Travel: Duisburg Mole

This is the article I wrote for www.thirdyearabroad.com as part of their Mole Dairies (http://www.thirdyearabroad.com/german/item/957.html). It's an ins-and-outs guide to Duisburg - everything you wanted and ever needed to know about Germany's industrial heartland.

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So you’ve just found out you’re going to be spending some time in Duisburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Don’t worry, before my year abroad, I hadn’t heard of it either. However, after several months of living local, I’ve managed to collect lots of handy hints and tips that will hopefully help your year abroad in the heart of the Ruhrgebiet run smoothly.

The City and the Sights

I’ll level with you. Duisburg is not very pretty. In fact, it’s a bit blockish and industrial. You mustn’t hold that against it though; just because it ain’t good-looking doesn’t mean you can’t have an absolute blast there.

The main city centre runs from the Hauptbahnhof up Konigstraße to the Rathouse. It’s this street where you’ll find all the shops and banks, as well as two large shopping centres (the Forum and the City Palais, which is also home to a concert hall, several restaurants and a casino) and the Duisburg Theatre. They also hold the (quite impressive) Christmas Market here: keep your eye out for the full-size sailing boat serving hot Glühwein. There are also at least six fountains of varying sizes, the most famous of these being the Lifesaver Statue, a colourful revolving bird, which is either very artistic or very weird depending on your point of view.

If you take a left at the Lifesaver Statue and walk to the end of the street, you’ll come to a large park which is ideal in summer for relaxing in the sunshine with a picnic or a beer. Behind it is a large sculpture museum which for the artists among you is an enjoyable way to while away a few hours. There’s another interesting sculpture at the entrance to the park too, which I can’t describe for censorship reasons – but make sure you check it out, it’s a good laugh.

The other area of town worth a look is the Innenhafen, which is full of lovely bars and restaurants and an excellent place to go for a quiet meal and a few drinks. It’s fairly easy to find: if you continue in a straight line past the Rathaus (pause to look at excavated medieval house here, it’s quite interesting) and turn right just before the bridge, it’s about a ten minute walk along the Ruhr. On the way you’ll pass the Kultur-und Stadthistorisches Museum, which is alright if you’re a fan of industrial history, as well as another nice park and the old city walls. Down here you’ll also find the Legoland Discovery Centre, the entrance of which is dominated by the larger-than-life Lego giraffe that crops up on all the Duisburg postcards.

Student City

The Universität Duisburg-Essen is a large modern university with some 30,000 students, many of whom are international, making the city’s student vibe wonderfully multi-cultural. The university buildings are somewhat dotted about, but the main centre is on Lotharstraße, about a twenty minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof in the opposite direction to the city centre. Here you’ll find the majority of the departments, the Info Centre, the main canteen (Mensa) and the gym (completely unrelated to the University, it’s also around this area that the large and reasonably famous Duisburg Zoo is located).

There is a large international students society run by students which runs regular Stammtisches and trips (sometimes even trips abroad – whilst I was there they ran a day trip to Paris for 40Euro). You don’t even have to be a student at the university to be involved; they are happy to welcome any international students and the Stammtisches in particular are an excellent way to meet people in the area whilst practising your language skills.

Finding Accommodation

Your first and best option for finding accommodation in Duisburg is to apply for the non-university Studentenwohnheim on Dellplatz. This is cheap, sociable and easy walking distance from the city centre and the Hauptbahnhof. It is in the style of a traditional hall of residence, with individual rooms and a large shared kitchen, which is kept meticulously clean. It is popular with a large number of young working Germans and students as well as internationals and there is even a (very cheep) bar downstairs on Wednesday nights.  Alternatively, it is possible to apply for university student accommodation. They have a large number of Studentenwohnheims available for students and non students (non students have to pay and additional guest fee of 20Euro per month), usually in the form of shared flats. This is also a very cheap option, but if you want to live with Germans then your chances are slim as the majority of inhabitants will be international students. Most of the Studentenwohnheims are located in Neudorf, just behind the Hauptbahnhof, which is a popular student area.

Getting Around

Duisburg, like the majority of German cities has a very good U-Bahn network. The 901 route is the one you’ll probably use most as a student as it connects the University to the Hauptbahnhof, as well as to the neighbouring city of Mülheim-an-der-Ruhr. In terms of trains, Duisburg is very well connected and it is possible to get a direct regional train to almost anywhere within Nordrhein-Westfalen, as well as to many exciting places further a-field, such as Berlin, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

If you plan to do a lot of travelling within Nordrhein-Westfalen (as I did) and you are not already a student at the university, I highly recommend you enrol. It is 215Euro per semester and for this you will be issued with a Semesterticket entitling you to unlimited travel on regional transport (U-Bahn, busses and RE/RB/ S-Bahn trains).  You can even take a friend on your ticket if it is after 7pm. To get one you have to go the AAA Office (located on the ground floor of a large university building on Geibelstraße) where they will make you fill out lots of forms and confuse you with insurance questions (make sure you take your passport and two passport photos with you). If anyone tells you that you are not permitted to enrol (they don’t seem to communicate information too well between staff) then persevere because they are talking nonsense. This may sound like a lot of faff, but it is thoroughly worth it for the amount of money you save on travel.

