My stay in Berlin

I think I made the best decision of my life when I decided to register for an exchange programme in the German capital. After being accepted, having filled some (well, rather loads of) documents...off I headed!

A lot of things were not sorted out when I left Belgium, but that was part of the adventure (because the Erasmus programme is a real adventure!). When I landed in Berlin, I hadn't found any apartment or student room yet, I went to a youth hostel and started to research there. I actually had strong criteria concerning my accomodation; I didn't want to live with foreigners, as one of the most important things for me was to learn the German culture and above all, the German language. I must have been quite lucky on this because I only had to do one visit to find the apartment of my dreams! My room is 24m² and I live with two nice German young men. Nice start! After this first victory, I "only" had to get through the bureaucracy (not an easy part...at all) and tried to get used to my whole new life. That wasn't hard actually, meeting new people is really easy, just say the word "Erasmus" and you're safe. I actually didn't feel homesick because I had absolutely no time for this! Going to the university, visiting the city and meeting new people left me little room for any boredom and displeasure.

Enough about me, let's speak a bit more about the marvelous city that is Berlin. This place is ideal for students as it offers a tremendous amount of activities at a low price, and ther's something for everyone. Berlin is enriched by its history and diversity, you can find traces of the past everywhere in the city and it is indeed not short of museums, exhibitions or art galleries. Another thing that I really appreciated, as I'm not that keen on cooking, is that you can eat out a lot and inexpensively (I think I've never eaten so many "Döner" in my entire life!), moreover there is the student cafeteria at the university, called the "Mensa" which is cheap, varied and tasteful.

My stay in Berlin could be summed up in one simple word : amazing! I actually can't stop repeating myself when people ask me how it is going on aroud here "It's just amazing!". My only regret is that I can't stay here for the second semester. If you have the opportunity to take part in an exchange programme, don't hesitate, go ahead, you won't be disappointed!