Survival Guide

TU Dresden Dresden Remarks?

EDITOR ERASMUS Student Network TU Dresden e.V. EMAIL Represented by the board: Simon [email protected] Doll (president), Janine Richter (vice-president), Dennis Guhl PICTURE CREDITS (treasurer) Fabian Lange (Title) Layout: Martin Sommer DD-Schloss-gp.jpg: Kolossos/CC BY-SA 3.0 (Page 34) ADDRESS Deutsches Hygienemuseum, mit Despite thorough research it is Erasmus Student Network TU Plastik Ballwerfer von Richard still possible that sources of imag- Dresden e.V. Daniel Fabricius-9716.jpg: Rai- es might be confused. All images c/o Akademisches Auslandsamt mond Spekking/CC BY-SA 4.0 are published in good faith. Please 01062 Dresden (Page 35) contact the editor in any case of Deutschland unsplash.com issues regarding the publication.

2 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 CONTENTS country: 9 DVB Tickets 22 After your arrival in Dresden: 9 Getting Around Germany 23 ABOUT ESN General Info 10 By Train 23 What is ESN and what are we do- How to find a room? 10 By Bus 23 ing 5 Dresden’s districts 10 Getting Around Europe: RyanAir Contact 5 Registering in Dresden 11 and Flyla with ESNcard dis- ESNcard and Partner 5 GEZ 12 count 24 Furniture and Equipment in Stu- Apps and more 24 EVENTS FROM ESN TU dent Dorms 12 DRESDEN Internet in Student Dorms 13 Garbage separation 14 STUDYING How to find events 7 Deposit system 15 Campusplan 25 Our Weekly Language Exchange: Additional costs 15 Acronyms 25 Café Lingua 7 Daily surviving 16 Mensa 26 Our Weekly Party: The Länder- Help for problems with your Library (SLUB) 27 party 7 landlord 20 Printing 27 Social Erasmus 8 USZ - Dresden University Sports ESN Open Jam Stage — The Center 28 Stage Is Yours 8 TRANSPORTATION LSK - Language Courses 29 Arrival 21 Contact person 29 LIVING IN DRESDEN Getting Around Dresden 21 International Office/AAA 29 Checklists 9 Semesterticket 21 Studentenwerk 29 Before you leave your home Bikes 21 Career Service 30

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 3 FREETIME Other insurances 38 Hiking 31 Barbecue 31 EMERGENCY Parks 32 CONTACTS Elbwiesen 32 Großer Garten 32 Medical contact 39 Alaunpark 32 Police and fire brigade 39 Remarks? 41 CULTURE Semperoper 33 Bunte Republik Neustadt (BRN) 33 Concerts in the Frauenkirche 33 Museums 34 Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 34 Deutsches Hygienemuseum 34 Cinemas 35 BUREAUCRACY Insurances 37 Health Insurance 37 Liability Insurance 38

4 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 WHAT IS ESN AND give some of it back to interna- WHAT ARE WE DOING tional guests in Dresden. That is About why our aim is to make it easier for The Erasmus Student Network exchange students to integrate (ESN) TU Dresden is a non-profit into our university and the city of ESN international student organisa- Dresden by answering questions tion. Our association of voluntary and solving problems concerning students in Dresden organises student life in our town. events, excursions and parties for all international as well as Ger- CONTACT man students in order to make their stay in Dresden as great as For more informations about possible. ESN TU Dresden and our activ- Our team consists of students ities, check out our homepage osk (Mommsenstraße 10, 01069 and alumni of the TU Dresden esn-dresden.de or facebook page Dresden) across from Alte Mensa who share one common interest: facebook.com/erasmus.dresden. during the opening hours. foreign languages and cultures. If you have more questions We are students planning events about us, your daily life in Dres- ESNCARD AND for other students! Most of us den or need help with something PARTNER have lived abroad themselves – else, feel free to send us a mes- studying, working or just trave- sage on facebook (@erasmus. The ESNcard is the member- ling. As we enjoyed hospitality in dresden). ship card of ESN which means other countries, we now want to You can also visit us at our Ki- that you can access all the ser-

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 5 The ESNcard is valid for 1 year and it costs 8€. With the ESN- card you get a discount on all the events (parties, trips, …) organised by ESN TU Dresden. In Dresden you also get discounts in several bars and clubs. International partners of ESN are e.g. Ryanair, FlixBus, Hostelling International, Logitech, etc. You can find all discounts and vouchers after your registration at the homepage: esncard.org.

vices offered by the ESN and our over Europe. The aim of the ESN- partners. With the ESNcard, you card is to support and give oppor- will enjoy thousands of discounts tunities to international students (housing, sport, food, bars, etc.) all during and after their exchange.

6 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 HOW TO FIND different languages, enjoy brain- EVENTS teasers, exercises, jokes etc. It’s Events the perfect opportunity to meet If you search for our events, the people for a language exchange or Facebook event page is the best just to get to know new people. from way to inform yourself. Regular Of course Café Lingua is free! Just events are Cafe Lingua on Mon- come to our meeting point, even day and the Länderparty on Tues- if you don‘t speak any of the list- ESN TU day. ed languages - German and Eng- lish are always spoken. Meeting OUR WEEKLY point is always Albertplatz at 8pm Dresden LANGUAGE next to the Vodafone-Shop. From there we go to the pub together. EXCHANGE: CAFÉ their country-specific music, LINGUA OUR WEEKLY PARTY: decoration, drinks and culinary THE LÄNDERPARTY specialities. We’ll take care of Café Lingua is our weekly lan- the organisation of the club, you guage exchange event that we Every Tuesday during the se- just make it a party. Together with organise with the support of the mester we celebrate a different other people from your country International Office of the TU country together with you! We you can always organise your own Dresden. Every Monday we meet offer international students the Länderparty! If you’re interested in a bar with German and inter- possibility to present their coun- just send us a message to party@ national students. We practice try by organising a party with esn-dresden.de.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 7 SOCIAL ERASMUS

SocialErasmus is an ESN international program that aims to involve young citizens and international students during their mobility experience through volunteering activities that take social action, fostering change in the society. At our SocialErasmus events we want to improve social inclusion and draw attention to disabled people and their daily problems. Let‘s show everyone that Erasmus isn’t just parties!

