5 things to do if you are an Erasmus student in Saarbrucken

5 things to do if you are an Erasmus student in Saarbrucken

I was an Erasmus student in Saarbrucken from April to almost August this year and I want to share with you 5 things that I enjoyed doing during my mobility. 

If you already know or maybe not, Saarbrucken is not a very big city, but rather a small one with fewer people. But even so, there are some activities to add on your list and beautiful places to go to and enjoy.

1. Take a sport class ( or many ) at the Saarland University 

The Saarland University is the largest uni in Saarbrucken and it offers sport classes for all of the students regarding their host university. For example, I can say that from my experience of being an exchange student at Hochschule der Bildenden Kunste Saar and taking sports at Saarland University. 

During my mobility I followed 2 dance classes, Zumba which it was free of charge and Dance Revolution that costed 28 euros for the whole semester. I had so much fun going to the dances classes. Both teachers were full of energy and very cool and they had teach me lots of moves and choreos. 

If you don’t like to dance, there are, of course, many other classes that you can choose from sports team such as Football, Handball, Volleyball or individual focused like Pilates, Yoga, Aerobics, High Intensity Interval Training, Swimming and the list can go on. 

On one hand, some of the courses are free of charge ( like Zumba ) and, on the other hand, there are also ones that you have to pay for, but the cost is low taking in consideration the fact that you pay for the whole semester and not just only for a month. 

As far as I know, you can register for the sport classes only online on their website and you just have to pay attention when they are opening the registrations because most of the courses have a limit number of participants and you don’t want to miss on your favorite sport. 

People who are not students of any kind can also join the classes, but the price is higher for a quest participant. 

I recommend this type of activity because it can be a very useful and fun way to meet new people and socialise, make friends while working out, stepping out of a comfort zone and keep the body and mind in a healthy state.  

2.  Drink a beer over the Saar river 

When the weather is warm and sunny, drinking a beer or something else with the new Erasmus people that you have just met could be a relaxing and funny activity especially if it is done near the river Saar, a landmark of Saarbrucken. You can either bring the beer by yourself and sit on the grass in Am Staden while admiring the nice view or you go at one of the breweries present in the area. 

Usually, I would go with my Erasmus buddies at Ulanen Pavillon which serves different kinds of beers and foods like kurry wurst.

In our last meeting here, we sit at the tables, drink some very good draft beer, played games, watched the beautiful sunset and catched the rain. 

3. Have a traditional currywurst

The currywurst is one of the traditional type of food in Germany, so while you are in Saarbrucken you have to try a sausage like this. If you never heard of this food before, then you have to know that a currywurst is a fast food dish consisting in a fried meat sausage seasoned with curry ketchup and served usually with fries.

Personally, being a vegan I thought that I will never get the change to taste a currywurst, but somebody recommended me a spot in Saarbrucken where I found a vegan currywurst too. 

The local is called Kalinski Wurstwirtschaft & Gin Bar and it is located in the old town area, more exactly on Kaltenbachstraße. They have traditional meat made currywurst, but they have vegan versions too and the plant based sausages are extremely delicious and go pretty well with fries and a beer.

The employees are so friendly with the customers and speak english with the strangers without any deductions. The atmosphere is nice and accompanied by various music. 

If I remember correctly a dish containing a currywurst, sauce and fries costs around 4 euros and the ratio price quality is very good. When my best friends were visiting me I took them to this place to eat and they were satisfied and happy about the food, atmosphere, location and drinks. 

4. Visit the Saarland Museum 

Even if you are not an art student as I am, I still think that while you are staying in Saarbrucken you should visit the Saarland Museum because you might find yourself having a pleasant experience going through this museum.

The building is located on Bismarckstraße, near the Saar river and Bismarck Bridges, being open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 AM to 18.00 PM ( on Wednesday is open until 20.00 PM ). I think that for students the admission is free because I never paid to enter the museum. 

When I visited the museum in the Modern Gallery were on display artworks belonging to Giuseppe Penone, an italian artist who focuses on creating with natural materials and its subjects are expressing about the natural world too. He had become one of my favorite artist since I saw his sculptures in Saarland Museum and Centre Pompidou. Unfortunately, the exhibition was on until 18th of August, so if you are an exchange student coming in this fall then you will not have the chance to see Penone’s works, but don’t worry, there are other things to admire here anytime. 

The permanent collections include paintings and sculptures belonging to artists such as Girogio de Chirico, Picasso, Franz Marc, Max Ernst and Alexander Archipenko and the museum has consistently new temporary exhibitions and openings. For example, the last vernissage I’ve been to was due to Katharina Hinsberg and her personal exhibition “Punctuations”. 

Maybe the artworks are not interesting to you, but the construction of the museum has impressive corners and views where you can see both the outside and the inside of it which in my opinion could be something eye catching and worth seeing. 

5. Go further Saarbrucken and visit the surroundings 

Let’s say that at some point you got bored and tired of staying in Saarbrucken and this problem can be solved very easily by taking a one day trip to the city’s surroundings.Two options that I recommend going to are Saarschleife and Volklingen. 

The first destination, Saarschleife can be reached by following a trekking route from Mettlach - which is about 40 minutes away from Saarbrucken with the train- which takes depending on your walk from 2 to 3 hours to go to the highest point from where you can see the spectacular loop of the Saar river. If you choose to trekk here I suggest you to wear hiking boots and bring water and snacks with you for a better experience. 

If you want to know more about the Saarschleife, I wrote on this platform an entire article about The loop of the Saar river that you can read to find practical information about how to get there and what to expect. Just search it on my Erasmusu profile. 

On the other hand, the second destination is much more easier to approach, Volklingen being positioned 10 minutes away with the train from Saarbrucken. Here you can visit the Volklingen IronWorks, an Unesco World Heritage site transformed today into a large museum.

Individually speaking, I did not get inside the museum, but rather I walked and moved along the Ironworks and still got awesome views of the Volklingen Heute. 

Small conclusion

All of the above are 5 things that I experienced while being on my Erasmus mobility in Saarbrucken and which I kind of recommend to the people who are exchange students in this city. Of course, there were many other things that I enjoyed more or less during my time spend in Saarbrucken, but for now I choose to write about these. If you are reading my article and have different opinions or suggestions, then please spread the word forward. 

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