The 10 commandments of Erasmus in Bremen: going out to party

Third commandment: "You will honour Jägermeiseter as if it were a drink of the gods"

Hi everyone!

Today, I'm bringing you another article about life in Bremen, maybe the most important one for an Erasmus student in Bremen: how to go on a night out in Bremen. Before I start, I have to say something to my mum: mum, I'm doing more things than what I'm going to write about;)

Bremen is a small city, especially in comparison to other German cities, but it has a noticeable student atmosphere, that gives you the chance to go on some fairly good nights out. The two main universities (and, as far as I know, the only ones that host international students) are the Universität and the Hochschule.

If you're coming to Bremen as an Erasmus student, you will start your experience with "Orientation week", a week of ice-breaker activities organised by the Erasmus organisations of the universities (Erasmus initiative and Lei Lokale). The orientation weeks basically consist of bringing all the foreign students together and making them get drunk night after night during the first weeks. During this time, you get to meet an immense number of people from countries that you never knew existed, also you'll meet 36489273 Spanish students (yeah, we're like a plague).

Once you pass this initiation period in the Erasmus world and once you have seen how everything works in Bremen, you will start to discover which places are your favourites, and you will start to establish your going out routine. Obviously, from time to time, you will go to some new places, but by the end of your Erasmus, the year will be summarised by a series of concrete places, which you start to form affection for.

As I've said, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to clubs, so I'm going to speak about the places that I usually go out to. Even so, the majority of Erasmus students that go out a lot to party follow guidelines fairly similar to mine. If you're more of the quiet type who just likes to have a few beers, I will write about the bars and cafés in Viertel, the bohemian area of Bremen, later on in this article.

Before starting, I have to say that parties in Bremen happen at different times than the parties in Spain, I'm mostly referring to the time that the parties start. In general, people usually start drinking at 8 0'clock, because they go to the club at 12-1 which is quite normal (not like in Spain). Even so, the party goes on for quite a while, so you can sort of make your own timetable for the night and go to the clubs a bit later since the closing times of clubs is usually close to 6 in the morning.

Another of the main things to take into account is something that is quite normal in Spain, such as drinking on the streets, is almost impossible in the winter weather in Germany, so of you want to save money buying alcohol in a supermarket, you will have to drink it at home. Prices of alcohol vary depending on what brands you buy, but it's easy to find bottles of vodka, rum or Jägermeister (fake Jägermeister) for 5€. In our case, we would usually drink in the house from 10 until 1, after that we would catch the tram to see what the night had in store for us.

One of the key places in Bremen for pre-drinks is Eurobar (Rembertiring, 19). This establishment, which is run by some Turkish guys, basically became an obligatory stop for us on our way to the clubs in the Hauptbanhof area. The reason why is simple: it's so cheap. Anything for 1€, so many shots (Jägermeister, vodka, tequila... ) such as a type of "mini spirit and mixer", that have the same amount of alcohol as a shot, but in a bit of a bigger glass with a little ice and mixer. The most common is the Jägerbomb, a mix of Jägermeister and Red Bull, that will make your nights a lot more interesting and your hangovers a lot more difficult.

If you're a smoker, it will interest you to know that the anti-tobacco regulations in Germany are a lot more lenient than in Spain. The majority of establishments have a smoking area or they allow you to smoke anywhere inside, which is the case in Eurobar, where they also provide hookahs for 7€. My theory regarding the permissiveness to smoking is that the cold temperatures last for the majority of the year, so making smokers go outside is essentially like making them freeze to death.

The next step after Eurobar is to catch a tram and go back home to sleep... or continue on with the party like a champion. In this whole area, there are a large number of bars and clubs, put I'm going to talk about two of them: LaViva and Tower.

The first is an excellent place for the Erasmus experience in Bremen. You will have so many Facebook photos with the LaViva logo that you'll want to suggest to the club that they make you their corporative image. Although the club is open Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, the normal day to go is on Fridays for the following reason: it's free to get in when you show your Semesterticket. As I told you in the article about transport, "you will love your Semesterticket more than anything else. " However, if you don't want to leave your jacket lying around in the club and risk it being stolen, you will have to pay 2€ for the cloakroom.

