The Beauty of Bremen

Bremen, located in North-Western Germany, is a city famed for multiple reasons. It used to be one of the most proporous German city states due to it's strong naval links which meant the city attracted a lot of trade, and due to this it's a very historic city with lots of wonderful middle-aged buildings in the centre of the city. Though perhaps what makes it most famous is the fairly tale of the Bremer musicians, who have a statue dedicated to them in the market place. Football fans will also most likely have heard of the city as the football club is one of the most well supported in Germany and has also seen a lot of success in their history. Personally I'd only heard of it due to the football club before I visited it...

This lead to me being pleasantly surprised when I first visited in August 2018 for a youth exchange. Even in the summer time the whole city was green, something I wasn't used to having lived in Cyprus. I didn't get to explore the city thoroughly then but I'll never forget just feeling warm and happy while sitting on a piece of lawn in the middle of the city in front of the cute windmill located there.

Then about a year later I found myself living here.

When I arrived with my crazily heavy suitcase the cool air was relieving. Then five minutes later it was too hot. Soon after it was raining while I walked down the street, but only for fifteen minutes and then the sun was out again. The weather has been just as (in)consistent ever since. Surprisingly this is one of the first minor beauties of Bremen I noticed. This is because it helps me to start many grey days with hope as I know it's likely to become sunny at one point in the day either way. To be able to start the day with such positive feelings is a real booster.

While the weather might be a minor beauty, every other natural part of Bremen is seriously beautiful. Almost every week I bump into a stunning place in the nature somehow, while riding my bike to some place I have to go to. River-side parks with wonderful patches of grass to sit on fill the banks of the Weser and the nearby feeder river the Lesum, always amazing places to watch the sun set. The central parks aren't any less amazing though. The largest park, Burger Park, is always full of surprises; I've spotted deer and lots of rabbits there before, I've seen thousands of shades of orange on the branches of trees in the autumn. I've seen fihs and ducks in the waterways which are disturbed by happy families, couples or friends steering a boat down them. It's a place where I could quite happily lose myself, just sitting for hours on end watching the leaves fall from branches in a gentle breeze...

I mentioned the happy people just a moment ago and they are possibly the largest stand out point of Bremen. People are just nice here, there's so many smiles to be seen while walking down the street, people actually say please and thank you, they laugh if you almost run them over with your bike instead of shouting. These are all small things but when I contrast them with some other cities I've been recently when travelling I've seen how big a difference they make. Then you get to know the people and you see there's more to them than their niceness, and that they are all quite inspiring. Well maybe not all, but there are so many peopleI've met in Bremen that have effected me in a positive way in the time I've been here that I feel like I'm three years older rather than six months older. Motivated, self-aware, open, honest, nature-loving, dedicated, creative, driven and to put it simply, beautiful.

Beautiful.

That's how I see Bremen. I've tried to stretch out the meaning of the word with the rest of this article, to explain it in depth, the reasoning behind it too, but in the end no ammount of words could explain my feelings towards Bremen than that one word.

My experience so far here has been unbelievable and I'm only half way through, I really can't imagine how great the rest of my year is going to be, I'm so so excited to live it.