Erasmus Experience in Brugg, Switzerland by Carlos

Why did you choose to go to Brugg, Switzerland?

I wanted to go to a country with beautiful natural places and also high engineering level studies.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

6 or 9 months, it depends. I got nothing from swiss government. From europe and spanish state, just 400€ on december and around 500€ more on April when I was already in my country. So my economical situation could be largely improved.

What is the student lifestyle like in Brugg?

In my case, it was pretty depressing as my stay was on winter. A tipical day consisted in cloudy and pretty cold weather, having classes in the morning and afternoons at home most of days. Also ther was a huge construction which made a huge noise from 7am to 4pm. This aspect was horrible and we made some complaints to our hoster without success.

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

Depends of the priorities of every student. Personally I think there are better places for spending several months studying.

What is the food like?

In Switzerland people tend to go to italian restaurants. There are some tipical dishes from Switzerland, though, like fondue. Also there's a huge variety of cheeses. Food is really expensive in Switzerland, specially meat and fish, legumes... We usually went to german side of the border for shopping. Is much cheaper.

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Brugg?

No, university provides it to you from the very beginning.

How much does it cost to live in Brugg?

Around 750€ per month, but if you take the train oftenly it goes up to 900€ or 1000€ per month

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

Definitely not for spanish people. German is quite difficult and swiss german is even worse. I only knew about english courses. There are german courses in Zürich but are really expensive.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Brugg from your city?

By plane.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Brugg?

Places near Brugg for having fun at night, could be Baden or Lenzburg (but I didnt go to that last one). Zürich of course is the best option although is farther.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Brugg?

I wouldn't recommend going out to restaurants because use to be pretty expensive for a student. Only fast food places may be affordable.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

There are some places which are worth to visit there like Habsburg castle, Baden, Zürich city, Königsfelden abbey, or the roman ruins in Windisch. But besides the Brugg area, it really worth to go travelling around Switzerland, the country is small enough to visit most of it.

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Brugg in the future?

For accomodation, be aware wheter the construction next to the building is finished already. It really pissed us up the whole semester. Is also very advisable to enroll in sport center events, that's the funniest thing you can do in Brugg for sure.