My Erasmus Experience in Augsburg, Germany. By Lola.

Why did you choose Augsburg, Germany?

Hello, my story was a little crazy/adventure. I didn't go to Augsburg on my Erasmus placement. I had finished my degree and I wanted an experience outside of Spain. As I had not received an Erasmus scholarship, I contacted Spanish schools all over Germany and I accepted the first one that gave me the chance to live and work. It was Augsburg! During the whole process, I applied for an ARGO postgraduate grant, and they finally gave it to me, so I ended up doing a 9 month internship in a "Hauptschule".

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How long did the grant last? How much money did you receive?

My grant was initially for 6 months, but I got it extended to 9 months, which was the maximum they offered. The grant amount was ridiculous, I got €530 a month.

The school didn't work out very well, so in the end I lived off the grant money and a bonus that I earned by taking care of some girls. Well, if you know how to manage your money, you can live well, but without any luxuries. With that money I had to pay for my room: I lived in a shared flat with two Germans and my room cost 230 euros a month. By the way, I'd recommend that you share a flat, especially it's better if it is with Germans. They're a bit odd, but it will help you to adapt and get to know the places, people and the language. I also had to pay for food, transportation costs (including flights to Spain), going out, drinking... All these things, and I think I did very well.

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What is the student life like in Augsburg?

Since I didn't do an Erasmus placement there, I can't tell you much about the student atmosphere at the university. I went there a couple of times because I had friends who were studying, and well, it's not especially beautiful, architecturally speaking, and it's much quieter than a Spanish university. I do know that they organised a lot of activities in the residences and there is a good atmosphere there. I went to parties in residences a couple of times and I had a good time.

Would you recommend the city and the University of Augsburg to other students?

I recommend Augsburg because it is a fairly comfortable city. It's big, but small at the same time. I mean that you normally move by yourself and that means that you recognise people's faces and make friends, which is always appreciated if you are alone in a city, like I was.

How is the food of the country?

Ummm.... Well, the typical stuff is good, the sausages, the "kartofensalat"... All of that is good, but for me there is not much more variety. Then there is a trillion restaurants of every kind, there are Spanish ones, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Bulgarian... There is a lot of variety, expensive cheap...

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Did you have trouble finding accommodation in Augsburg?

The flat does cost a bit, I would recommend that if you want to be renting a room, you should start by making appointments from here. The best page that I know and used is this one.

The typical thing to do is to make an appointment, so you can see the flat and the room and you have an interview/chat so they can meet you and then, if they like you, they will call you. I think I visited about 10 flats before finding mine...

Recommendations: if you can, bring a beer for the chat/interview (it's better not to go to someone's house with empty hands, and if you see that you like the flat, people try to make the talk nice and longer with the beer). Chat about Spain, they always like that. I always used to tell them about the advantages of living in Valencia and of course, they were invited to go, etc. Tell them that you like to cook, especially tortilla, even if it's a lie, then when you have the flat to yourself, it will be another story. Man, you have to cook! If you make good tortillas, then you will be the King of the house. If you don't know how, you can ask your mother, father, or grandmother to teach you.

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How much does it cost to live in Augsburg?

Augsburg is quite cheap. The room is €250/300 a month, and you can find a very good central one. Going out is cheap, almost everywhere beer costs about €3 but, half a liter (long live Augustiner! ). You don't pay entrance fees in lots of places. The most expensive thing is the food, and more than anything, the fruit (the impossible fish! ) and the vegetables too, and you will see vegetables that you have never seen before in your life.

How was the language? Did you go to a course at the University?

The language is super messed up. Those of you who already have an idea know what I'm talking about, those of you who are going without knowing anything, like how I left... courage to you. I also say to you that if you are interested and you meet Germans, everything will go much faster, in the drunkenness when you least expect it you are having a conversation in German, a conversation about nothing but it's a start. It is very important to remove the shame and embarrassment, and to throw yourselves into the deep end, errors are what makes you learn more.

If you go without knowing anything there will be three moments with the language: first, a moment when you go from not knowing anything to being able to vaguely fumble through things, a second moment when you see that you have been there for months without advancing at all, and you are sick of fumbling and not understanding 70% of things, and a third moment when you accept that it is a language that, although you have lived in Germany for years, it will take a long time to master.

I could not do a language course because with the 530 euros of the grant, it did not give me enough to pay for a course. I suppose that you will have cheap courses from the university. I learned with a couple of private classes, a lot of tandem meetings (although be careful with tandems because there are a lot of people that spend 50 minutes speaking in Spanish and only leave the last ten minutes for speaking in German, do not let them take you for a ride! ) and a lot of talking with Germans.

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What is the cheapest way to get to Augsburg from your city?

The best thing is to travel to Memmingen, it is a family sized airport that is a little over an hour from Augsburg, but with Ryanair flights, the prices are much cheaper than flying to Munich. At the airport you can always share a taxi to Memmingen train station and the ticket to Augsburg costs €15.

What places would you recommend for going out in Augsburg?

My favourite places were Lamm, which is a pub/cafeteria that is open all day and at night is quite a good place to start the party, and then afterwards Schaf, Mahagoni and bigger clubs like Kantine or Kesselhaus.

When the good weather starts again, they open a terrace on the top floor of a car park called Sonnendeck. The floor is filled with sand - beach style, and well, being from Valencia, what I'm going to tell you... but alright, it's a joke, there are hammocks, good music...

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What about eating in Augsburg? Can you tell us your favourite places?

As I didn't have much money, I didn't usually go to restaurants, but there was one with typical German food and it was quite cheap behind my house and sometimes I would go there. It's called "Thorbräu" and it's in front of the "Wertachbrucker Tor".

What about a cultural visit?

Well, as a German city, it has a different type of architecture to ours and everything is nice, even if it is a simple apartment building. There are many fountains, parks, there is a river and along the river there are many paths to walk or cycle. As important places go, the cathedral, the town hall, the Church of St. Ulrich are the best.

Any advice you want to give to future students in Augsburg?

Enjoy Augsburg, and don't let yourself be overwhelmed by the Germans. There is everything you need and I met some great people, but I also stumbled across some 'cool' people who looked down on me for being Spabout which I was very angry about and did not allow it.

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