The club, which is located a couple of floors below street level has 3 rooms. In the first room, which is average size, you can listen to a style of music kind of like hip-hop (always commercial hip-hop). At the back of the club, there is a small elevated room above the main dance floor where you can smoke and relax a little bit. Lastly, in the big room, you can ask for German songs which you've never before heard in your life until a classic song like "Volaré" comes on (the following photo shows my reaction to hearing this song), they play all the reggaeton songs of the last 10 years, a large selection of Caribe 2000 (the first time you hear "La Bomba" it's funny, but the following 3 times are no longer funny) and all the commercial music in English that are usually played in clubs in Europe. Although it's not the type of music that I like the most, the truth is that you have a good time surrounding the Germans trying to do a "movimiento sexy" from the King Africa song and seeing all the Erasmus students excited by "Lean On" by Major Lazer. Furthermore, the prices of drinks are cheap with 3 small bottles of Becks (the local beer, which is exported around the whole world) for only 2€.

The second club I'm going to talk about is, without a doubt, my favourite: Tower. A few metres from LaVida and Eurobar, this club will show you a more alternative side of Bremen. Although it's open a few days of the week, the best night to go is Tuesday night. As you're probably already expecting, the reason to return there is simple: it only costs 1€ for students! Essentially, a lot of clubs offer a night during the week which they call Studentennacht (student night), where they offer free entrance or entrance for a much lower price when you show them your Semesterticket.

The establishment is divided into two floors. The lower floor is focused around rock music and music that is a bit more commercial, with both Germans and Erasmus enjoying the music, whereas the upper floor plays more techno and hip-hop, so it's a more German atmosphere in there, although at the end of the night, they start to play classic songs in both the rooms - songs such as YMCA or I feel good. On the upper floor, there is a smoking area and table football. The drinks prices are a little more expensive but affordable. You can order a shot of tequila for 2€ or a small bottle of beer for 2. 60€. The people who go to Tower are more of an alternative style, they're very nice, so it's likely that by the end of the night some of your friends will have made a couple of German friends (or friends from all corners of the Earth), so you end up having a lot of fun with different people.

I have to say that there are more clubs in Bremen (Lightplanke or Stubu in the same area of Hauptbanhof, Moments and Lila Eule in Viertel, M5 Treue on the river bank, Modernes in Neustadt or Magazinkeller which is close to Bürgerpark), so I'd recommend trying all of these places until you find the places that you feel the most comfortable in. Also, I recommend following and keeping an eye on the social networks and following the pages of different Erasmus clubs and organisations on Faceboook, because in Germany everything is arranged through Facebook events.

Furthermore, you always have the option to catch the train to Hamburg (once again, it's free with the Semesterticket) and you can get to know the nightlife in this vibrant city. In concrete, there's a club called Ubel und Gefährlich (en English it means evil and dangerous), which is located in one of the anti air raid bunkers built by the Nazis to protect the city from bombs during the Second World War. When the war ended, they tried to dismantle it, but they were told the amount of explosives needed to dismantle the bunker would have destroyed the whole area of the city, so it is still intact today. Showing their practical vision, they have made one of the most famous techno clubs in Hamburg, which has parties that last until midday every weekend, they also host numerous musical events. The entrance fees cost between 10 and 15€, but I can assure you that it's worth the money, especially if you are a lover of techno.

To top it all off, all these options are added to the numerous parties that are held in flats and student halls that they usually have, such as the legendary Halloween party in the Am Fleet halls which are in Spittalerstrasse, where they open all the whole residency for free and they create a different musical atmosphere in each of the apartments or there are the most legendary parties in the Neunenlanderstrasse (my house, haha).

In conclusion, it's definite that if you're going to do your Erasmus in a big city (Berlin, Rome, Lisbon... ) or in a typical Erasmus destination, such as Bologna, you will probably find a lot on offer and a variety of different atmospheres, or a manner of going out which is much more Mediterranean and similar to the Spanish way of going out (it's a little impractical to be in the doorway of a bar with your beer when its -4ºC). However, if you come to Bremen and you are worried whether you're going to have a good time or not, stay calm: if you want to adapt you can do so with no problems.

I hope that this article will help all those who are thinking of coming to Bremen and I hope you all really enjoy this city and its nightlife.

Until the next post!

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