Longlasting Relationship

I arrived in Wurzburg  on a sunny afternoon at the beginning of October 1970, in my 10 year old Ford Anglia, which with its right hand drive caused much amusement and alarm on the streets of Wuerzburg for the 3 months it was there. This was the third year of my 4 year course in German at the University of London, and everyone on the course went to a German University for their 3^rd year. I had chosen Wurzburg. A fellow student, Ross, had travelled with me. He had chosen Bonn, which in 1970 was the capital of the BRD. We had gone to the Auslandsamt, and it was explained to him how difficult it was to get accommodation in Bonn for students! They were not very helpful! We tried to find him a room all day, with no success, so spent the night at the Youth Hostel in Koblenz, and the following morning he returned to Bonn by train and I headed off down the motorway to Wurzburg.

So it was with a little apprehension that I parked outside the University building in Sanderrau, and made my way to the Auslandsamt. They could not have been more different from Bonn. They were friendly and welcoming, and anxious to help me. The office was run by Eberhardt (I don’t remember his last name), and he very quickly found me a room in Internationales Haus where I could squat until its rightful owner arrived, or I had found alternative accommodation. Fortunately I was found a permanent room in Haus Berlin within a few days, and I moved in to share with a French student, Bernard Arnold. We shared room 212 on the second floor, but in February I was lucky enough to get a single room on the ground floor, room B15.

What an amazing time I had in Wurzburg! Within a fortnight I was on an Auslandsamt trip to Berlin for 5 days, which was amazing. At the height of the Cold War, the highlight was the day we spent in the Russian sector, and compared its poverty to the wealthy capitalist West Berlin. We visited the Pergamon Museum, which was excellent. I was fortunate enough to take my own sons there when we visited in 1992.

The Auslandsamt put on quite a few excursions during the course of my year, and apart from Berlin, there were residential trips to Munich and Heidelberg. In Munich we went to the State Opera twice on consecutive nights, for Rigoletto and Magic Flute. The Auslandsamt moved to the new building in Gerbrunn on the same Friday in January 1971 as we went to Munich, and I was glad to assist with the move. There were also several more local day trips and the odd brewery visit, Wuerzburger Hofbrau, and Klosterbrau Ochsenfurt being just 2 examples!

In October I soon realised that I did not really need the car in Wuerzburg. All my lectures and seminars were at the new site in Gerbrunn, so I used it until Christmas, then went home in it and left it there and returned to Wuerzburg in early January by train. I arrived in deep snow on at 2.30 am January 3^rd, and took a taxi back to Haus Berlin. Fortunately the taxi driver was much better prepared for snow than his English counterparts, but the snow remained for most of January. As it began to melt I bought a second hand bicycle for 30 marks (about 4 Euros), and used that until I went home for good in late July. I then handed it on to another British student who was staying for the summer.

From an academic point of view, I attended many fascinating and challenging lectures and seminars at the university, and got used to listening to lectures in German. I also had the opportunity to teach some English conversation lessons at the Paedagogische Hochschule when the Assistant was not available, and gave some private English lessons to a school pupil as well. Being English, we were always a bit short of cash, and I supplemented my allowance by giving English tuition, and by doing Pforte und Telefondienst at Haus Berlin. There was also the opportunity to work in the grounds of Haus Berlin for a week in the summer which I gratefully accepted.

Together with several  colleagues, I used to take advantage of the Mensa for my meals. Every day there was a set meal from 11.30, which cost DM 1.50 (30 cents?) If I did not have lectures, or ealy ones, then I skipped breakfast and used 11.30 as brunchtime! It was always very good, and we went back at about 6 in the evening for the evening menu, normally an Eintopf or similar. On Sundays the Mensa was shut, so we went out to a Gasthaus, normally the Valentin-Becker, in the nearby Valentin Becker Strasse. I was horrified when I went there for a beer a couple of years ago and found it was a driving school!

There was lots to do outside and inside the University. Inside the uni there was the wonderful Studentenkeller, which was my first experience of German beer, Frankenwein and Federweiss. There was so much smoke you could hardly see across the room, but it was great fun. I also joined 2 choirs, the University choir, and the Romanistenchor, as choral singing was, and still is a passion of mine. I went with this choir for a singing weekend to Bad Neustadt, in frosty February, and we trecked 10 km on the Sunday morning to see the border between the BRD and the DDR. It was basically just barbed wire, dog runs and watchtowers, and very very cold!

The English department had several groups, and I took part in play reading. We read through Hay Fever by Noel Coward, and were hoping to perform it, but ran out of time. There was also a folk singing group, which was very enjoyable. A welsh friend of mine and I were able to teach them lots of English songs, including The Hippopotamus song, some Gilbert and Sullivan, and the music of Oliver!

Haus Berlin and I Haus had regular parties, birthday parties or other festivals and celebrations, at the top of A Block in the games room. I particularly remember  theFaschingsdienstag and the Sommerfest parties.  We were never short of entertainment, and after those, rarely escaped to our room before 2 or 3 am! Apart from parties we went to plays at the Stadttheater, and we say a production of Mozart’s Zauberfloete there, which was brilliant. We also took advantage of the many cinemas, and sometimes attended the late night showing. We saw “Midnight Cowboy” there, in English with German subtitles. We were the only ones who laughed when the translation of “Get along little dogies” as “Komm mit, kleiner Hund”. Dogies, of course, are cattle!

Wuerzburg is an enchanting and beautiful city. 50 years on I still love it as much. I have only rearely been to Germany and not visited Wuerzburg. I returned in 1992, 2002 2010 and 2018. I am looking forward to my next visit. There is no place finer on a sunny Sunday afternoon than up at the Schuetzenhof. This was my favourite, although we also enjoyed Barbarossa, Alter Kranen, Valentin Becker, Distel and the Ratsbierstube! Where else would you go for a real breakfast, than Café Michel?!.

Photos and text by Don Bull