ESN OPEN JAM ments for you at the club “Katy’s with other musicians from Dres- STAGE — THE STAGE Garage”. The stage is ready: there den and the world you can rock are guitar, bass and drums waiting the stage! IS YOURS for you! It doesn‘t matter if you‘re an Every first Thursday in a month expert or a beginner, you can try we open the stage with instru- whatever you want to! Together

8 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 CHECKLISTS • Bring enough cash money (about 800 – 1000 EUR) and Living in BEFORE YOU all documents listed in your ac- LEAVE YOUR HOME ceptance letter (originals) Dresden COUNTRY: AFTER YOUR ARRIVAL • Non-EU nationals: apply for IN DRESDEN: a student visa at the German embassy or consulate • Registration at Residents’ Of- • Apply for a place in a student fice of the city of Dresden / hall of residence at the ‘Studen- Bürgerbüro (if possible, to be tenwerk Dresden‘ or find a flat taken care of before enrolment) or shared accommodation • Please make sure that you register within two weeks • Pay the semester fee (can be after your arrival in Dresden paid via bank transfer) • Required documents for reg- • Take care of a health insurance istration: policies • passport or personal ID • Enrolment at the TU Dresden • your rental agreement or International Office an exact permanent ad- • Registration with the Immi- dress in Dresden so called gration Matters Department “Wohnungsgeberbestäti- (only for students from non-EU gung” signed by your landlord countries)

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 9 • Get your Emeal Mensa Card at If they are already full or you the cashiers of the refectories can’t get in for any kind of reason and cafeterias of the Studen- wg-gesucht.de is also a good pos- tenwerk Dresden sibility to find a room. • Register at the library (SLUB) Furthermore, there are also and book an appointment for facebook groups, where you can an introductory course help- find a room. ing you with the start of your Contracts do not necessarily studies to be written. Nevertheless, we • Check the registrationdates for strongly advise you, to get a writ- language courses ten conract to avoid misunder- • Do not miss the registration standing. Vocabulary: deadlines for sport courses • unfurnished - unmöbliert • furnished - möbliert GENERAL INFO • temporary rent - Zwischenmi- ete HOW TO FIND A ROOM? Altstadt To find a room, dormitory or DRESDEN’S Beautiful historic center of apartment there are some good DISTRICTS Dresden. Tourist hotspot with a websites: lot of sights, but also, regrettably, For a semester the officialstu - Dresden’s districts are versa- the main place for demonstra- dent halls of the Studentenwerk tile. Here is a small overview of tions, like the xenophobic PEGI- Dresden are a reasonable choice the important districts: DA on monday evening.

10 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 Neustadt the main campus by public trans- REGISTERING IN Located on the north side of portation DRESDEN the Elbe. Famous for its nightlife Gorbitz with bars and clubs. Very popular Located in the west of Dresden, After moving to Germany you for students. cheap panel buildings, from the are obliged to register in your new Plauen and Südvorstadt era of the German Democratic town within 14 days. If you don’t Located in the south of Dres- Republic (DDR). Long ways to the do that you might have to pay a den. Main location of the Technis- university and the Neustadt. We fine up to 500€. The same applies che Universität Dresden (TUD). don’t recommend this district to when you’re leaving. You have to Cotta live in. unsubscribe! This district can be divided into Blasewitz In Dresden you have to go to further smaller districts: Mixed district with mainly his- the Bürgerbüro. For every district Löbtau toric residential buildings. Main there are Bürgerbüros. There are Very mixed society. Students, location of the medical campus often long waiting times so it’s families, workers. It has afforda- Carl Gustav Carus. Beautifully lo- better to make an appointment ble rents, it’s a quiet district with cated at the river and eligible by on the website which is only avail- good traffic connections to the the upper class. For students who able in German: www.dresden. university (bus line 61 every 5 study medicine okay, for others de/de/rathaus/dienstleistungen/ minutes) a bit distant to the TU Dresden. wohnsitz_meldung_d115.php Cotta Prohlis Click on the corresponding Far away from everything. Like Gorbitz but in the east of Bürgerbüro link. (Often Altstadt) Friedrichstadt Dresden. and then “Online Terminvergabe”. Central but laborious to get to If you have an appointment please

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 11 be on time. You will be the next is already paid. The first time, you are officially person when the time chosen Normally the GEZ sends you a requested to pay, is by a “Fest- passed. letter to register after registering setzungsbescheid” which is sent What do you need? at the town. If not, or you want out, when your account is about • Passport everything done at once, you can 500 €. As long as you don’t get • Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung use this website to register: rund- a “Festsetzungsbescheid” you Vocabulary funkbeitrag.de won’t have anything to fear. • anmelden - register Further informations in English Numerous directors of radio- • abmelden - unsubscribe can be found here: stations earn more than the Ger- rundfunkbeitrag.de/welcome/ man chancellor. That’s why the GEZ rundfunkbeitrag.de/e175/e5280/ main part of the money is need- The GEZ (“Beitragsservice”) is Informationen_fuer_Studierende_ ed for high salaries and pensions, a mandatory fee to use the pub- Englisch.pdf while just a small part of the mon- lic broadcast service including The GEZ is quite poor in digi- ey is used for editors and jour- television, radio and the internet tal knowledge. So don’t get con- nalists producing the programme. services of these channels. Even fused, if you receive a letter sent if you don’t use them, you have to out 10 days ago, resulting in a pay 17,50€ per month. It’s paya- shorter deadline for you. FURNITURE AND ble per household, which means If you do not pay, you will re- EQUIPMENT IN if you share your apartment with ceive only informative letters stat- other students (same kitchen ing your account and an amount STUDENT DORMS bath), you only have to pay once. in Euros without any periods com- If you’re a student soon to be So ask your roommates if the GEZ bined with a SEPA debit advice. moving into one of the Studen-

