Roderick de Zeeuw

As being a student from the Erasmus University Rotterdam it is possible to go on an exchange as part of the Erasmus programme. I choose Mannheim because it had a good ranking and of course a beautiful university.

When I came to Mannheim the first time I already had a room, but because the room was not clean and in a very bad shape, I decided to stay in the Youth Hostel for a few days until I founded a room. After days of searching I still didn’t found a room. The University of Mannheim therefore helped me and offered me a room in the university guesthouse at L2,2-4. Ms. Piesch explained everything well and I could immediately enter the room. Thanks to the Ekkehard Foundation the rent was very low and that made my life in Mannheim less costly. In the room you get everything you need, like a desk, tv, bed, a cupboard and internet from the university(Eduroam). You don’t have to go to a laundry service, because there are washing machines and dryers available. But maybe the best thing about the apartment is the location. The university is just across the street and the city centre is a five minute walk.

After moving in my room at the guesthouse the semester started. I already made some friends at the youth hostel, but also joined several times the International Stammtisch at the student bar L3 where it is possible to know more internationals. I also went to several Visum(international student organization) events. For example the Visum Pub Crawl was an success, but Visum party’s at different clubs too.  

I also explored the area of Mannheim and went to places like Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Bensheim and Schwetzingen. Except for Frankfurt these places have very nice old buildings, castles and city centres which gives you a real German experience.

Of course I had to study as well. I took economic courses and some business courses as well. The courses were interesting and also different from courses at my home university in the Netherlands.

I would like to thank the Ekkehard foundation for letting me stay at the guesthouse of Mannheim and hope they can offer these rooms to more students in the future.

Kind regards,

Roderick de Zeeuw