Why Mannheim?

Mannheim was my top choice when going on exchange. Why was that?

• It’s cheap.
  • Food and living costs are exceptionally cheap here. 289 euros per month for rent in a WG, and you could easily spend merely 15-25 euros per week on food if you were being frugal.
• You’re still getting a quality education.
  • University of Mannheim is known to be the best in Germany for Business and among the best in Europe, and saying that you studied here carries some weight. You can also really network here if you try – many of my ERASMUS student friends got TA jobs through professors by participating a lot in class.
• It’s central in Europe, easy to travel.
  • You can go to Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland very easily.
• It’s close to a major city, Frankfurt.
  • It’s one of the busiest airports in the world, and Ryanair does fly out of it. Be careful when booking flights, make sure to look for the code of the airport.
    • FRA (Frankfurt am Main) is the primary airport, HHN (Frankfurt Hahn Airport) is a small airport is far from the city of Frankfurt. It’s pricy and a bit more complicated to get to HHN from Mannheim (20-25 euros),  whereas roundtrip buses to FRA come out to 10-15 euros.
• The semester schedule in the Fall fits perfectly with that of most international schools, which will make sure you’re on track when you return to your home country.
  • The semester begins from early September, and classes end in early December. Exam period continues until approximately December 20th depending on the year. Most other universities I considered would begin in October/November, and end in February/March.
• It’s still a fairly small city, and therefore a bit safer.
  • With terrorism scares in major tourist spots and large cities lately in Europe, many were glad that we lived in a relatively small city in Germany. Those studying in Paris, Milan, Vienna, would likely have more concerns about pickpockets and whatnot day-to-day, however that is relatively not an issue here.
• You’re still in the country with the strongest economy in Europe, and is very stable.
• Although government administration may not be the friendliest or the most helpful, they get their work done.
  • Many of my friends in other countries in Europe have been having problems getting paperwork sorted out. Although K7 hasn’t been the least bit helpful, they have done what they’ve promised to do.
• You’re in Europe!!
  • You get to travel, explode, take in all the rich history that it has to offer. Even if your budget doesn’t allow yourself to fly out of the country (which can be as low as 15 euros round trip to Krakow) or take a bus out, you can use the university’s semesterticket for unlimited travel around the allocated area. You can reach Speyer, Worms, Wissembourg (France), Bad Durkheim, Schwetzingen, Heidelberg, which are gorgeous towns with incredible history.
• Reliable transport system (relative to Canada)
  • Mannheim has a major train station, which can get you all across Germany.
  • So many trains transfer here that go to the rest of Europe, so it’s easy to catch one that goes far, far away if you’re sick of Mannheim.
• You get to study in a palace! How cool is that?
•  Christmas markets galore come end of November.
• A 15-20 minute regional train ride from what many people say is the most beautiful town in Germany, Heidelberg!
  • Mannheim is not known to be breathtaking, so you can visit this place if you want!
• City of innovation
  • If you’ve done any research so far at all, you’ll know that the first bike and car were invented here! Some people also say modern meterology got its roots here near the University. Many inventors of obscure every day objects and founders of large companies come from Mannheim. Mozart also loved Mannheim!

 

Bonus: Free rent for the whole month of January if you stay in Studierendenwerk (applicable to Fall students).

Out of all of the other universities I was considering to go on exchange to, none of them met all of these requirements besides the University of Mannheim.