Eating, Drinking & Dancing

There are innumerable places to eat, drink and be merry in Duisburg. Here are a few of my favourites.

Restaurants

•  Bodega: Located in the Innenhafen, this place does the best tapas outside of Espania as well as first-rate cocktails. Make sure you try the garlic marinated chicken; you won’t be kissing anyone for a while but it tastes like heaven.
• Brauhaus Schacht 4/8: Smack bang in the middle of the city centre, excellent beer and Schnitzel as big as your face.
• Nuh’s Thai: Eat in or takeaway, some of the best value and best tasting Thai food in the region.

Bars 

• I have no idea what it’s called, but the little bar on the corner off Dellstraße and Krummacherstraße is a really good place to have a quiet beer and hang out.
• Pianissimo: A nice pub, often with live music. Generally the location of the International Students’ Stammtisch. 
• Steinbruch: A café-come-bar which doubles as a gig venue. It’s quite a walk to get to it, so I recommend you get a taxi or use the shuttle bus from the Hauptbahnhof that runs on gig nights.
• Golden Grün: You can go early to drink and chat, or late to drink and dance. Tiny and lots of fun.

Clubs 

• Pulp: On the 903 traim route and located in an old castle, this is Duisburg’s best club. The nights vary from hard rock to indie to mainstream, but its always got a friendly party atmosphere.
• DeJazz: This is a city centre club in a residential area so it tends to close a bit earlier than the standard German 6am. However, it’s a brilliant night with an eclectic mix of music, often live.
• Hundertmeister: This is the place to go if you want a nice normal night out with a good mix of music. The monthly Yum-Yum parties are legendary, but the queue to get in will be enormous. Also a nice place to sit outside in the summer with a crafty half of Duisburg’s local König Pilsner.

Hidden Gem

Duisburg does have a normal cinema just next to the Hauptbahnhof, but if you fancy a bit of class to your film viewing, check out the Film Forum just off Dellplatz, an old theatre that’s been converted into a cinema. It’s a fantastic place to enjoy arty and foreign films, as well as more mainstream ones and if you fancy something to eat before hand, there’s a restaurant downstairs that’s always packed.

Around Duisburg

There may be lots to do in Duisburg, but it would be sad if you spent your entire year without exploring all that NRW has to offer. Here are three of my top places to visit if you fancy travelling a little outside the city limits.

•       Centro: Located in Oberhausen’s Neumitte (you can get a bus or tram there from Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof, which itself is only 5 minutes on the train from Duisburg), this is a large out-of-town shopping centre complete with a bar and restaurant promenade. Pretty much every shop you will ever need in Germany under one roof.
•             Düsseldorf: It’s the capital of the region and just 15 minutes away on the train. Good for high-end shopping and full of interesting museums, and also a fantastic place for a night out. The majority of the bars are located in the Altstadt – check out Engelchen on Kurzestraße for a traditional German Kneipe and Zum Goldenen Einhorn on Rattingerstraße (the student street) for some traditional German grub.  The cinema next to the Hauptbahnhof often screens new Hollywood releases in English – look out for screenings captioned “OV”. 
•       Münster: Welcome to NRW’s poshest city. It’s a long journey to get there (about an hour and 20 minutes by train), but wandering around its cobbled streets is a very pleasant way to spend a day. The Christmas Market (or should I say markets, as they have six) is probably one of the best in the region.

 And that’s Duisburg, folks. I wish you all the best with your year abroad; if you enjoy it half as much as I did, you’re in for a real treat. Have fun and good luck! 

YA: Being Just As Busy As A Bee Can Be.

Look, OK, I really do have an excuse for my absence this time. In fact I have several. Would you like to hear about them?

Firstly, there's my stonking social life -  prepare to be utterly overwhelmed by jealousy as I launch into a detailed and adjectivally-stuffed description of my fabulous existence!

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You're right, that is going too far (and erring on the arrogant). Saying that, I can't deny that recent times have been pretty damn good. I've had a guest to stay in the form of a certain Miss Pearson and I had a great time giving her a wee tour of my adoptive Bundesland. The long anticipated Fort Day took place, though with considerably less fort building than face-packs (which Matt refused to partake in) and bacon sandwiches. We had an en masse trip to Ikea and Gelsenkirchen's new Primark in order to stock up on cheep accessories and household furnishings. I also went to a tip top gig, my first proper small gig since being in Germany; Tubelord and Shoes And Socks Off were brilliant, and hopefully there'll be a somewhat belated live review on this very blog soon. Then, on top of all that, there's been the numerous trips to the ol' Kneipe and various nights out in different cities (Münster, Düsseldorf, Essen, Duisburg) not to mention the past three weekends spent outside of Germany...

