Type of housing:
Apartment/House

Arranged by:
Host university

If returning, I would choose:
Apartment/House
Why? Because I like the independence of living private in an apartment.

Describe host city:
Students interact with the local community without much university involvement

Activities take/s place mostly within the university/student environment

Travel, Nightlife take/s place mostly outside the university/student environment

Course recommendations:
As a CEMS student, there really weren't too many courses to chose among. My recommendation would be to attend the courses having an international aspect, because they were among the best at this university.

The language of instruction was:
German

My proficiency in the language of instruction:
before: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)
after: At ease in most situations

Learning the language of instruction was a factor in choosing my host country

Main source of funding:
Government assistance

Other sources of funding:
Ruhrgas

Work opportunities
I didn't explore any work options.

Personal spending habits:
The reason why I spent less on food is that this is generally cheaper than back home. My telephone bill also was reduced, mainly because most of the students found it a bit hard to speak German in the telephone. Accomodation is quite expensive in Cologne, especially when you want to live close to everything which I did. I also spent a lot on travelling because there is a lot to see in the middle of Europe.

I wish I had known ...
I had quite a hard time getting a return ticket from Germany back to Norway, so I recommend that you buy this ticket before you go.

In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!