12 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 tenwerk dorms, you might won- • Starter-kit E for 25 € consist- utensils for free as well. Popular der if your room will be furnished ing of kitchen utensils, pan, pot in Germany are flea markets, with and what will be available for you with cover, dish with cutlery, the largest one being the Elbe- in common areas such as the cup and glass, and a basket to flohmarkt, every Saturday under bathroom and the kitchen. carry your belongings. the Albertbrücke at the Elbe. Normally, unless otherwise In some dormitories you might specified, you will find your room find the common areas already INTERNET IN STUDENT fully furnished; desk, wardrobe, fully equipped with such utensils DORMS shelves, bed, and mattress are like in the kit E, therefore we sug- provided, as well as basic equip- gest you to first wait until your The internet at the dormitories ment (fridge and stove) for the arrival before buying any start- is being provided by the student kitchen. In order to make your er-kits. Moreover, you will always organisationAG DSN. You have to arrival more comfortable, the have the possibility to buy what register first, which can be done Studentenwerk can help you with you need later in shops around either online or during their office further utensils if requested. You the city. hours. If you want WiFi (wireless will be able to buy at cheap prices Other ways to get cheap fur- LAN) in your dorm room you need two types of starter-kits: niture, and basically everything to buy a separate WiFi Router, • Starter-kit S for 45 € consist- else you need to buy, can be recommended cheap devices are ing of bedding (pillow, duvet, found second-hand at Germany‘s the TP-LINK WR841 or TP-LINK and linens) and cleaning sup- craigslist Ebay Kleinanzeigen. In WR940. A list of other reported plies (a basket, two detergents, Dresden Neustadt is an “Umson- working devices can be found at hand broom and dustpan, and stladen” (roughly “for-free shop”) agdsn.de/sipa/pages/support/ cloths); which sometimes has kitchen router.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 13 GARBAGE Type Type (German) Colour Additional Information SEPARATION Packing Verpackungen yellow Disposal already paid on plastic/ Plaste/ purchase Separate your garbage! It’s composites Verbundver- packungen good for the environment and for your wallet, because if you don’t separate additional costs will be Paper Papier/Zeitun- blue In private apartments generated. You will find colours gen containers are combined. In public containers are for the bins in the table. Cardboard Pappe separated. Try to read the In Dresden typical costs for caption. emptying of a bin of 240 l are about 13 € for the black bin with Glass Glas dif- Glass will be separated residual waste and less than 6 € ferent by colour (white, green colours and brown incl. any other for brown with organic waste. All colour) other bins are free of charge. If you mix the garbage in any non-black bin, they will be emp- Residual Restmüll black Everything else, except tied for an additional service waste toxics/pollutants charge. Do not throw batteries in any bin at home! You can return batteries, small electric and Organic Biomüll brown no plastic bags and no electronic devices in every shop, waste bones or meat! where you can buy such items.

14 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 DEPOSIT SYSTEM If you don’t want to return the One-Way Bottles and Tins In Germany we try to reduce bottle, you can place them beside You will find “Einweg” on such plastic trash and littering by us- waste bins in public space. Peo- items. When there is a deposit, ing a deposit system for every ple, who need the the money will you will spot the mandatory logo. kind of bottle. (Of course there collect them. You can return them in every In are exceptions but please...). The Reusable Bottles every supermarket, selling pack- deposit system works as follow: You will find a German term ings of the same material and re- • At supermarkets the price tags like Mehrweg, Pfandflasche, ceive 25 cent are without deposit. At the Leihflasche on return. In small print under the big price or Mehrwe- most cases, you can find the exact deposit gflasche the material value. on the bottle. will be immedi- • At the checkout the deposit On some you ately compact- will be added to your bill might spot the ed and might • In every supermarket or gro- optional logo. On return, you will be recycled. cery there are deposit ma- get back 8 or 15 cent. You can chines to return empty bottles return them in every shop, selling ADDITIONAL COSTS • There are no deposit on: packings of the same type. Please In Germany’s flats and rooms - • Juice bottles note brandings on beer bottles not in student dorms - it is usual • Wine and other hard alcohol which prevent them from free to pay ancillary expenses for heat- (exception: there is a deposit return. Reusable bottles will be ing, electrical energy, etc (Neben- on beer!) refilled up to 100 times and then kosten). Keep in mind that costs • Milk bottles recycled. for energy are among the highest

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 15 in Europe and it is very likely that you have to pay more for energy than before! It works like this: you pay a fixed amount based on the size or on last year’s consumption. The amount is paid together with your rent in the appartment in advance and the companies send you the real receipt in the future. If you produce more costs, you’ll have to remargin - if it’s less, you get back some money. This means, turn off the heating when you open the window, for ventila- tion open the window complete- ly, turn off electrical devices you don’t need, and so on. That’s not only good for your wallet but also ed based on the collective con- DAILY SURVIVING for the environment! sumption of the building. So it Where to buy food In Studentenwerk halls there also makes sense to save energy Germany has a large variety is no individual metering. The here, you will notice it the follow- of supermarket chains. The most ancillary expenses are calculat- ing year. common supermarkets in Dres-