No, actually, let's mention those. First, there was Amsterdam. Oh, my beloved Amsterdam, how I had missed thee! We only went for a short time, taking advantage of Deutsche Bahn's cheapy-cheap saving train fares and for 38Euro there and back it was thoroughly worth it. I mean, it wasn't an entirely hitch-free trip; the hostel we wanted to stay in ran out of walk-in rooms (they wouldn't take a phone reservation) and we had a nerve wracking couple of hours where we all tried to put a brave face on the fact that we could possibly be sleeping rough in the Dutch capital. Fortunately, a very lovely woman (whom I want to adopt as a member of my family) in the tourist information centre hooked us up with a three-star hotel at 33Euro each for the night and we were saved. Other than me dropping my chips, everything else went swimmingly. We took in the delights of the flower market and the sex museum, got some Dutch food and wandered off into the night. Obviously, we took a turn down the red light district, though the prostitutes weren't nearly as interesting as all the ducks and swans lining the canal which Carol decided to feed. Then it was pub time. Several long strolls and numerous beers later, it was suddenly 4am in we were in a jazz bar and Kelsey was falling asleep against the wall. We decided it was probably time to hit the sheets. The next morning we stocked up (and I mean stocked up) on the hotel's free breakfast before heading to the Anne Frank House. I'd been before, but I didn't find it any the less moving and I thoroughly recommend going if you haven't yet had the chance to visit. Finally, there was time for a quick photo-shoot on the I Amsterdam sign before boarding the train back to Duisburg, and frankly, crashing right out. 

The weekend after I hit up another European capital: Copenhagen. Since my oldest friend in the world, Jennie, currently resides there I thought it only right and proper that I should pay her a visit. She was a tremendous host, talking me drinking at cool bars and for dinner at a restaurant shaped like an old-fashioned tram (and I can still taste the awesome-osity of that burger). I took the night train up on the Thursday night, arriving in the middle of Friday, the rest of which was pretty much taken up with the aforementioned burger and a Hoegarden in a tumbler that must have previously belonged to a giant it was so big. On Saturday we were tourists, heading out to the Little Mermaid statue and then into Christiania, the crazy hippy commune in the middle of town with it's own a rules and a bar with a fish-tank celling in the toilets. Then, after fabulous home cooked lasagne (thanks, Jennie's flatmate) we got changed and went to the most international flat party I've ever had the privilege to attend. There was only about eleven people but we spanned six different nationalities: British, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, American and Polish. Crazy. Even crazier, then, that I spent the rest of my night getting well and truly trollied on extremely cheap Turborg at a Balkan Music night in a disused factory turned club. Needless to say, the hangover the next day was considerable and the ten hours of training back to Germany unwelcome, but I had a completely awesome weekend and I'd do it all again tomorrow if not sooner. 

Then (last one now) last weekend Kelsey and I made another trip to Holland in order to help Lyndsay move her shed-loads of stuff across to Groningen. We had said goodbye the night before in typical student style, with a meal and a bout of karaoke and several well-liquored cocktails (also, me and Kelsey, having accidentally bought the same outfit without knowing a few weeks previously decided it would be the perfect farewell gift to go out dressed completely identically, an act which inspired great hilarity). Therefore, the next day should have been a gruelling and grumble-filled trip consisting of crap food and five trains and a hangover to boot, but was actually just one big laugh. We played "That's What She Said" relentlessly for seven hours without getting bored and filmed our adventure. We even wrote a soundtrack and any second now I expect a phone call from Simon Cowell offering us a six-figure advance on a record deal. The only rubbish aspect of the whole thing was that we had to leave Lyndsay behind when we left. I will miss her very much; Germany won't quite be the same and I'm already very much looking forward to fourth year cups of tea and the promise of being introduced to Dempsy's.  

I should say at this point that it hasn't been all play and no work. In fact, it's been very much the opposite, in that work's gone equally crackers and I've found my weeks just as jam-packed as the weekends. This is largely because two of the projects I've been working on at school are coming to a close soon. The first, a play about Robin Hood with Klasse 6, is in full rehearsal mode, with lines to be learnt, costumes to be found and sets to be made. Everything has to be done and dusted by opening night next Thursday; the pupils are performing at the bilingual night as well as to the visiting Grundschule kids who are considering HHG as their Gymnasium of choice for the next nine years of their academic existence. The other is the FCE and CAE voluntary English exams that I have been tutoring for. With less than three weeks until the speaking exams and the written papers the week after that (both events, I might add, which will demand my attendance at school at 8am on a SATURDAY), I've found myself trying to cram even more activities into my thrice weekly lessons as well as spending my evenings trawling the internet and trying to knock together revision packs. This Thursday I have to go additional training of some description in the next town, though I have no idea what that will entail. In addition to this, the Klasse 7 bilingual-politics class that I assist in have just started work on their final  courtroom role-play project and my level of Nachhilfestunden has increased to three per week with the promise of one more should I choose to call the number given to me today.   

So, you see, I haven't been ignoring my blogging duties on purpose! I really have been a very busy bumble bee. I've succeeded in filling my weeks so well that I've barely noticed I've been back six weeks already. Christ, there's only eight weeks to go and it's Easter, and then when that's done I've only got four more weeks before I'm done for good.

Shucks. Just when I was starting to get into it.