As an erasmus student you'll probably spend a lot of time outside on the evening. It's the best way to meet people, gather all the erasmus and also improve your english or german by practising.

For the pre-drinks, erasmus people like to do house party or go outside in the WeserPark.
There is also a famous place for erasmus, the 1€ bar. There is a famous one near the Hauptbahnauf. This place isn't perfect but all the drinks cost 1€ and you can smoke inside. They have also some chichas you can use for a small amount of money.

After the pre drink it's time to go out for a party !
If you are a quiet and calm person you'll like the Loft at Hauptbahnauf. That's a lounge bar very peacefull.
If you want more people, nice beers and a pub's atmosphere, you have to go to the Paddys Pit. That's an Irish pub very famous in Bremen where you can watch the football or rugby games, and where there are always some people, no matter the time or the day.

If you wanna party, Bremen has a lot of clubs where you'll enjoy your time.

The biggest and most famous for erasmus is La Viva in Haubtbahnauf. This place is free on the friday night if you have a student card. The music there is commercial but it's a dancing place.

Then if you're looking for more electro music, you can go to the NFF in the Altstadt.

The place where I like to go is the Lightplanke. This place on the satudray night is crazy ! If you like electro music, techno, house... You're gonna love this place ! The entrance goes from 7 to 14€, depends on the Dj playing.

Even during the week there are a lot of place where you can go for really cheap. Tower on monday, Lila Eule on tuesday, erasmus party at Magazine Keller on wenesday... All those places cost 1€ or nothing to go in. And inside you'll got a Becks for 2€ and Hemelinger or Hakke Beck for 1 or 1.5€

So the thing is, if you wanna go out, have fun, for a cheap price, you'll love Bremen ! I usually go out with around 10 - 15€ in my pocket and that's enough for a full night.
I have to say : we party hard

After a month of rain, we finally have a nice weather in Bremen. Time for me to introduce you to all the nice places to see and things to do during summer time !

Best thing to do when sun is up : chilling. Bremen has a lot of Parks and river borders where you can chill and have good times with friends. The Weserpark is the most famous. This space is following the Weser (one of the 2 rivers). At the end of the park you have the stadium of the Werder Bremen. In this park you are allowed to do grills, play some music, drink alcohol... Almost everything. So it's very nice to go there with friends for a pre-drink or a diner.
There are also many kiosk where you can buy fresh drinks and snacks.

The second park where me and my friends are going is the Bürgerpark. This one is very big and peacefull. There is a big hostel in it with a nice esplanade. If you go dipper in the park the atmosphere is very quiet. There are a lot of tries, nature... But in this one you are not allowed to drink alcohol and neither to do grill.

The last place to chill is the riversides in the city center (around Domsheide). There are a lot of graffities and street art if you go close to the Beck's factory. It's very nice to go biking there and see all the differents artists' styles. 
One thing I also like in this place is the paradoxe between the old architecture of the city center and colorfull graffities. It's a very nice place to work on pictures or just to spend a chilling afternoon... 

Finally, if you go to the Viertel you can have also a great time. This quarter is famous for its nightlife. Most of the clubs and bars are there. But if you walk in during the day you'll see a very different place. It looks like a mix between Berlin and Hamburg. There are some classic streets and just after a corner you can find a small park with people playing music, some nice and quiet bars, street art, nature... It's a very cosmopolitain area with all the advantages that comes out this particularity.

Amsterdam is celebrating the Queensday every year. During two days, everybody is wearing orange clothes and have a big party outside. You have music and people having fun everywhere.
This celebration is for the Queen. This is her day and a national free day for all workers.

As I have some friends studying in Amsterdam, I couldn’t miss this event. So I went there, by bus. It cost me 65€ to go and go back from Bremen to Amsterdam.  

There, we’d planned with my friends to sale sunglasses. This job was offered by MonsterCor. the temporary work agency. That was our way to finance the trip. We were 4 students trying to sale 300 pairs of orange sunglasses in Amsterdam during Queensday. That wasn’t easy. The weather wasn’t awesome and people didn’t felt like wearing our sunglasses. Finally we’ve only sold 20 pairs of glasses at the end of the day, disappointed we were. But anyway, we’ve moved all around the city and I feel like I’ve seen many places and activities of the Queensday.

