VISUM

VISUM

VISUM is an organization for international students in Mannheim. Some of my most memorable experiences in Mannheim were from events put on by VISUM. Beginning in winter academy, VISUM representatives would come into our class everyday to let us know about excursions or events that they were putting on for us. This was so crucial and helpful for everyone since we had just arrived. With everyone living in different areas, and enrolled in different levels of classes, these VISUM events helped us so much to get to know each other. They also organized helpful tours of Mannheim and trips to IKEA to help us get situated and make Mannheim feel like home.  VISUM organizes weekly parties, local outings, weekend outings, and many other specialty events. They post all of these events on facebook and make it very easy to participate. All of the VISUM representatives were very friendly and willing to help you in any way they could. They were all genuinely interested in connecting the international students with the rest of the students, and also showing us a really good time. VISUM’s weekend trips were a very affordable way to travel. They offered two trips during the semester, one to Hamburg and one to Vienna. I did not participate in the Hamburg trip, however after hearing about it, I decided to go with VISUM to Vienna. Since VISUM brings such a large group of students, they are able get good discounts on busses and hostels. My weekend in Vienna was very affordable and I would not have been able to go that cheaply traveling alone. It was also nice that VISUM set up an itinerary for us, however it was totally optional if we chose to participate or not. They organized a city tour and some nightly activities to get our nights started. It was also nice to travel with other students so wherever we ended up going felt like a party. Unfortunately, some of our scheduled events were rained out in Vienna, but some of them sounded really cool. VISUM had organized a BBQ with another international student organization in Vienna. I think that this would’ve been a really fun way to meet even more international students and share some of our experiences. It was also really nice to have an entire trip planned for you. After doing a lot of independent travel, having the transportation and hostel booked for you was really refreshing. Another great VISUM event was the pub crawl. The pub crawl was a very memorable night for everyone. When we first arrived to get our t-shirt and pub itinerary, we were all a bit put off by the fact that they were randomly placing people in teams. We had all expected that we could pick our teams and be with all of our friends. It actually turned out to be a really good idea that they selected the teams because it forced us out of our comfort zone and to interact with new students. I met students that I had never even seen before and it helped me to realize that there were a lot more international students than I had realized. I forgot about those students that had already been in Mannheim for more than one semester. These students didn’t participate in some of the introduction events, however they participated in the pub crawl because they already knew how fun it was from experience. After the pub crawl was over we arrived at the school for the weekly parties hosted there. Although we were all kind of embarrassed to be showing up with face paint and tee-shirts on, we all had such a good time and had made so many friends that we decided it was okay to stick out as exchange students. Join the VISUM group on facebook before you arrive in Mannheim and you might have the chance to meet some new people before you get there!