that the program does this all for us- the German students have to apply for dorm spots and get accepted in order to stay there, while we only have to send in our application and they secure us one automatically! Major student dorms are in Neuenheimer Feld. Most buildings are quite new and clean, and have shared kitchens and bathrooms, as well as Internet access. Much like living in Waldhaeuser Ost in Tuebingen, the city is only a 10-minute bus ride away, providing students with the ability to get away from the city at night. Other options include the Europa Haeuser, which stand inside Heidelberg itself. These houses are made up of individual apartments with their own small kitchen and bathroom.

The University is one of the oldest and most respected institutions in Germany. Students come to Heidelberg from all over Germany to study, making the city a definite university town. The coursework in IDF (German as a Foreign Language Institute) is vast and worthwhile. There is even an option to get a degree in IDF at the University of Heidelberg; therefore, the students there are usually quite studious and focused on learning the German language and achieving fluency.

Outside the University, the city has a terrific student nightlife. There is never a lack of something to do at night in Heidelberg, be that concerts, guest speakers, or just a good bar scene. Heidelberg itself has its own zoo, month-long Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), and constant music and film festivals. The area around Heidelberg is also great for exploring the region. Using the Heidelberg Semester-ticket, students have not only unlimited use of the buses and Strassenbahns inside Heidelberg, but also ride free to neighboring cities such as Mannheim, Schwetzingen, or Kaiserslautern.

Overall, Heidelberg is a great place to study, learn German, meet people and discover Germany. As far as a place worth recommending, Heidelberg would rank highly on places to spend a year in Germany.

A very Kubrik Heidelberg experience

Mike Callahan

Greetings gentle reader of a most staggeringly brilliant work. I do hope you find the following to be an absolute delight to read, such as a small swing around to the old oxygen bar, while not being weighted down too heavily by the sheer deepness of said intrigue. It is difficult to remember my early life as nothing more than another razoodoc, living his tired existence contemplating all that passed around, before, and through him with infinite apathy. Whilst all the other devotchkas and youths sipped milk and wine at the neighborhood happy establishments, I found I could have no true horrowshow without the likes of Beethoven ringing my ears, and Nietzsche ringing my morals and beliefs. But whilst existence continued on, unchanging with others, my droogs and I felt a touch of need for the ultra-violence, which we partook in regularly whilst traipsing about the streets of swinging Eugene in our long-johns and Richard Nixon masks. But like all odysseys through the land of the razoodocs and devotchkas, it came to a sudden end when I was taken in by the system, and deprived of my ability to use the ultra-violence. Hence, for re-education as they called it, I, your humble narrator, was shipped to Germany to cure my need for the ultra-violence and other practices deemed unproductive by my cold society due to my station in life, while awakening my need for the moloko vellocet, drencrom and sythemesc which are found in so much abundance in the land of Deutsch at their Milk bars and Palmbräu Gasses, with their Keanu Reeves and such. Contemplation of my existence only increased my wonder upon my arrival in the middle Europe. For what is the point of existence, if existence has no points? And what is the beginning of existence, but the end of non-existence? Hence, while some may argue that we are ruled by eventual non-existence as we spiral toward it, arent we also being launched from it with equal velocity? By the time of this revelation, I felt a tingling need for the ultra-violence, but was repressed by a collection of German droogs. And so I danced to the tunes of the razoodocs and devotchkas, like a good little marionette, and soon could tolerate Beethoven no more than I could tolerate a snag in my long-johns during sessions of ultra-violence, or a chaffing case of the un-medicated lower-fire. But yet, I saw Heidelberg through the eyes of a good little obedient lad, shaved of his needs to subject the peoples lives and thoughts to the horrorshows he saw fit to originally bestow, and instead looked on its many attractions in a way not influenced an iota by my past life:

Schloss Altebrücke Roherbachermarkt Theatrestrasse Rathaus Europahaus

To name a few

And would you believe, gentle reader, my most amiable friend, the one who has seen my soul that such experiences did bring a change about? Would you believe that the natural beauty of such a city as Heidelberg cured me of my needs to devour depressing tracts of knowledge, like a child who has dipped his hands one too many times into the Halloween candy? Would you also believe I know found Beethoven to be a disgusting amalgamation of decadence, and learned of the staggering genius of Las Ketchup instead? And would you also believe that such scenery cured me, your humble narrator, and made me a good little droog, one amongst the many prancing razoodocs and primping devotchkas, with no need for the ultra-violence?