16 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 Name Type of Store Price Information den are listed in the table. Aldi Nord Discounter € Inventor of discount markets In Germany almost all stores Organic Grocery Alnatura €€ and supermarkets are closed on Store Organic Grocery Sundays! The only exceptions are Bio Company €€€ Store two Lidl’s, one in the main train medium-sized neighbourhood station “Hauptbahnhof”, and one CAP Markets Supermarket € supermarkets employing disabled people in the train station “Dresden Organic Grocery Denns €€€ Neustadt”. But keep in mind that Store both supermarkets are frequently Hypermarket/Su- Edeka permarket/Con- €€ visited on Sundays, so take a lot venience Store of time with you or have a look on Organic Grocery Frida-Markt €€€ your stocks a day before. Store The largest hypermarkets to Most supermarkets open Kaufland Hypermarket € be found in Dresden around 7:00 and are open until 20:00, sometimes up to 22:00. If Konsum Supermarket €€ Local supermarket chain, you’re in dire need of food dur- focussing on local products. ing the night you may be lucky in Sells a lot of brand-name so-called “Spätshop” (“late-shop”) Lidl Discounter € products under a different which are open only during the name for a discounter price. night. Netto Mark- Discounter € The “red” Netto How to pay en-Discount Germans love privacy and dis- trust electronic payments. You

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 17 Name Type of Store Price Information can expect almost every store or Netto Supermarket € The Netto with the dog, from supermarket to accept cash, so Denmark always have some with you just Norma Discounter € in case. Credit cards are slowly Penny Markt Discounter € getting more accepted, but espe- REWE Hypermarket/ € Cheap are the products of cially in the countryside a lot of Supermarket their private label “Ja” stores won’t have a card reader. The VG Verbrauchergemein- Same applies to Apple or Google schaft is a cooperative that Pay. You’ll have more luck paying practices alternative econom- with a debit card which you get VG Verbrauch- Organic Grocery €€€ ic activities with social justice, primarily with every German bank ergemeinschaft Store sharing of responsibility and account. co-determination. As a mem- Second Hand, Tafel and Too ber you receive discounts good to go with a fixed membership fee. Dresden has a lot of sec- Vorwerk Pode- Organic Grocery €€ Focus on regional products ond-hand shops where you can mus Store find a large variety of clothes of still high quality. Notable ones are “Humana”, “Oxfam” and “Second Season”. If you’re short on money you can find help in cheap food at the local food bank called “Tafel”.

18 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 You need to apply first by proving members by the service eduroam. lives for most people. that you’re in need, which means An instruction on how to set up The second one are soccer roughly that your net income is is provided by ZIH. matches by the local club Dyna- lower than 1200€ per month. Furthermore you can find most mo Dresden. The fans of them Another way to get cheap food public wifi hotspots on this map. have a bad reputation of being is the app “Too good to go”. Res- Just search for “WLAN” and click aggressive, even though clashes taurants who have leftovers at on “show on map”. with the police or rival team sup- the end of day sell them for a re- Safety porters are mainly a thing of the duced price over the app, where Dresden is generally a safe past. Nevertheless several games you can reserve them and pick place to be, just as the rest of Ger- each season are classified by the them up later. many. Locals walk around the city police as “Risiko-Spiele” (“high risk Public Internet center at night without worrying games”) and accompanied by a Mobile plans are expensive in about their safety. large amount of police force in Germany. If you’re from the EU, it But there are two rough excep- anti-riot equipment. Even though is probably much cheaper to keep tions: most of the supporters of Dyna- your local plan. Most of the dis- The first one are the still on- mo Dresden are not xenophobic counter like Lidl, Aldi or Kaufland going protest marches on Mon- or homophobic it is advised to offer cheap mobile plans which day from right-wing extremists not go near the stadium if you’re can be bought directly at their “PEGIDA”. Even though the me- visibly part of an ethnic or sexual stores. dia reports a lot about them the minority. If you want to enjoy a The university offers free inter- protests are rarely more than a soccer game keep in mind, that net in and near university build- few hundred people and have no the “K-Block” is the part of the ings for enrolled students and influence whatsoever on the daily stadium where the most “hard

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 19 core” fans go to, which includes sometimes racial slurs and homophobic utterances. Each year around the 13th of February a demonstration by right-wing extremists takes place to recall the bombing of the city of Dresden during the Second World War. The few hundred Neo-Nazis are accompanied by thousands of peaceful anti-war demonstrators and a huge police force as well. There have been in- stances of violence during these protests, even though the police tries to deescalate the situation. if you have problems with your HELP FOR PROBLEMS landlord which are very specific WITH YOUR concerning the German tenancy law recommend you this website: LANDLORD mieterverein-dresden.de/start- We will always try to help you, seite.html but this is not our main topic, so

