Visit our NYU in Berlin photo gallery for images of housing.

Your German Home

All students are required to live in NYU-arranged housing located centrally in the district of Mitte.  Mitte, literally “middle,” is a nexus of museums, shops, entertainment, and nightlife.  All apartments are fully furnished and equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, living area, and private bedroom for each student.  Linens and internet service are also provided.  A Berlin resident lives in the apartment complex to help you with the transition to life in Germany and address any questions that might arise.  The apartments are a 15- to 20-minute bus and subway ride to classes at Humboldt University.

Health and Safety

The NYU Student Health Center and the Department of Public Safety work closely with program staff to plan for safe, healthy, and enriching opportunities long before you arrive. You will be introduced to many of these services in the months leading up to your program abroad while others will be explained in detail during the mandatory on-site orientation such as meetings with local health care providers, presentations of local laws and crime prevention techniques, and examples of cultural differences.

While an issue is unlikely to surface, should an emergency situation arise, there is a contact person designated for wellness issues on call 24 hours a day located locally; as well, the Department of Public Safety in New York will assist with international emergencies (212-998-2222). For medical situations, the University provides coverage by HTH Worldwide, an international insurance company, to ensure that treatment is available to you by qualified professionals when needed with no out of pocket expense. Students are also required to maintain insurance with their home policy. For assistance in extremely rare situations, the University has contracted with International SOS, the world's leading provider of international customer care, which includes evacuation services.

The Department of Public Safety in conjunction with the Office of Global Programs works to create a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors to pursue their educational and professional goals and aspirations. The annual security report for NYU in Berlin contains useful and relevant information.

Before you depart for the semester you will be instructed on how to use NYU Traveler, a Web-based information collection tool where flight and travel details, local and U.S. telephone numbers, and emergency contact information can be stored so that NYU staff can assist you if needed.

Berlin After Class

Excursions are an integral part of studying abroad, and NYU in Berlin students visit the many historical and cultural sites in and around Berlin.  The music scene in Berlin is rich and varied; the city boasts three opera houses and five symphonies, and music lovers will be happy to discover that tickets are usually inexpensive.

You’ll never lack for things to do in Berlin:  dozens of magnificent museums, two great zoos, three large universities, various academies of art and music, over 50 theatres, hundreds of movie houses, and many cafes, pubs, galleries, clubs and discos.  Numerous restaurants and outdoor markets reflect the city’s growing ethnic mix.  You’ll be introduced to the rich cultural resources the city has to offer, including activities that range from visits to museums and castles, film screenings, and guest lectures to dramatic and musical performances.  Aside from walking tours and boat tours on Berlin’s River Spree or its many canals and lakes—Berlin has more bridges than Venice!—excursions include day trips to nearby cities, such as Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, and Hamburg.

Berlin has always had a thriving café culture, since well before the advent of Starbucks, so you’ll likely find yourself reading your assignments while sipping milchkaffe at one of the hip spots in the former eastern neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg.  Or, perhaps, you’ll discover a favorite café in the KulturBrauerei, the former brewery that was transformed into a cultural space consisting of six courtyards and more than 20 buildings.  In the evening, you might grab a quick meal of delicious German bratwurst and catch a film in the trendy courtyard theatre at Hackescher Markt or browse the fantastic architecture bookstore next door.  If you’ve still got energy, you can hear some of the most original music being made today and experience Berlin’s legendary nightlife or – for something a little more low-key—enjoy a pleasurable night walk through the illuminated monuments of the city.

Contemporary art is so prevalent and vibrant in Berlin, you’re likely to stumble across an installation just about anywhere—like the Blacklight Gallery in the U-Bahn subway station at Posdamer Platz.  Trendy shops and ultra-cool galleries line the streets around Oranienburger Strasse, the center of much of Berlin’s thriving cultural scene.  Ander over to see Tacheles, the crumbling former department store, now missing its back wall, which was taken over by artists and turned into a bizarre and fascinating multistory art space.

Although you may experience Berlin as a creation of modern times, at every turn you will encounter the past—not only in the city’s impressive collection of museums but also in its progressive architecture:  the churches of the baroque and romantic periods; the modernist buildings of the Weimar Republic; the influential designs of the Bauhaus School; relics of Hitler’s Third Reich; World War II ruins; and the infamous Berlin Wall that was constructed during the Cold War.  Currently, Berlin is experiencing an exciting time of transformation as it reclaims its influential position as the capital of Germany and as a political, cultural, and economic center of Central Europe.  Enormous, government-funded construction projects reflect this growth and offer some of the most avant-garde architecture found anywhere.

Despite its urban setting, Berlin has a surprising number of parks, gardens, and lakes.  Tiergarten Parks’s shady groves and expansive meadows offer visitors an oasis from city stress.  On warm summer weekends, the park bustles with friends and families who gather for all-day picnics.  Distinct neighborhoods give Berlin the feel of a much smaller town, and the convenient public transportation system makes exploring the metropolis easy.