Life in the city of Potsdam

I'm moving there in a few months to start at the University of Potsdam, and I don't really know anything about it.

I sort of have an impression that it's kind of a boring, sleepy little town with not much to do. What do people do for fun? Is it easy to get from Potsdam to Berlin? How long does it take?

Any help would be most appreciated!

Almost moved there 11 years ago. Nice area and quite a bit to do. The San Souci Park is nice and so are the riverboats. There are Palaces and lakes everywhere. Berlin is a short train ride away.

I visited a friend in Potsdam (she's a native) on a side trip from Berlin a couple of years ago. It's a pretty town, Sans Souci is nice, etc. But it is small, and I'm not sure whether nightclubbing in Berlin, for example, would be a viable option unless you had somewhere to crash there or the trains run very late.

We moved to Potsdam early last year to be closer to my boyfriend's family. After living in London, New York and Munich I thought I would be bored to tears here but have been pleasantly surprised! It's actually nice to be in a city that is not completely overcrowed and polluted. Summertime is very beautiful here and there is a constant flow of tourists.

Contrary to popular belief, there is a lot to do here, especially if you like the outdoors. There are also a lot of really cool bars...however, Potsdam does lack a few good nightclubs. But with the RE1 train you can be in Berlin Mitte within 30 minutes! In Berlin it is easier to find the 'cool stuff' to do but here you kind of have to get to know a few people and do some investigating of your own.

On the negative side, the people here can be a bit 'spießig' and you will be hard pressed to find someone who speaks english. We do have an english shop in the center though, so at least one can get stuff from home :-)

Since your going to the uni here is it right to assume that you speak german? If not, you may find it difficult to integrate in so feel free to drop me a line anytime and we can gladly meet up for a coffee. Actually...feel free to drop me a line anyway as it would seriously make my day to be able to speak english with someone here (other than my boyfriend)!

hey
know of any gay life in potsdam?

Hello, I'll be moving to Potsdam in a month, and I'm wondering if there are schools to teach English speakers German in town, or will I have to go into Berlin? I've already visited the town a few times and I'm ready to go beyond pointing and just checking what the cash register says. I'm also curious if there is compost/bio pick up somewhere? I know the apartment complex that I will be moving into does not offer food scrap collection.

Thanks, and maybe we can have a meet up in Potsdam once I arrive!

Hi, Sure there are quite a few languages schools in town. The Potsdam Uni also offers German courses. There is another pretty large one called Cosilingua.
Regarding the compost/bio pick up, I've never heard of this service in Germany. Have you/ are you living in Germany at the moment? Do you know how they separate the rubbish here?
Feel free to drop me a line when you're here, I'm happy to help you integrate whereever I can.

Cheers

Loberto: Sorry, I didn't answer your question about gay life earlier. The gay scene is very small here in Potsdam, Berlin is definitely the place you want to be. There are quite a few 'gay friendly' bars, some of which are very stylish. However, our gay friends here say they always go into Berlin if they really want a big night out.

Hey thanks, The following page lists a lot of possibilities but they don't mention Cosilingua, so thanks for the tip.
http://www.welcome-center-potsdam.de/welco...an_14_3_eng.htm

I am not living in Germany at the moment, but my boyfriend has been living in Potsdam for a year, so I have seen how waste removal is done in his apartment. Seems that bio pick up is available in Berlin in isolated cases.

Thanks for your help clfrank, I'll drop you a line when I've made the move.