Gießen: Real-life Facebook in Hessen

Nearly every third inhabitant of Gießen is a student, which certainly shapes life in the city. Gießen is like a real-life version of Facebook. Spend a few semesters studying here and you will bump into people you know all over town.

Gießen introduced

 

Gießen tends to be a city that people have heard of, but drive by. Many of the major highway routes to major German cities pass close by, but not many people actually exit the autobahn to visit. Yet Gießen, which is located just 70 kilometers north of Germany’s banking and travel hub Frankfurt, has a fair bit to offer. Like its neighboring towns Marburg and Wetzlar, Gießen is located on the picturesque Lahn River. Not only does Gießen have some of the best salads on the café menu here and the only interactive mathematics museum worldwide, the Mathematikum, it also has many – sometimes quite strange – university courses and loads of cosy student pubs. And at the annual Diskurs Festival for performing arts, artists from all over Europe present their creative work on stage in the form of theater, dance, music, installation art, or film.
The city centre offers everything that you need, including parks and a pedestrian precinct with shops, cafes, cinemas, beer gardens pubs and bars. The symbol of the city is the city’s church tower in the centre of town. It’s a church tower, without the accompanying church, as it was destroyed during the Second World War. The outline of where the church used to stand is traced by a line of stones in the grass. The square is scattered with benches and makes for a pleasant place to hang out. Another symbol of the city is the Selstertor pedestrian bridge that links two central crossings in town.

Universities - Overview

 

Justus-Liebig-Universität

In 2007 the Justus Liebig University Giessen celebrated its 400-year anniversary. It is one of the oldest universities in Germany. Today the university has around 24,000 students. The university is well respected and is promoting internationalization, already offering many courses and programs in English.
Alongside the traditional subjects there are also a number of more unusual courses students can take, such as theater studies and East European history. In the Agricultural Sciences, Nutritional Sciences and Environmental Management faculty students can even study Viniculture and Oenology.

University of Applied Sciences Gießen Friedberg
In contrast to the JLU, at the University of Applied Sciences Gießen Friedberg all activity takes place on a central campus in the middle of town. The university has over 50 degree courses – spread between Gießen and Friedberg, located approximately 40 kilometers away. The main subjects offered are traditional engineering disciplines like mechanical and civil engineering. And there are new courses like information and communications technology, biotechnology and mechatronics. But there are also non-engineering related courses such as business and IT in the university’s portfolio.
Around half of the universities students (5,500) study in Gießen. Foreign students from around 90 countries make for a diverse student population and the many partner universities throughout the world make a semester abroad an attractive option for students at the university.

Recreation in Gießen

 

If you’re in Gießen you should not miss out on stopping by the botanic garden.
You can take in the fresh air in the green oasis in the center of town and also soak up a bit of history. Originally founded as a medical healing plant garden in 1607, it is the oldest botanic garden in Germany still located in its original location. In the summer there are also regular jazz concerts here.
For cinema fans, it’s well worth taking the 13-kilometer trip to the neighboring town Lich. The award-winning cinema Traumstern has a large and varied program, including many independent films. It shows a short film before each feature film and just next door a cosy African restaurant provides a tasty place to eat and chat about the movie. If you’re a bit strapped for cash and don’t want to travel as far, check out the Kinocenter in Gießen town center. On four days of the week it has a late night special showing for just 99 cents.
Ulenspiegel, Haarlem, or Domizil: those are locations that you should get to know if you spend time as a student in Gießen. At these clubs or the many advertised student parties, you will rub shoulders with your fellow students and meet people from different faculties.
If clubs are not quite your thing, there is also a lively pub scene in Gießen with beer gardens aplenty for those long summer evenings. A particularly good place to enjoy a warm evening with a beer is in the Bootshaus. The former boat club house is now a nice beer garden on the banks of the river Lahn.
For budding scientists the Liebig museum is a must-see, as the original laboratory of the chemist Justus Liebig is situated here. And just next door is the Mathematikum, which boasts that it is the first interactive math museum in the world. So head on over and test your math skills.

Interview with Kunduz from Kyrgysztan

 

Kunduz Niiazova from Kyrgysztan studies social sciences in Gießen. She shared her experiences with study-in.

What made you decide to study in Gießen?
I had heard that Gießen is a small, cosy student city and I liked this. Besides I found it interesting that the university offers degree courses with focus on East Europe and Central Asia. When I arrived in Gießen an international conference regarding ''conflict prevention in Central Asia'' was taking place. All these things made me decide to study here in Gießen.  

Have your expectations regarding your degree course ben met?
In general I'm content with my degree course. Partially it is a bit complicated with the new modularized degree courses because you have to attend also courses that you're maybe not interested in. Besides I sometimes wished to get more support by my department. Fortunately the International Office of the University takes care for us foreign students. 

Do you have plans for the future?
I definitely will do my master's degree, if possible in the field of conflict- and peace-research. Where I will do this I don't know yet. I would like to stay in Germany because I got used to the German research language. And dealing with language is pretty important if you are studying social sciences. 

Was it difficult for you to settle down in Gießen?
At first it wasn't that easy. You have to get used to your degree course. But Gießen is a small town and so I quickly met a lot of people and felt at ease very soon.  

What do you like about Gießen?
Gießen is a quiet but also international town. Because it is so small you can reach everything by bike. At the same time Gießen is located very well: You can quickly get to Frankfurt, Kassel or Marburg from here. 

Do you have any favourite places in Gießen?
Especially I like the many international restaurants and meeting places in Gießen. One of these is Lokal International. Here cooking evenings, dancing parties or concerts take place. The catholic student group, too, organizes interesting events like salsa parties for example. A very good restaurant in Gießen is the Eritrean venue Mama of Africa.