Although there are semester breaks, there is a lot of activity in the Philosophicum at the University of Mainz.

Students sit in the library with their laptops.

Housework is talked about in the booths and parties are discussed in the cafés.

There is also a good mood in lecture hall P 7.

There, German lecturer Anne Ahrens is currently talking to her students about the inflection of verbs and adjectives.

Rossella Niccoli thinks it's not always easy.

She comes from Italy and is studying German at the University of Aberdeen.

Kevin Hanschke

volunteer.

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The group that has come together here is diverse;

the course participants come from different countries.

They are the participants of this year's international "Summer School" at the University of Mainz.

“Spending a summer in Mainz, making new friends and learning a language at the same time” is the essence of this program for Niccoli.

Summer universities like the "Summer School" in Mainz are in high demand at the moment.

After a break due to corona, many universities are now offering face-to-face summer courses again.

Students and faculty appreciate that.

Summer University was suspended for a long time

It was a great pleasure to finally be able to work in the lecture hall with international students again, says Ahrens, who is also offering language courses in the "Summer School" for the first time.

A total of 40 students from 14 countries are taking part in the summer program on campus this year.

The summer university not only serves to bring the German language closer to the international students, but should also introduce them to German culture and the Rhine-Main area, says Mark Reinhard, who runs the "Summer School" under the motto "Three Cities, Two Rivers "One Summer".

The university is about introducing itself and “perhaps getting one or the other to take up a regular study program at the university”.

The Mainz Summer University was suspended for a long time.

Until 2012, there was an international study program in August that had been designed by the international office of the university.

"After that, the courses were only digital," says Reinhard.

This is one of the reasons why the current summer university is so special, as it is the first time in ten years that teaching is taking place in person.

There are many participants from Spain and Poland, since Gutenberg University has cooperation agreements with Warsaw University and the University of Valencia.

All are housed in dormitories run by the Mainz student union.

"This is also intended to convey a group feeling," says Reinhard.

Niccoli reports that after the language courses, the students repeat exercises in the afternoon, sit in the café on campus and walk around downtown Mainz in the evenings.

She particularly liked the carnival museum.

"It's really specifically southern German culture," says the twenty-three-year-old with a smile.

"Especially the intercultural courses and excursions are enriching."

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Juan Razola from Spain, who studies German at the University of Valencia, takes a similar view.

Every morning he walks along the Rhine promenade and drinks coffee, he says.

"The conditions here for improving your German and getting to know the city are very good."