20 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 ARRIVAL no long-distance-trains like IC/ EC/RJ/ICE) and in the VVO area Trans- Since Dresden has a rather for S-Bahn, buses, trams and also small airport, flights might be ferries. To find connections, tick expensive or there can even be “only local transport/Nur Nahver- portation no flights from your country. You kehr” in the online search form of might want to check out the air- Deutsche Bahn or the internation- ports in Berlin, Prague or Leipzig al page bahn.com. for that and move to Dresden by If you decide to take your bike bus/train afterwards. If you don’t with you, different conditions -ap want to fly, you can check out the ply according to the ticket. In VVO buses/trains. you may do that Mon-Fri (7pm to 4am) on trains, Mon-Fri (7pm to GETTING AROUND 4am) and Sat, Sun, bank holidays BIKES DRESDEN during the whole day on buses For your semester in Dresden it and trams and every day during might be nice to ride around on a the day on ferries. All conditions bike and explore Dresden. It is the SEMESTERTICKET regarding the Semesterticket fastest way to get around the uni- The semester ticket consists of can be found on the website of versity and on short or medium two tickets (VVO/railway), where student self government stura. distances. You can purchase some different conditions apply. You tu-dresden.de and vvo-online.de. second hand bikes e. g. at the flee may use your Semester Ticket for market or also use a company to trains in Saxony (only 2nd class, rent a bike.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 21 Swapfiets is an ESN partner. April, you will be charged 1 € for There are also do-it-yourself With your Erasmus Card you the rent of a bike for 15 minutes. garages in Neustadt, Johannstadt don’t have to pay the registration A monthly plan available for 10 € and Friedrichstadt. fee and you can terminate your includes an unlimited number of contract monthly. To use a bike, 30 minutes trips. To use the bike, DVB TICKETS you pay 15,50€ or 18,50€ per you first need to register yourself If your friends and family want month and get a fully equipped on the website secure.nextbike. to visit you in Dresden and you bike. The great thing about Swap- net/dx/en/dresden/register/. Log decide to take the buses, trains, fiets is if your bike needs to be in with your TU Dresden login. trams in Dresden, they need to repaired, they will do it for free If you did decide to buy a bike buy a DVB ticket. in their store here in Dresden or and need to repair it for a bit A single ticket costs 2,50 € and give you a new one (even if your cheaper than in a bike garage, is valid in one fare zone (usually bike gets stolen). you can take it to the Fahrrad- enough) and one hour. To save a MOBIbike (operated by Next- selbsthilfewerkstatt (e. g. Rad i. O. bit of money, you can buy a tick- bike) also provides the option to at Wundtstraße 9 or Radschlag at et, which is worth 4 rides in one rent a bike, but rather for a few Katharinenstraße 11). They spe- zone. This would cost 9,00 €. hours and not days. The advan- cifically are open twice a week in Maximum flexibility is offered tage of this system is that you can the afternoon and you can borrow by the 1-day passes (valid until return return the bike at a lot of some tools to repair it yourself 4am) for 6,50€ or 10€ (for 2 adults places and streets within the city. and might get some help from and 4 kids), or a weekly pass for The contract with the students them. They also always have an 21,90€. You can buy these tickets and inclusion in Semesterticket air pump in front of their office at the machines at most tram sta- ends in March 2021. Starting from before/after office hours. tions or in the bus/trams.

22 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 If you go without a ticket, this for a whole day, and gets cheaper will be only 7 € for you, when the more people share the ticket you present your personal tick- (up to 5 people). bahn.de/p/view/ et within one week, while your angebot/regio/regionale-tickets/ friends will have to pay the reg- sachsen/sachsen-ticket.shtml ular amount of 60 €. For more Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket info: dvb.de/en-gb/tickets-en/ Like the Sachsen Ticket but for ticket-overview/ all of Germany, valid for a whole The prices of the Deutsche day, and gets cheaper the more GETTING AROUND Bahn can be a little bit confusing. people share such a ticket. GERMANY First they distinguish between Information three product categories A (ICE), The page bahn.guru offers B (IC/EC) and C (local). Second, a much more easily accessible BY TRAIN upgrades are neither available on UI to buy train tickets from the The international page bahn. the internet nor on the automat. Deutsche Bahn. com offers connections and the For the fast trains (A and B) you possibility to search for discounts basically just have to order early BY BUS in many languages. Prices start to get cheap prices. For the local We like using the platform at 17,90€ one way and might in- trains there are several “special busliniensuche.de to compare bus clude IC/ICE. Note that you can tickets” which make it cheaper: tickets, train tickets and BlaBlaCar use all local trains in Saxony with Sachsen-Ticket to travel (long distance) within Eu- your Semesterticket for free if Only valid in Saxony, Saxo- rope. They can also redirect you you’re enrolled at TU Dresden. ny-Anhalt and Thuringia, it is valid to the companies.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 23 Many different long distance Ryanair offers you a 15% discount to get to know Germans and trav- bus companies exist, the largest on 8 single flights including free el with them. Basically, you can one being Flixbus. You might al- luggage of 20kg and also weekly see if someone is driving to e.g. ready know this bus company travel offers. Flyla has partner- Berlin by car and wants to share from your home country. It is a ships with great airlines and offers the car ride. You might need to great bus company to travel long you 10€ discount on a selected pay a small fee to BlaBlaCar and distances with great comfort. connection and also compensates another fee to the driver, which Make sure you use your ESNcard for your CO2 emissions. includes gas. However, you will to get a 10% discount. Another see this price before booking. An- nice and maybe even cheap- APPS AND MORE other website like this is besser- er company within Germany is mitfahren.de BlaBlaBus. To get to Prague, we Öffi and Faplino are apps, can recommend RegioJet. which you can use to find your next bus/tram in Dresden. It up- GETTING AROUND dates times faster than the actu- EUROPE: RYANAIR al DVB app and you will always know when your next ride is AND FLYLA WITH coming. However, they are only ESNCARD DISCOUNT available in Google PlayStore. BlaBlaCar is a company which If you want to discover more of lets you share your car ride. You Europe or simply visit your family, might know it from your home make sure you use your ESNcard. country but if not, it is a nice way

24 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 CAMPUSPLAN It can also just be a room number, but some lecture halls have Studying If you are new in Dresden and special names therefore abbrevi- for the first time on our campus ations used as well you will notice pretty quickly that The third part is optional and most of our buildings are named specifies if this is a lecture hall (H) after famous academics who have a normal room used for exercises a connection to the TU Dresden. (U) or other purposes So for example, as a mechani- The easiest way to find the cal engineer “Zeuner-Bau” will be rooms when you are new to the your main building or as a elec- campus is definitely the “Cam- trical engineer the “Barkhaus- pus Navigator” which is available en-Bau”. All buildings have an for iOS and Android. There is a abbreviation consisting of three browser version as well: naviga- ECTS (European Credit Transfer letters, e. g. “ZEU” for Zeuner-Bau. tor.tu-dresden.de System): Points that document All lecture halls and rooms are the amount of work you official- labeled in the same way. Let’s ACRONYMS ly need put into a course. They use an example to explain this: shall enable the comparison be- ZEU/LICH/H. The first part Here you can find the expla- tween studies all over Europe specifies the building, here “Ze- nation of some useful acronyms H (Hörsaal): lecture hall, used in uner-Bau”. DS (Doppelstunde): The dura- room labels The second part explains the tion of a lecture or exercise. Two LP (Leistungspunkt): practically room, here “Lichtenheldt-Hörsaal” school hours of 45 min = 90 min the same as an ECTS point

