Lukáš Janásek

I would like express my gratitude for the possibility to stay in Guesthouse during my exchange semester in Mannheim.

My name is Lukáš Janásek and I have been in Mannheim as an exchange student since the end of August. I come from the Czech republic where I study Economics and Finance at Institute of Economic Studies which is a part of Charles University in Prague. I decided to spend my exchange semester in Mannheim in order to improve my German language and study at Department of Economics of University of Mannheim is known as one of the best in Germany.

My first days in Mannheim were very stressful for me. The original room I rented turned out to be a scam after my arrival therefore the first place I visited in Mannheim was a police station. The possibility to stay in Guesthouse seemed to me as a miracle since a chance to find a new accommodation was very low.

Since my first week in Mannheim my roommates have been Bertrant from Cameroon who is a PhD student and Rodrick from Netherland who studies at Department of Economics like me. We got to know each other very quickly and there was always good atmosphere at our flat.
Beside having four economic courses and german course Oral Communication I spent a lot of time by student events organized by VISUM. I have almost never missed Stammtisch which took place every Monday evening at Cafe L3 and I participated in Running dinner and International dinner for which I prepared traditional Czech meal “bramboráky“. All these events allowed me to meet many international students, have fun and to experience new food and cultures.

During my stay in Mannheim I traveled a lot. I visited nearby cities such as Heidelberg, Schwetzingen and Speyer and also Odenwald by my bike. I participated in day trips organized by VISUM to Strasbourg and European Central Bank in Frankfurt and also made a day trip to the capital city of Luxembourg. Moreover, I am going to visit Nürnberg with VISUM the upcoming Friday.

I did not feel confident enough to take economic courses in German therefore my whole studies have been held in English. In order to improve my German I have met with other international students each Tuesday evening and we discussed variety of topics in German while drinking beer or cooking. One of our meetings was also in IBZ so our “Deutschsprachige Gruppe“ would like to express its gratitude as well. I also spent two evenings in IBZ during Lingue Cafe organized by VISUM and many evenings with my two friends from Germany and Great Britain where we cooked together.

All in all, I have been enjoying my exchange semester as much as possible. I am fully satisfied with The University of Mannheim, free time possibilities for students and of course with my spectacular accommodation which is across from the university.

Best regards,
Lukáš Janásek