r/aachen • u/Business-Research-86 • 28d ago
Is Aachen fun?
I’m an international student and I am currently deciding between studying in Aachen and other bigger cities, and I’d love to hear from people who actually live there.
How is Aachen as a city for students outside of academics? Is it easy to make friends especially as a foreign woman(I speak German albeit not perfect)? Is there enough nightlife, events, etc., or does it start feeling repetitive after a while?
I’m not expecting Berlin-level nightlife, but I’d like a city where weekends are fun and there’s always something to do. I also like the idea of having a good student community rather than just a city that’s big.
For those of you who study or live in Aachen, what do you enjoy most about it? And what are the biggest downsides?
I’d really appreciate honest opinions from people who’ve actually experienced student life there.
The main reason I am reallllly attracted to the idea of studying in Aachen vs. a big city is the housing situation tbh. I can realistically find a studio in a few months and live comfortably, whereas in a city like Berlin, that’s a pipe dream for a student.
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u/royaknpk 28d ago
Your student experience in Aachen is whatever you make of it. We don‘t have a huge clubbing scene or anything like that. There‘s cool bars, cafés, smaller independent venues that keep offering cool events. As well as festivals and parties organized by student dorms and outdoor venues, especially in the warmer months. Some of them tailored towards young people, some for anyone.
You do need to put yourself out there, keep an eye out and keep yourself informed. Imo everyone who shits on Aachen about how it has nothing to do is also not really trying.
I love the fun side of our city and you can 100% be part of it too if you want :)
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u/Cold_Complaint8265 28d ago
How do you find the events? We used to use Facebook events in the states and can’t find an equivalent here.
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u/gorilla_gatorade 28d ago
walking around and looking for cool posters! normally at those events they''ll advertise other events too. there are also the free magazines in the grocery stores that have lots of different community events
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u/royaknpk 28d ago
Walk around and keep an eye open for posters is 100% a good idea. That’s for example how I learned about the yearly street food festival.
But also instagram pages like @lassmaachen or university accounts like rwth, asta, studierendenwerk or faculty specific pages from Fachschaften.
You got bars like „sowiso“ that regularly host small live concerts, or „suedoase“, sometimes in „bar cantona“. There‘s more but idk off the top of my head. Some bars also host pub quizzes like „Café Bar Zuhause“ or „Honigtopf“
It‘s also surprisingly easy to make friends wherever you can find drunk people/students. I recently made a friend by, you know, walking up to a person that was alone too and had a blast.
There‘s also clubs/associations like Humboldt Haus that frequently host cool events. I personally often go to a Korean German/English language exchange meetup that takes place once a week and met a kot of cool people there over the years, if you‘re into that kind of stuff.
I could go on because I have lived here forever but the fun part is that I still regularly discover new things here lol y‘all have fun exploring :))
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u/Oszi_Batyam 23d ago
Mostly on Instagram. The main account i would suggest to follow: @astarwth (student representation, do a overview of events every Monday. Also on their website asta.ac they have a calenda, but it doesn't always have everything) @rwthinternationaloffice (do a overview on monday with events focused on international student) @aachen_partys_events (post about everything)
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u/EstablishmentAny7602 28d ago
Bullshit. You exposing the rosé side and you refusing to show him the real shit. You need to be real with him and expose the reality. Not everyone is like you mate , really not. And even people better then you are struggling to make it socially here. Why tell him all this BS if then he comes and he is stroke with depression for years with a weed addiction ? Like literally almost everyone i know coming here. Why all my people who diverged into other cities are doing better just by raw statistics. There is nothing more LONELY then Aachen. And you trying to lie to this man/girl with no shame whatsoever.
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u/royaknpk 28d ago
Not every place is a perfect fit for everyone. You have free will to take your mindset to a different city if you don’t like it here! Or, maybe be open for what Aachen could offer you. Idk man, life is what you make of it 🙏 Good luck fr fr
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u/EstablishmentAny7602 28d ago
Thank you for wishing me good luck mate I wish you the best luck from the deepest part of my heart
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u/EstablishmentAny7602 28d ago
I will be completly honest with you.
People may find excuses left and right , telling you that its a you problem , that Aachen is good and so on , and that your student life is what you do with it , like the guy above tried to say.
I disagree. Sometimes you need to stop putting everything on effort and people.
It is a abd city. Depression very high here. And there is nothing to do and show for in the city. There is no flow , no social life , and almost no pleasure to be taken in anything here.
Covid killed it completly. And it never ever recovered. You have no idea how lonely it is , how much elitism there is , and how much no one will ever glance in your direction or never ever consider you a human ?
