Life in the town of Oldenburg

Hello! My hubby and I are moving to Oldenburg May 1st from Stuttgart. Just wondering if anyone has opinions on things to do and/or things to avoid, life in Oldenburg or surrounding area, places to visit, etc. We'll be there for 2 months and want to make the best of it!

I'm also interested in finding a German Sprach partner/in. I'm a native English speaker who is looking to continue improving my German. Any suggestions/advice would be great!

Cheers,

Erin

Ride horses I think...

Oldenburg website

Hi Erin!

Oldenburg is a lovely place to live. I am here now for 10 years and really love life here. Places to go around Oldenburg are easy to find - whatever you like: biggish city life in Bremen which is close, relaxing countryside (including 30 minutes drive by car to the Northsea) and so on. Oldenburg has a vivid streetlife due to its students and its quite relaxed people. You'll greet everyone with a "Moin" instead of "Guten Tag" or "Guten Abend". The theatre (Staatstheater) has a good reputation and there are several museums. The shopping district is quite large for only 160.000 inhabitans and offers a lot of variety as well as cafes, restaurants, bistros... There will be "Kultursommer" soon, which will include a lot of cultural events...
There is not a real area you should avoid. The best and beloved places to live are Oldenburg-Mitte/Gerichtsviertel, Ziegelhofviertel, Ehnernviertel, Dammtorviertel. Osternburg,Eversten, Marschwegviertel and Donnerschwee are also very nice. Bigger shopping centres are: Homepark by Ikea with an Ikea store , Obi diy and a kitchen store, Einkaufsland Wechloy in Oldenburg Wechloy with a mall of clothing, furniture, flower, and so on-shops, a market square with restaurants and a huge famila hypermarket. Outside the actual mall you'll find Media Markt, Max Bahr diy, BOC, and many other clothes or shoe shops. Einkaufsland Wechloy is Oldenburg biggest "shopping centre".
Saturday mornings in the city centre are a must! Great market and wonderful atmosphere. Olantis Huntebad offers everything for Wellness-swimming, massages, sauna...
There is a small harbour in the city centre on the river Hunte with some relaxing places for a hot coffee or a cool beer . Plenty of ways to go by bike or walk within green fields full of sheep ...
Bad Zwischenahn is also very near, which is a popular, bit snobby "Kurort" on a lake. It's also easy to visit the Netherlands (Winschoten/Groningen) within an hour by car or train...
I could write so much more...
Feel free to email me- appreciate any contact with a native speaker !

I had been living in Berlin for years when my then girlfriend got a job offer in Oldenburg. I flat out refused after seeing the place, It's boring boring boring boring boring. We broke up over it and I have never regretted it. I can't think of a more uninteresting place. At least you're only there for 2 months.

Well - I think this comparison lacks. You cannot compare Berlin with Oldenburg. If you are used to places like Berlin smaller towns are of course boring at first sight. It's even more boring to see a place and judge about it without having experienced it. As far as I understood Erins question information and not only an opinion was asked for...

I lived there for six months and I really loved it- it's one of my favourite cities! It's fairly small and quiet but not in a middle-of-nowhere kind of way. It's still got all the shops and markets you need, and plenty of museums and things to see. I'd live there again if I could.

Oldenburg rocks!