Claudio Arrau in Germany

A small town in Germany?

Advantages: Compact, cultured, loads to do
Disadvantages: Limited "old town", some may find it lacking vitality

Bonn was the capital of the former West Germany (or Bundesrepublik in German) between1949 and 1990. It is the nineteenth largest (according to Wikipedia) city in Germany which says much about why it was chosen to be the new capital following World War Two; Konrad Adenauer, the post-war chancellor of the Bundesrepublik, was a local lad and he pushed for Bonn to become capital over Frankfurt, a city which was in a much better position to take on the role. Frankfurt already had many suitable buildings and a good infrastructure but Bonn won the day in spite of the added costs involved. Following World War Two, Germany was divided into four zones; this was done to satisfy the Allies who each had various claims on the territory and wished to protect their individual interests and the other reason was that it was believed that Germany needed ...

fizzytom 20.03.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Bonn (Germany)

A Little Piece of Germany in West Yorkshire

Advantages: Close to city centre and cathedral, work a quick visit
Disadvantages: Would be nice to have some bars/cafes

"Little Germany" is the name given to an area of Bradford city centre near the cathedral in which a good number of German merchants lived and did business in the nineteenth century. These successful businessmen prospered in Bradford and built a number of rather impressive warehouses for their businesses ? primarily within the textile trade. What is particularly ironic is that in 1846 a young German tourist visited Bradford and subsequently wrote an article, perhaps for the Ciao of that era, in which he said " In Bradford, however, you think you have been lodged with the devil incarnate. If anyone wants to feel how a poor sinner is tormented in Purgatory, let him travel to Bradford". Still many of his compatriots were to arrive, and settle, in Bradford just a few years later. The area is still occupied by businesses but some ...

fizzytom 05.11.2009 (06.11.2009) · Read full review
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Review of Little Germany (Bradford)

A year in................Germany!

Advantages: Fantastic fun, great opportunity to broaden your horizons.
Disadvantages: Takes a while to adapt to a new country.

America and get away with passing the course! Others, myself included were naturally apprehensive but quite looking forward to the idea of having a year abroad. Fast forward a couple of months and we had all made the difficult choice of what to do in our year abroad. Manchester uni had given us three fairly broad options. They were study, work, or serve as a teaching assistant. Study, which I chose was by far the most popular, this was followed by teaching. A few hardy souls chose the option to work in Germany or Austria, but in 2003 this was the more difficult option as the downturn in the economy of Germany was just beginning and very few firms had the budget to take on a potentially risky British student for a year! So finally it came to October 2002 and I found myself standing in Leipzig-Halle airport facing a year in Germany. I had ...

mr_christa 15.02.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Gap Year in Germany