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You may wonder why a student of English Philology<\/strong> would choose a German city as an Erasmus destination<\/strong>. Everyone does. My innocent answer to those musings used to be: \u201cI chose Germany because I already know how to speak English, and I am eager to learn German too\u201d. This eagerness came from the fact that, after taking the German course for beginners at the UGR, I went crazy for that language. Of course my experience in Germany showed me that, firstly, my English was not as functional as I thought<\/strong>; and secondly, that what I learnt from the A1-German course allowed me to say only things like \u201cdanke sch\u00f6n\u201d at the supermarket<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But as Lord Byron would say: My way is to begin with the beginning<\/em>.<\/p>\n Really: why Potsdam?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The city I chose out of all the destinations offered by the University of Granada<\/strong> was Potsdam<\/strong>\u2013which nowadays my parents still insist on calling Post<\/u>dam,<\/em> but let\u2019s not \u00abask the elm tree for pears\u00bb, right? Perhaps you have already heard of this city thanks to the Potsdam Conference<\/a><\/strong>, held at the Cecilienhof Palace right after WWII<\/strong>; you know, that casual<\/em> meeting where some friends agreed to share out Germany, among other casual<\/em> plans and which I am not going to deal with now. This historical fact is not, however, a determining element for students to choose Potsdam as a destination. The main reason is usually that it is really close to the capital, Berlin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As a matter of fact, Potsdam is roughly 25 km. away from Berlin (35 minutes by train)<\/strong>, which makes it an attractive place to live if you are not comfortable with the capital\u2019s overwhelming way of life, but you still want to enjoy everything Berlin has to offer. Since that was all I needed, in 2011, Potsdam became my home during the nine months of my Erasmus experience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Pre-Potsdam times<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n First thing I had to do (after all the jumping and celebrating that I finally got to go to Germany): learn German. Any German. Enough to be able to read the street signs and not get lost. So thanks to the Beca MEC<\/em>, I spent September doing an intensive German course in Berlin before moving to Potsdam<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I am not going to talk here about the capital and what an amazing, mind-blowing city it is, because the focus has to be on my Erasmus in Potsdam, but seriously: visit Berlin<\/strong>. Meet the people. Get lost in its neighbourhoods.<\/strong> Nowhere else will you see the contrasts you find in Berlin: not only because of the varied origins of the people living there, but also because only<\/em> 26 years ago that city was split into two separate, opposite worlds<\/strong>. I imagine the result of joining them together after almost 40 years\u2026 Well, you can\u2019t imagine. That is why I am telling you: Go to Berlin and amaze yourselves!<\/p>\n Universit\u00e4t Potsdam<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n After a month in the capital getting in touch with my new German surroundings, I moved finally to Potsdam. There, right at the train station, the nice people of the ESN Potsdam<\/a> guided all the international students like me to our Studentenwonheime<\/em> <\/strong>(hall or dorms, whatever you call it) and get there safe and sound.<\/p>\n The Uni Potsdam <\/strong>offers its students different options for accommodation<\/strong>, so you can live right by your campus<\/strong> (whichever it is) or in the city centre<\/strong>. Of course, you may prefer renting an apartment in Potsdam or Berlin. The latter option becomes really tempting when you realize that, thanks to your Studentenausweis<\/em> (fancy German term for student ID), you can use public transportation to get around Berlin and Brandenburg<\/strong> for free. <\/strong><\/p>\n But I need to talk about the campus<\/strong> now. If you look at the picture, you will know why I am so fascinated with that place. That is the main, and most beautiful campus of all: Neues Palais<\/strong>. There, my friends, Humanities<\/strong> are taught, and you can imagine the pleasure of going to class and going into these majestic buildings<\/strong>. As a matter of fact, the campus is situated within the main attraction of the city: Sanssouci Park<\/strong>, which I am going to describe afterwards to amaze you even more.<\/p>\n As for the academic experience and the lectures, you do not necessarily have to bust a gut to pass, since all the lectures of our degree are taught in English and, even if you don\u2019t know any German, you can attend class like any other student<\/strong>. However, getting a pass is not all roses: There are a lot of essays to do, presentations and, most importantly, you have to get used to the pace of the classes<\/strong>. I am not going to lie to you: Our English, dear Spanish students, compared to that of Germans sucks<\/span> is not enough. To say nothing of the fact that they participate in class massively<\/em><\/strong>, so much so that sometimes the lecturer becomes a mere moderator in the debate among students. The first time I saw this I was amazed and it took me months to dare to participate once. But on the bright side, the classes were extremely interesting and dynamic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The city<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I am not going to get all encyclopaedic because Wikipedia would do that job much better than me. Yet I have<\/em> to say something about the city. When people ask me to describe Berlin<\/strong>, I always say amazing, mind-blowing, superb<\/em><\/strong>. When they ask me about Potsdam<\/strong>, on the other hand, I say beautiful<\/em><\/strong>. Although the most accurate term would be picturesque<\/em><\/strong>, and you will understand why in a moment.<\/p>\n Potsdam is a small city\u2013slightly smaller than Granada<\/strong>\u2013which has been one of the places of residence of the Prussian kings and the German Kaiser until 1918<\/strong>. The city was designed<\/em> to be the perfect combination of Neoclassical buildings and works of art<\/strong>. There are more than fifteen palaces<\/strong> all around Potsdam, three great parks<\/strong> and even an architectural ensemble of antique-style ruins<\/a>, built especially for the king in the 18th<\/sup> century<\/strong>. Not to mention the centre of the city, which would instantly transport you to another age. Among other monuments and buildings, one of the most curious is the original<\/em> Brandenburg Gate<\/strong>. Indeed, the one in Potsdam was built ten years before the one of the same name in Berlin. Have a look at the video and you will see that maybe one day you just go out for a walk and suddenly you run into an orchestra playing the Pirates of the Caribbean<\/em>\u2019s song. Because those things happen in Potsdam.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thephilologistugr20.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/03\/foto-1.jpg\")
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