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 25 lecture every week counts 2 SWS, vegetarian/vegan offers with at a lecture every second week, 1 least two vegan options everyday. SWS “Siedepunkt” is directly located U (Übungsraum): exercise on the opposite to the library room, used in room labels (SLUB), if you want to keep distances short. Siedepunkt is also MENSA open on Sundays. An overview over all canteens you can find The “Studentenwerk Dresden” here: studentenwerk-dresden.de/ offers a variety of canteens, here english/mensen/mensen_cafeter- called by the Latin term “Mensa”. ien.html If you are located at the main cam- Overall, most of the canteens pus, the most important ones are offer a good quality for a reason- “Alte Mensa”, “Zeltschlösschen” able price (2,50€ - 3,00€ for most LV (Lehrveranstaltung): lecture and “Siedepunkt”. of the meals). As they are canteens or exercise We also have an ecological you can’t expect a restaurant qual- SWS (Semesterwochen- one “Bio-Mensa U-Boot”. “Alte ity but amongst German canteens stunde): Documents the dura- Mensa” is the biggest one but Dresden belongs to the upper tier. tion of your lectures or exercises extremely crowded during the If you have some special de- in one term. 1 SWS means that lecture and exam period. During mands, e.g. vegan, vegetarian, you have for one term every week the lecture period “Alte Mensa” check which canteens has the a lesson which takes 45min. As offers two meals in the evening. best offer for you. There is quite a there are only double lessons, a “Zeltschlösschen” has the best variety and some are really “meat

26 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 heavy”. Please use the Mensa out and there is not enough mon- slub-dresden.de/en/homepage/. card “Emeal” for paying which ey on your card for the meal you They offer a huge chunk of special you can get at the “Mensa Service want to pay for, the cashier will services which you can find there. Points”. It’s a cashless payment ask you which amount of money As it is just too much, we will system, available for a deposit. you will put on your card and that not cover this inside this guide. In every canteen there are vend- amount will be automatically de- It is important to mention that ing machines where you can ducted from your bank account. just water in bottles is allowed, use your credit or debit card to Be aware that this system only except in “Lesesaal Sammlungen”. put money on this card. There is works for SEPA bank accounts. All other kinds of food and drinks even the possibility do this at the Please be also aware that most are prohibited. checkouts, they accept cash there of the canteens are closed on Sat- as well. Because of the great urdays and always on Sundays! PRINTING crush during the lecture period there are some “express”-check- LIBRARY (SLUB) There are multiple ways for outs which do not accept cash. printing at the university. First Autoload is a system that The Saxonian State and Uni- there exist a plethora of copy works via SEPA-mandates. You versity Library (SLUB) is our li- shops around the campus, which can activate it for your canteen brary and as a TU Student you can all help you with everything card at every service point in the are entitled to get a SLUB-card you need, be it your final project canteens. If activated you don’t and to borrow books. The stock is thesis, an oversized poster or just need cash or your debit/credit quite large and you can also find a 500 pages PDF document which card to put money on your can- many literature in a digital form. needs to be printed out. Anoth- teen card. If you go to the check- Please check out their homepage er opportunity is the copyshop

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 27 Acribit inside of the library SLUB: charge your card with 5€, 10€ or USZ - DRESDEN You just want to print lecture 20€ notes. If you don’t need your UNIVERSITY SPORTS notes or copy and scan a few doc- card anymore, you can hand over uments but don’t have coins with your card at the AcribitCopyshop CENTER you? Then the Acribit Copycard is on the floor -1 to get back your perfect for you. The card allows card fee. The USZ tu-dresden.de/dhsz you to print, copy and scan cash- There are detailed instructions offers a huge variety of sport less at the libraries mentioned be- for printing, copying and scanning courses. low. You can get the card at the at the information board next to The application normally takes ticket machine in the SLUB foyer the printers. Please pay attention place at the Monday of the sec- (main library of the TU Dresden) to the opening times of the librar- ond week of the term. Please or at the ticket machines in the ies. make sure to check out the of- following branch libraries: Further informations are avail- fered courses beforehand and Bereichsbibliothek DrePunct able at acribit-copyshop.de/de/ also check the application times Zweigbibliothek Rechtswissen- copycard.html for your chosen courses as you schaft need to be quick to get a spot. Zweigbibliothek Medizin Some courses are filled within Zweigbibliothek Erzie- seconds. So you really need to hungswissenschaften be on time! Zweigbibliothek Forstwesen The cost for most of the cours- Hochschule für Musik Carl Ma- es varies between 20€ - 40€ ria von Weber per term. You are required to The card fee is 5€. You can transfer the money within three

