By Lena Garrett - 3rd Year German and Russian student
It’s hard to believe it’s Christmas already. The first half of my Year Abroad, which has been spent studying at Bonn University on an Erasmus exchange, is flying by.
Some highlights include: using Russian in working for VICE UK on a documentary film about the May ’14 referendum in Donetsk; getting to study some completely new subjects at Bonn University (I’m taking Chinese and Politics as well as German there); but mostly, contrived as it may sound, meeting wonderful new people.
A very recent highlight involved taking part in an underreported anti-demonstration in Bonn with some German friends. You may have read or heard about theright wing demonstration that took place in Dresden earlier in the month. I’m pleased to report that in Bonn the right wing faction consisted of just fifty people and was met by an opposing crowd of three thousand, which meant that the original march could not take place. As many placards there read: ‘Bonn bleibt bunt’ – ‘Bonn’s staying colourful’.
What next? My semester in Bonn ends in February and then I will be off to Russia, where (in theory) I’ll be doing internships at the Moscow Times and the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce.
My must-sees if/when in and around Bonn are: the Max Ernst Museum; Drachenfels/ Drachenburg; the Christmas market (winter only) and the Ahrweiler Bunker.
Read more about Modern Languages at Brasenose.