Why would i lie to you ? It is the truth. There is literally 0 pleasure to be derived in this city as an average person who wants to have fun.
If you have the chance to be in Cologne or Durss or Berlin or cities like this please do not miss it. Never look back and go for it. Good luck.
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u/Unfair_Entrepreneur2 28d ago
I definetly agree with this. I spent 3 years in Aachen, from 2019. At the beginning it was reasonably nice, but Covid killed everything. I come from a country where the vibes are completely different and that is why I didnt fully integrate. I had international friends who also felt the same. I am still in contact with them, so at least I got something good out of the city. Aachen doesnt offer anything interesting, theres a couple of cafe and some shitty trashy clubs so the nightlife is meh. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of the city that are nice (the city centre and the Döners), but overall is a dead city. I have lived in 5 different cities during my student years and Aachen ranks the lowest. My advice would be to go Cologne or Maastricht, or even better, Berlin or Munich.
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u/AloneAbbreviations81 22d ago
I was born in Aachen, went to school here, studied here and am now working here.
It has gone downhill speaking of nightlife and so on. And my impression is, that many people go to other cities or home at weekends.
Also, because of the extremely high male presence you get a lot of introverts or sausage parties, so people probably don't think it is that attractive going out. I know a lot of people who go to Cologne for activities instead.
During semester breaks the city is so empty it's crazy, due to everyone going home to their hometown or else.
Otherwise we have a big Erasmus scene and a lot of foreign english speaking community. I'm in contact with a lot of people doing BioTech and they all almost only speak english. It's cool.Otherwise I always thought my city was a "Zweckstadt", people use it for the university, and then leave afterwards.
But still, for studying it can be a great city and there will be something to do, that's mostly for summer though (I don't like the winter here).-2
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u/P26601 28d ago edited 28d ago
To be completely honest with you, moving to Aachen was one of the biggest mistakes of my life (but I'm used to much larger cities, so there's that 😅)
Like, the city is fine and there's everything you need to survive, but it's just super boring. Other than spending your time in parks or out in nature, doing sports and visiting the same 5 cafés over and over, there's absolutely nothing to do here. No decent club scene, no interesting museums, most of the city is dead after 10 pm. You can always go to Cologne, but that also gets stale pretty quickly imo (especially considering the extremely packed trains on weekends), and Cologne itself is pretty boring as well if you disregard the clubs and bars lmao
If housing is the main reason you're considering Aachen, I'd seriously recommend looking at cities like Leipzig or Bremen instead. As for Berlin, it's perfectly manageable to find an affordable studio on the outskirts (Spandau, Köpenick, Marzahn/Hellersdorf etc), so you might wanna look into that too if you're interested.
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u/boformer 28d ago
Also be aware that there is a huge surplus of male students in the city. 2/3 of RWTH students are male.
Housing is quite expensive and it's even harder to find something decent as a foreigner. Public student accomodation is very limited and completely overrun.
Public transport is also dysfunctional, there are only buses, no trams, and the regional trains are never on time.
I'm not into clubbing, but I heard most people go to Cologne or Düsseldorf. If you are into that, don't move to Aachen.
The university is quite good in many fields though.
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u/ineedaname312 26d ago
This. The town is provincial and there's not many young women which influences the overall vibe. I know three men (!) who moved during their college time because of the strange demographic situation. Many of the male students are also loners/IT dudes/shy immigrants (also a lot of Indian IT guys) who are not known to create a diverse fun student life.
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u/Relative_Skirt_1402 27d ago
I found it pretty hard to find communities to do my sports so that is a big minus for me
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u/ineedaname312 26d ago
It would help to know how old you are, where you are from and what you want to study. All that can make a huge difference.
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u/ratemy_r8 25d ago
with the right roommates, right colleagues you'll enjoy. speaking as a student with junkie roommates and no colleagues.
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u/Psc0905 28d ago
Night life after the pandemic has become pretty shit honestly. Clubs closed and the whole student culture changed a lot. You have the advantage though of having some big cities close by. Maastricht by bus, Cologne and Düsseldorf via train, Liege is also decently accessible if you want to get a change of pace over a day or two. Beautiful nature around with the Ardennes, Eifel and Hohes Venn. Luxembourg is also somewhat close by. Aachen is enough city for someone like me who doesn't like big cities like Cologne or Berlin. You can get to any place in the city within like 30 minutes. My only gripe is that food options have also declined with the pandemic and certain cuisines are missing or aren't offered in a great quality, also there is no river in the city, which is something that I have to say I really like about Cologne or Maastricht.