28 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 days to the stated bank account. CONTACT PERSON tu-dresden.de/studium/im-studi- If not, your spot will be canceled um/studienstart/internation- and given to other people on the INTERNATIONAL ales-tutorenprogramm waiting list. So do not miss to pay OFFICE/AAA The programme is open for de- within time! gree students as well for non-de- The International Office (Ger- gree and Erasmus+ students. The LSK - LANGUAGE man: Akademisches Auslands- main focus is to support you dur- COURSES amt AAA) will be next to the ing the first weeks of your stay Erasmus+ coordinator of your here. Maybe for some of you taking faculty (if you are an Erasmus+ a language course is mandatory, student) your most important STUDENTENWERK but everyone is also entitled to contact person. You can find the If there are any legal questions enroll in a language course. The responsible employees of or problems you may face, the Stu- LSK offers up to 16 different lan- the International Office here: dentenwerk Dresden offers a le- guages at different levels. You can tu-dresden.de/studium/im-studi- gal advice service. At the website check their offer here: lskonline. um/beratung-und-service/akad- www.studentenwerk-dres- tu-dresden.de/lskonline/de/100.0 emisches-ausla ndsamt/wir-ue- den.de/english/soziales/ Please make sure to look up ber-uns?set_language=en rechtsberatung.html when the application for your The IO also offers an in- you can find the opening hours. chosen course opens beforehand ternational tutor programme, Please make sure to register be- as course spots at entry languag- where TU students help for- forehand. es levels are normally taken fast eign students and applicants. (same as for the sport courses). The corresponding website:

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 29 CAREER SERVICE The career service by TU Dresden supports you during the transfer form university to professional life. https://tu-dresden.de/karriere/ berufseinstieg?set_language=en They offer quite a lot of useful workshops as well as CV checks and preparation for job inter- views. So if you are interested in starting to work here in Germany we advise you to check out their offers and websites.

30 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 HIKING the environment. Some areas are designated as “Kernzone”. Here, Freetime In the surrounding area of Dres- it is explicitly forbidden to leave den, you will find a lot of beautiful the trails. hiking areas. Most popular are the Boofen: Some people also national park “Saxon Switzerland” like to spend a night there in the in the southeast of Dresden and rocks, which is called Boofen in the “Dresdener Heide” located in Saxon German (Bivouacking). the north of Dresden. To get in- However, this is possible only spiration for hiking routes you can in designated places. A map and take a look at the Komoot-App or more information about Boofen at outdooractive.com where you can be found on the website of will find a lot of hiking trails with the national park. English descriptions. BBQ behind the dormitories: National Park Saxon Swit- BARBECUE You can also use the BBQ areas zerland: In this area, you will at some of the dormitories (e. g. find lots of beautiful sand- In Germany, it is only allowed Wundstraße, Fritz-Löffler-Str.) are stone rock formations. to do barbecue in the public also BBQ areas. To use them you How to get there: You space at designated areas. A need a permission that you can can go by train there. map of places where you can get from the caretaker/janitor. Rules of conduct: Since Saxon do BBQ in Dresden is provided You can find the contact infor- Switzerland is a national park you on the homepage of the city: mation of the caretaker on the should be careful to not damage stadtplan.dresden.de homepage of the Studentenwerk:

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 31 PARKS air stage “Junge Garde” and the Zoo next to the park. Moreover, ELBWIESEN there is a small rail-road driving Next to the Elbe river, there through the park (Parkeisenbahn). are large greenfields. It is not a You can do rowing on the Caro- park in the narrower sense but la Lake or go to the Minigolf area. you can sit down there and enjoy the nice view (Canaletto View) ALAUNPARK on Dresden’s old town. Besides The Alaunpark is located di- this, there are some cultural of- rectly next to the nightlife district fers in the summer. If you are in Neustadt. Usually, you will find Dresden during the summertime there a lot of young people drink- studentenwerk-dresden.de/eng- take a look at the program of the ing, doing sports, playing musical lish/wohnen/wohnheimkatalog/ Palaissommer. Moreover, the instruments, etc. BBQ Prohibition in Großer Dresdner Filmsächte offers out- Garten and at the Elbe: door cinema and concerts next You should especially not do a to the Carolabridge. BBQ at the “Großen Garten” and next to the Elbe river (besides the GROSSER GARTEN designated points which are out- The largest (real) park in Dres- side the ring — Marienbrücke and den is the “Großer Garten” in the Albertbrücke). Here, often police east centre of Dresden. Some officers check for BBQs. special things here are the open-

32 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 SEMPEROPER (with student ID card) 30 minutes before the event. More informa- Culture The Semperoper is one of the tion about student discounts can most famous opera houses in be found on the Semperoper the world. It has a long historical website semperoper.de. tradition. Tickets are usually rel- atively expensive, however, with BUNTE REPUBLIK a student discount, you can get NEUSTADT (BRN) tickets for only 10 € for specific events. The BRN is a city festival of You can also buy tickets during the district Neustadt. The first the semester every Tuesday at the time it took place was during the Zeltschlößchen Mensa. If you feel time of the reunification in 1990 lucky, you can also get left-over where the foundation of the state CONCERTS IN THE tickets at the box office for 12 € “Bunte Republik Neustadt” was FRAUENKIRCHE celebrated. Since then the BRN takes place every year on a week- One of the most famous signs end in June. The state does not of Dresden is the Frauenkirche. exist anymore, but the festival While you can go there to visit its still exists. It is one of the biggest tower to enjoy a beautiful view of district festivals in Germany with the city, you can also go to con- a lot of music, art, and vendors certs there. The schedule can be selling food. found at opernreisen-dresden.de.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 33 The most famous museums in this collection are: Grünes Gewölbe: Collection of the royal vault Galerie Alte Meister: Remark- able collection of paintings from 15th until 18th century (most popular is Raffael’s “Sixtinian Madonna”) Galerie Neue Meister: Collec- tion of paintings from 19th century until contemporary art. Detailled information can be found on the website skd.muse- MUSEUMS um . kings, when the remarkable collection was founded. Most muse- DEUTSCHES STAATLICHE ums of “Staatliche Kunstsammlu- HYGIENEMUSEUM KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN ngen Dresden” are located in the city of Dresden. If you like This museum is about the sci- DRESDEN to go to museums you can get entific view on the human. It has The Saxon state collection a one year ticket which is valid a permanent exhibition with a fo- goes back to to the time of Saxon for all museums for only 20 €. cus on biological medical aspects

