Living in a German WG

So, los geht’s!

I live with 7 flatmates in a typical german WG (6 germans and an American exchange student). My building actually used to be French army barracks! I would say living with 7 other people is difficult at times, but I’ve definitely lucked out because, for the most part, my flatmates are incredibly quiet and respectful. We have a chore chart (Putzplan) where we each take care of some major chore each week, and obviously are also responsible for cleaning up after ourselves. We each have our own room, and I would just like to point out that my room here is actually bigger than the room I had in my dorm in Canada (which I shared with an actual roommate). There is enough room for my bed, bookshelf, desk, an extra 2 chairs and a wardrobe. The rent that I pay includes my room being furnished, but obviously, I have collected some things since being here!

Here are some photos of my room:

My room also has a huge window which looks out into a courtyard where lots of students like to sit outside and wait for class (I live right on the psychology campus).

My WG also has a large kitchen and 2 small bathrooms which I share with my flatmates. There is a decent amount of space, especially for the low rent that I am paying. We also have an international tutor for the dorm, and he puts on events for the international students. We have a ping pong table right outside, and also a bar right behind my building. This bar used to be a morgue, and it offers super cheap drinks for students! It’s quite amazing, but also so weird to be in there and think … „wow I’m standing where there used to be dead bodies….“

All in all, I am really enjoying my experience living in a German WG and I think it’s way better than the dorm situation in Canada (at least at my home university).

Emmalee