Moreover, as I was staying during an entire week there, so we had time to visit many places and enjoy the city. We visited the Stedelijk Museum, chilled in the Vondelpark and in the Nord Sea beach, enjoyed the bars and coffee shops in the Jordaan, went to a gig of a Dutch DJ…

As a student, Amsterdam is a great city. It’s easy to move by bike and there are quite a lot of public transports. The main problem is the price of this transport. You’ll have to pay more than 2€ for one ride. That is also one of the reasons Dutch are riding bicycle. But you’ll enjoy a lot of parties, Dutch DJs are very good if you like electro and house music. The life there is peaceful, city is nice and weather is most of the time alright.

If you have the opportunity to go there, even more during Queensday, I advise you to do it. During the celebration there is a lot of people so if you prefer a quiet place it’s better to go in another period. But Amsterdam is a great experience because this city has, to me, its own way of living. The Dutch culture was quite easy to understand for me. As the Germans, they organize things and people respect the rules. Follow the rules and you won’t run into any problem!        

I don’t really know about the accommodation prices because I was living in my friend’s house so that is the information I can’t give… 

I am the first ESDES student who is going to Bremen. That is why I am going to explain a little bit the way we live here.

First, the Universität Bremen welcomes more than 19.000 students and around 400 Erasmus students per semester. Thanks to this huge quantity of student, it is very easy to meet new friends, finds some activities and spends time with other students.

As I have said in the previous article, I am living with 10 other Erasmus students in a big house, there are 5 Chinese students, 2 Turkish, 1 Romanian, 1 Spanish and 1 South African. This cosmopolitan environment is very good to meet a lot of students from different origins and to improve my English. We are sharing dinners together, taste some meals from all the different countries. This experience works very well so far and I find it very interesting.

As an Erasmus student you will received the help of the International Office for the integration (Welcome presentation, Erasmus parties, bowling, role play…). Moreover, for those who like doing sport, there is the Erasmus football team, some volley-ball fields, gym center, swimming pool… You have access to almost all these facilities for free and it is a good way to meet some students. I personally took part in the Erasmus football team. The Universität organizes a tournament every semester with teams from all the University. We have a free access to the stadium and all students come to play.

The campus offers everything you need, there is a big cafeteria (Mensa) where you can get a real meal for 2,20€, 2 libraries, a book store, a bar, the Goethe Institut, a post office, a tabac-presse shop… there is also a market on the Tuesday where you can get fresh vegetables, meat, fish, bread… everything!

The German way of life is quite easy to adopt. Most of people are very friendly. It is really easy to discuss with someone you don’t know in Bars or Pubs, the Clubs are peaceful… For example, after the football game, everybody is sharing a beer near the field.

That is why the integration as a foreign student is easy in Bremen. It is sure that you need to do some efforts but the result is really awesome! I have just spent a month here but it feels like I am here for only a week. I like more and more the city, days after days. I really don’t regret my choice and encourage you if you have the opportunity to come in Bremen for studying. 

Hi you, the reader.

I am David, 21 years old student from France, Lyon. I'm studying business in ESDES.

During the second semester of my second year in ESDES I'm going abroad. In this blog I'll try to make you see what I'm seeing, make you discover the new things I'm finding and translate you how I like my travel. 

So I'm going to Bremen, Germany. I've chosen this destination because I'm studying German as a second foreign language and I'd like to improve it. My courses will be in English and the everyday life in German. Best way to improve both isn't it? 

It's my second week here in Germany at the moment I'm writing this. I really like the city so far. The campus is huge, city is beautiful and climate is alright. Bremen is a quite big city, there are almost 550 000 habitants. The entire city center isn't allowed to vehicles, so it's very nice to walk in the historic part of the city. Even if in April the weather isn’t awesome Bremen is still an outdoor city, lots of parks, watersides…

I’m studying in the Universität Bremen. This university is well known in Germany, they had wan a price recently named “Exzellent”. I don’t really understood what it is but they are so proud of it. So I guess it’s something important.

I’ll give more information in the next posts

Here we go for the Erasmus semester!