Thanks to the efforts of the German Centre a group of top ranked students was offered the opportunity to travel to Germany and take a language course at the University of Ulm.

Before going to Germany our idea of it was that it was just a green country with blond inhabitants. But when we arrived we realized that there are other things that make Germany special among other countries.

Everything there is perfectly organized - the public transportation, the trains, the traffic, and the people really follow all these rules.

Another thing that amazed us was the huge number of people using bikes for moving around within the town.

As it was our first time in Germany we got lost many times. But people in streets and stations helped us a lot find our way. Sometimes we asked in English but they replied in German. However, we liked that because we wanted to practise the language and after the first week we began to ask in German.

Although Ulm is a small city, we really enjoyed living there and we all consider it now to be our second home and wish to be back again. Something special about Ulm was the Ulmer Münster, a big cathedral. Every time we got lost in the town we looked up, saw the Münster and tried to reach it – and so we found our way back! We all were excited about the height of the Münster, and one day we climbed it. The view from above was really amazing!

Our normal days in Ulm always started with going to the Ulm University which is situated in a forest. The German course was really interesting and Herr Walter (our teacher) was very friendly. He always encouraged us to speak German in class and outside it.

After class we went downtown where we went shopping in the Hirschstraße and in the afternoon we walked by the Donau River and enjoyed the very beautiful scenery over there.

The International Office in the university was very helpful and had organized an exciting program of excursions during our stay. We went to Salzburg in Austria where we visited the Mozart Museum; then we climbed up the castle. Other destinations were Heidelberg, Munich (with Frauenkirche und Marienplatz and we also had a tour with our bus to many other places), and Lake Konstanz where we went from Friedrichshafen to Bregenz by ship. In Bregenz we took the Bergbahn (a mountain railway) up to the Vorarlberg mountain. In Stuttgart we visited the Mercedes Benz Museum. Together with our supervisor we organized a trip to Strasbourg in France.

In the last week after the exam Dr. Reinhold Luecker, the director of the International Office, organized together with Mrs. Zitzelsberger a dinner party where we received our certificates.

We all miss Ulm and life there, and we all wish to have the opportunity to visit it again one day.

Sarah Abdel Fatah Ibrahim (Ulm)