Amy Hardy's Story : Germany / Darmstadt

Amy Hardy : Darmstadt, Germany

My Video

About Darmstadt, Germany

About the City

Die Technische Universitaet Darmstadt (TUD) is located about 5 minutes from the city center. The Strassenbahn passes right by and you can hop off and walk to school in about 5 minutes. The school has some modern buildings as well as some old-fashioned buildings. Historically, the university was used mostly for Engineering endeavors (Darmstadt was the city ranked third in damage from WWII bombings, as many weapons of war were produced here), as it is a technical university, but now offers courses in many different domains. About 1/2 mile from the city is a Roman ruins excavation site! Darmstadt is about 40 minutes from Frankfurt and about 6-7 hours away from Berlin, Germany's capital.

The program had students stay with a host family. Many were located in the city, but mine was located in Griesheim, which is about 30 minutes (by foot + with the tram) from the city center. I stayed in a home with a very interesting family. The mother was Polish and the father German (from Hessen, where a strong dialect is spoken.) The two daughters, Laura and Nathalie both spoke German and Polish. The family owned a produce import/export business in the city, so I always had frensh fruits and vegetables! And they loved to feed me. Overall, they were an excellent family!

Some of the excursions taken were to Frankfurt, Mainz, Heidelberg, Berlin and a nice long hike through the mountains to see Felsenmeer which is a "rock graveyard!" The myth tells us that the giants who used to live in the forest threw them down the mountainside. Another interested excursion was to visit der Limus, which is also in the forest. It serves as the ancient border of the Roman empire. It is a mound of dirt built up as a physical barrier to invaders. There also exist stone watchtowers. Our group traveled each weekend and oftentimes also during the week as well!

Darmstadt has several beautiful parks, one of which has a swimming pond (it may sound unappealing, but it's really fun!) TUD has a swimming pool available to any students with their TUD Ausweis (ID). Cafes and the nightlife in Darmstadt is also really fun! It is a student town, so there are quite a few hang outs and clubs. My German friends and I went to Cafe Balloon. It was located next to the Medical Building in the city with an outdoor patio.

Map of Darmstadt

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