34 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 of the human and often changing CINEMAS of popular (mainstream) movies temporary exhibitions about oth- in English. er historical, social, and cultural In Dresden, some cinemas UFA (Kristallpalast): UFA is also aspects like friendship, dancing, show movies in English or other located directly next to Cineplex. religion, etc. dhmd.de foreign languages: A special offer here is the Sneak Cineplex: This cinema is locat- Preview where you can go to ed in the city center of Dresden watch a surprise movie preview. near Prager Straßer. It plays a lot It costs only 4,50 € for students. English movies are shown in the original language on Monday at 9 pm and German movies at 9 pm on Thursday. Schauburg: Art-house cinema in Dresden Neustadt. It also or- ganizes poetry and comedy slams. KIF (Kino in der Fabrik): Art- house cinema in Dresden Löbtau. It also does a sneak preview on Wednesday. Thalia: Small art-house cinema in Dresden Neustadt which plays also several movies in original language (e.g. English and French)

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 35 Filmnächte: Open Air cinema and concert stage in the summer. Kino im Kasten: This is the TU Dresden cinema with cheap tickets for students. It is also a partner of ESN TU Dresden and you can get 0,50€ discount for drinks with the ESNcard. Filmfest Dresden: Internation- al short film festival with several events in multiple cinemas in Dresden.

36 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 INSURANCES the health insurance companies. For students older than 30 it will Bureau- HEALTH INSURANCE cost between 180€ and 200€ per Students from European Un- month. ion, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Mac- Please note the difference be- cracy edonia, Norway, Switzerland and tween private (privat) and statu- Serbia, who are medically insured tory (gesetzlich) health insurance. in their country should have a In Germany, you are obliged to be European Health Insurance Card a member of and to pay a statu- (EHIC). With this card you can be tory health insurance, if your in- treated in case of medical need come is below ~ 60.000 €. While without the need of a German private insurances calculate the insurance.You just need your rate based on your risk, the rates EHIC and it will be accepted by of statutory insurance are based because you could easily produce the University. Do not forget to on your income. cost of some ten thousands Euros. make a copy to carry at the im- The services covered by statu- Information on the acceptance matriculation. tory health insurance companies of your insurance at TU Dresden All the other students must are regulated by law (e.g. neces- can be found here: tu-dresden.de/ be medically insured and make sary vaccinations are included). studium/im-studium/studienor- a contract of health insurance There are (cheaper) private insur- ganisation/krankenversicherung in Germany. For students up to ance companies that cover noth- Do you need a health insurance 30 year old it costs ca. 92€ per ing connected with pregnancy. or have questions about it? Take month, and it is the same for all Those contracts will be refused, part to our 1st Aid Bureaucra-

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 37 costs or work loss costs, which you 200-500 € in compensation are then required from you. (depending on what you broke or Moreover, running away and tore). And in addition, the insur- hiding from such an event is re- ance pays for much more exten- ally bad and can be considered a sive treatments than the statutory criminal offense. So it is better to health insurance, so that the frac- stay relaxed and have a liability ture heals as well and as quickly insurance that pays the damages. as possible. cy-info event or send an email Because the probability of a If the accident causes perma- to Anja, our expert for insurance: really high damage of some mil- nent damage, you will receive [email protected] lion Euros is quite low, the rate is a large sum from the insurance quite low. A liability insurance is company, depending on how bad LIABILITY INSURANCE regarded as a must-have, when it is. During a happy Erasmus stay you want to earn money in your Costs: about 8 - 15 € per month a lot can happen: for example, if life. Costs: 5 - 9 € per month. (depending on the amount you you kick in a door in the dormi- want to be insured). tory while drunk or you are not OTHER INSURANCES You have questions? Send an paying attention for a moment If you stay one year or longer in email to Anja, our expert for in- and someone else gets hurt, then Germany, you should think about surances [email protected]. you have to pay for the damage. an accident insurance. For exam- Such a door damage costs about ple, if you break your arm or tear 200 €, whereas an injured person a ligament in your foot while play- can easily be 10,000 € in medical ing soccer, the insurance will pay

38 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 MEDICAL CONTACT ond for foreign languages. Please note, that they are given in Ger- Emer- In case of a real emergency, man. you can of course always call the If you are in need of a doctor emergency number 112 to reach outside of consultation hours and gency a coordination centre, which will can’t wait, you can also call the send the help you need. They are on-duty medical service at 116 also supposed to understand mul- 117. They offer medical guidance, Contacts tiple languages. inform yourself about on-duty If you are looking for a doctor, doctors and pharmacies and co- who speaks a foreign language, ordinate doctors for visits. you can use the following official Finally, please note that there website (https://asu.kvs-sachsen. are two different medical insur- de/arztsuche/). ances in Germany, private and POLICE AND FIRE The formula consists of 5 sec- statutory. Although you are al- tions. In the first you can search lowed to freely choose your doc- BRIGADE for a doctor by name or location tor in Germany, it can occur that and in the second one you can some practitioners only take in In the case of emergency you specify if you are searching a gen- patients with private insurance or can always use the European eral practitioner or a specialist. preferentially treat them. GSM number 112. The operator The fifth section, extra crite- in the joint control room will alarm ria, has two drop-down lists, the police, firebrigade or ambulance first for accessibility and the sec- if necessary.

ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 39 Otherwise you can go to police stations, the central police station near Pirnaischer Platz is always opened. This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribu- tion-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.

40 ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 REMARKS?

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ESN TU Dresden Survival-Guide 2021-03 41 TU Dresden