Living as an Inter­na­tional Student here

Hello ever­y­body! I’m an inter­na­tional student at the Univer­sity of Bayreuth (Univer­sität Bayreuth). I want to tell you how great it is to live in Bayreuth.  In this blog post, I want to tell you my story in the past 12 months, and what I like to do in Bayreuth.

Who am I? How did I come to Bayreuth?

My name is Timur. I’m 23 years old, and I’m coming from Turkey, where I completed my Bachelor’s in Econo­mics. My current study programme is M.A. History & Econo­mics. I enjoy video games, outdoor acti­vi­ties (such as hiking), and basketball.

My journey to Bayreuth started in May 2018, when I disco­vered the univer­sity, the city, and the programme that I’m curr­ently enrolled. The first time that I saw the adver­ti­se­ment for the town and the univer­sity, I vividly remember that I said, “This must be a joke because this is exactly what I want!” I wanted an excel­lent place to study my favo­rite subject, in a city that is neither too small nor too big, and of course rela­tively cheap! Bayreuth was, and is, a combi­na­tion of these three! After a lengthy appli­ca­tion and prepa­ra­tion process, finally, I was in Bayreuth in October 2018.

My first months in Bayreuth were the best ones by far. I started explo­ring the city and the univer­sity imme­dia­tely. The first day I had some bureau­cratic things to do, such as regis­tering to the Rathaus. It always takes time wherever you are in the world. But the days after was fun. I met with my new class­mates and got to know my new room­mates. Also, the first week I had my birthday, so my room­mates and I had a hike to Eremi­tage and the Altes Schloss. After this hike, we went to Oskar, which is a trendy restau­rant serving tradi­tional German dishes. Even though this was a fast start, my new friends and I did not lose pace with explo­ring Bayreuth for the next months. I went to a lot of parties, such as the ones in Glas­haus and WG Parties.

What do I do during Winter?

Bayreuth indeed calms down during the winter. But, as a person who enjoys the winter, Bayreuth is not the wrong place to spend time. One of my favo­rite things about Bayreuth is that at any time of the year, the city has a lot to offer, inclu­ding winter. Starting mid-fall (around the time that the semester begins), Winter­dorf opens on the main street of Bayreuth, which is a cozy place that I prefer to go with my friends. It is located in the middle of Maxi­mil­li­an­straße. There you can eat some Brat­würste, drink some hot wine (Glüh­wein) and enjoy your time around the tables. It has tables with a small fire in the middle of it, so it is not cold. But of course, that is not the only thing open in that street. The whole street becomes a little Christmas Market from November the 25^th to Christmas.

Besides the events in the city, the acti­vi­ties in the univer­sity are also delightful in the winter. Not to mention, winter is the time that students have to study :)! Almost every second week, we have the univer­sity cinema, which shows very recent movies for a meager price. Also, as an inter­na­tional student group, my friends and I gene­rally prefer to watch movies in English, which is a possi­bi­lity in univer­sity cinema. There were many movies that I wanted to watch at that time, but for me, the cinema in Bayreuth is a little expen­sive. So, watching movies at the univer­sity, with a big screen and good sound quality, is lovely. And, of course, it is cheaper!

What do I do when the weather gets good? 

Bayreuth is the best, in my opinion, during the Spring and the Summer. Almost every week, some­thing is going on either in the city center or on the Volk­fest­platz. I perso­nally really enjoyed the flea market, food truck festival, and of course, the Volks­fest! Let me shortly intro­duce them, and how I spent time there to give you some things you can do in Bayreuth. Of course, the list is not limited to these!

Floh­markt

The flea market opens once or twice a year, so follow the adver­ti­se­ments around. This year, I went with my flat­mates. We needed a bread knife, and luckily, we found a nice one, only for 2 Euros! Then, the same person was selling a bread cutting machine too, and we thought it would be nice if we bought it. So, we haggled with her and reduced the price consider­ably. In the end, we bought it for 5 Euros, which I thought was a good deal. After using the machine, I was sure that it was a good deal.

Food Truck Festival

This summer, for the first time in my life, I went to a food truck festival. The variety of the food just blew my mind. From the unhe­alt­hiest sugar-based food to Vegan Ethio­pian dishes (inclu­ding main­stream food trucks like taco or burgers), it was a fanta­stic expe­ri­ence. I admit I tried a pretzel with a lot of choco­late and candy on top of it. I know that I shouldn’t have, but it looked so tasty. It was defi­ni­tely worth it. And as a main dish, I tried (I don’t remember its name, unfort­u­na­tely) an Ethio­pian Lentil Soup with excel­lent bread, which was really tasty.

Volks­fest

Volks­fest for this year was in the first weeks of June. As an inter­na­tional student, I always wanted to expe­ri­ence festi­vals in Germany. Volks­fest happens in almost every city, inclu­ding Bayreuth. I don’t know how exactly I can explain what Volks­fest is, but I think it is like a small Okto­ber­fest that happens every year in many cities. There are a lot of things to do and to eat/drink, and it ends with a fire­work show! You should defi­ni­tely check out some pictures from this year’s event!

Possi­bi­li­ties around Bayreuth

As I mentioned above, Bayreuth is a medium-size city (in German stan­dards, of course) in Upper Fran­conia (tech­ni­cally in Bavaria, but don’t tell the locals about this!). Some­times I miss the crowds because I’m coming from a big city. Nevert­heless, the loca­tion of Bayreuth makes it easy to visit more promi­nent cities, both inside and outside Germany. I visited many big cities, which are very close and easy to reach, like Berlin, Munich, and Prague. But don’t worry, the univer­sity is full of inter­na­tional students, so you will meet plenty of

One thing that you will hear from ever­y­body about Bayreuth is that nature around is breath­ta­king. They are comple­tely correct. If the weather is good enough, I either go for a hike, walk, or a small bike tour. I really enjoy riding my bike around Roter Main (the river in Bayreuth), and going to hikes in the forest and visi­ting parks for a walk. Just last week, my friends and I took a bus to Potten­stein and had a hike there. It was a little far away, but around Bayreuth, there are many hike-trails and forests.

What will I do next? 

Living as an inter­na­tional student in Bayreuth has a lot to offer. It is a beau­tiful city with a lot of things to do, as I hope the above examples will show you. If you are inte­rested in what inter­na­tional students in Bayreuth do, you can check the social media accounts of the univer­sity and univer­sity groups. You can check this website for all the events that I said in this blog post too. Hopefully, I will regu­larly update you about what I do in Bayreuth. I mentioned that I like basket­ball, and on November 24, I will go to a game of the city team Medi Bayreuth. I think my next blog will be about that. Until then, take care!