WÜRZBURG: A city with an expiry date

In Würzburg there are around 30,000 students, most of whom move there from outside. It is a city in constant flux. A place where transience becomes tangible when each year new students begin their time in Würzburg, only to leave the city after a few years with a suitcase full of memories.

This dynamic becomes particularly clear in autumn: whilst freshers like Marit still wander aimlessly through the streets, experienced students like Silja prepare for the new semester. Others, like Johannes, pack their last things for a fresh start elsewhere. Each year there are over 6,000 new students at Würzburg's three universities, and this autumn Marit is among them. The 20-year-old chose the city because of its beauty, its student-friendliness and personal reasons such as the fact that her boyfriend studies here. She is looking forward to the upcoming move "with pure anticipation". Like many others, she hopes for a time full of fun, new experiences and personal development. Yet alongside all this anticipation, Marit admits that she is also worried – above all, about not being able to find good friends.

Silja felt similarly when she moved to Würzburg a year ago for her medical studies. She felt predominantly anticipation, especially about finally living alone, but at the same time she was also nervous: how the people and the studies would be, and whether she would feel comfortable. Yet these worries have long since passed: "By now I've settled in and feel very comfortable in Würzburg. I've met so many wonderful new people and I'm getting on well with my studies," she now says with some distance. Time passed quickly and now Silja herself advises incoming freshers: to be open to new things and to take everything that comes your way, but without putting too much stress on yourself. From her coming years in Würzburg, she hopes for an unforgettable time, with lots of new experiences and not too many extra semesters.

Johannes' semesters, by contrast, are already numbered. Whilst Silja and Marit still linger in Würzburg for an uncertain time, he is finishing his studies this autumn and leaving the city. After dropping out of an apprenticeship, he came to Würzburg for his bachelor's degree. That was 3 years ago. Today he remembers the positive excitement in the first days. "For me it was the first time living alone, the first time living in a city and not in a village – a completely new environment where I didn't know anyone." Making contacts was particularly important to Johannes. He too quickly got to know new people, did a lot and was often out and about in the city. The latter, he says, led to the city becoming a bit small towards the end, because you feel like you've seen everything and you almost always know someone when you step out of your front door. Johannes is now leaving Würzburg again with anticipation of new challenges and people, and nonetheless also with a touch of melancholy, because: "The time here was incredibly beautiful."

To those who still have their studies ahead of them, he advises: "You should enjoy the time here as much as you can, student life here is like its own little beautiful world, but one that (for me and many others) has an expiry date."

From the first days full of excitement to saying goodbye to the city – Marit, Silja and Johannes reflect a process that most students in Würzburg experience. Studying is a formative period of life with a foreseeable end. Whilst Würzburg may be only a temporary home for many, for students like Marit, Silja and Johannes it is far more than just a temporary stop. Time in the city is characterised by intense experiences, friendships and personal development. And whilst studying comes to an end, shared flat rooms become vacant and are newly occupied, the experiences and memories of this time live on.