Go To Heidelberg!

By Rachel Lazar

Heidelberg has been a wonderful city for me. With the exception of the large number of American tourists, the city suits me great. Ive really been able to immerse myself in the culture. The University has a pretty big foreign population, which gives me a lot of opportunities for different classes to take. These last four months have really made me grow into and independent person. Ive taken care of banking, bills, and insurance problems in German that I never had to deal with in America. Its been a great learning experience.

If you decide on Heidelberg there are a few cool places I can recommend. The land surrounding Heidelberg is beautiful. The Neckar runs strait through the middle of town. Philosophen Weg is a gorgeous hike on the North side of town that ends with a great view of the city. Heidelbergs castle is another site to see. The nightlife is also pretty exciting here. There are a few disco clubs and a lot of pubs. My favorite pub is the half off cocktails at Palmbrau Gasse on Tuesday nights. One of the bar tenders looks just like Keanu Reeves! This bar is just off the Hauptstrasse in the Altstadt. There is also a pretty good theater and film selection. Mannheim is only a 15-minute train ride away. That gives you all the options of a big city. Everyday is a new adventure here and I cant wait to see what the next 6 months will bring.

Michelle Rowen

Hmm...what can I say about the five months that I have been here so far? I don't think I have enough space or time to explain all, but I will make a quick summary. First of all some of the cool places to hang-out here in beautiful Heidelberg: On Tuesday nights there is the 1/2 off Cocktail Nites at the Palmbrau Gaesse. I highly recommend this place, because there is a beautiful bartender that works there. He's an exact replica of Keanu Reeves, no joke! It always brightens my Tuesday nights when I get to see him. Hint: Tip well, he will treat you right. Wednesday nights are always fun spent at Bar 133 at the Neuenheimer Feld student housing. It's a great place to hang out and have a beer or two, because it's cheap! Beer costs only 1 Euro, which is great for the sparsam student. Thursday nights are great. You can start the evening out by going to the All You Can Eat Night at P! izza Hut, for only 4,99! After you've stuffed yourself, of course you need to wash all that pizza down with something sweet. So I recommend going to the Coyote Cafe, becuase Thursday night's are 1/2 cocktails. I highly recommend ordering the Strawberry Daquri, they are quite tasty and you can't go wrong at 3 Euro a glass. There is also a really cool Irish Pub here called Napper Tandy's that quite frequently will have awesome live music being played. I must warn you all, when you go out at night to the different bars, be prepared to meet a lot of obnoxious Americans. This mainly is a concern to the females studying in Heidelberg, because you will, I promise you, be hit on by some old American Army man. Just stand your ground, after a while they will leave you alone. If you end up living in the Alt Stadt, it is a beautiful place to live but be prepared to hear english spoken at least 20 different times a day, either on the! bus and/or on the Hauptstrasse. Also, if you live near the castle like I do, when walking down the Hauptstrasse, be prepared to fight for your sidewalk space and fight to get through all the Japanese tourists. It is an amazing phenomenom, you can literally see these tourists being brought in by the bus loads every day. It's crazy. Heidelberg is a beautiful city and has an incredible castle, therefore it brings in all the tourists, but it is a great city to live in. Just go to one of the two H&M stores on the Hauptstrasse, buy some "european" looking clothes that will help you to blend in better and everything will be fine!

Enjoy your stay!