About 34,000 students will be heading to Freie Universität Berlin on October 17, when classes finally begin. This fall and winter will be tough for many of us due to the ongoing pandemic and current energy crisis – but there are also a lot of positive developments. After all, following a successful summer semester, we at Freie Universität will be looking forward to studying and working on campus with courses, examinations, research, and administration all taking place on site and in person with additional digital options where needed. Not only that, but the libraries and student cafeterias will be open to full capacity again. We all know how important socializing and interpersonal contact is for students to thrive in a university setting, as the FUCSI survey we carried out last spring can testify.

To this end, Freie Universität will be following the health and safety guidelines based on the recommendations of the Berlin Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health, Long-Term Care, and Gender Equality. While we have not made wearing a mask a requirement, we still strongly recommend that you wear an FFP2 mask in enclosed spaces and in buildings so that we can continue to study and work on campus despite the ongoing pandemic. We also suggest that you continue to maintain a distance to others, get vaccinated, get tested, and observe the hygiene rules that we’re now all familiar with so that all of the students and employees at our university can stay healthy and feel safe.

The energy crisis will also be a difficult issue facing us this winter. As a public institution, we at Freie Universität are required to turn down the temperature to 19 degrees Celsius and will refrain from heating hallways and stairwells where possible. Phones and Wi-Fi access points will be switched to “deep sleep” mode at night to save even more energy.

“We are aware that, for those whose work requires them to sit for long periods of time, 19 degrees Celsius is not ideal,” Professor Ziegler says, “Despite the numerous setbacks facing us in the form of dramatically rising costs and a general sense of insecurity, the Executive Board feels obligated to ensure that our members can continue to teach, study, and work in person at Freie Universität Berlin.”

Saving Energy and Resources

The SUSTAIN IT! initiative for sustainability and climate protection takes an active approach to making our university more environmentally friendly. Students and members of the Sustainability & Energy Unit are constantly planning new projects and coming up with ideas related to sustainability, such as the UniGardening project and the FUdsharing-Fairteiler project to prevent food waste. If you would like to get involved, then you should check out their websites.

You can learn more about other sustainability projects at Freie Universität by taking a self-guided tour with your smartphone. We have also just introduced the “Scan First” project at the University Library this fall to replace photocopying by providing a digital scanning service that’s free of charge for all users.

Don’t Forget to Eat and Stay Hydrated!

The student cafeterias will be open throughout the semester. The main cafeteria Mensa FU II between the Rost-und Silberlaube buildings (Otto-von-Simson-Str. 26) will be serving lunch between 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. After an extended closure for building work, Veggie Mensa FU I (Van’t-Hoff-Str. 6) will be reopening in November with a totally new concept inspired by Japanese cuisine. If you’re deciding where to eat on campus, the studierendenWERK provides an overview of all student cafeterias and food options on its homepage. You can also download an app to check out the daily specials.

Getting Your Blood Pumping...

If you want to get away from sitting at your desk all day or simply switch off and have fun with your classmates or colleagues, take a look at the University Sports Center and their array of courses both in person and online to guide you through the gloomy winter days. And when it comes to events this semester, we’re counting down the days until the blacklight table tennis tournament and midnight volleyball tournament!

Not only that, but the ALBA Berlin Basketball Campus Cup will finally be taking place in cooperation with ALBA Berlin. Plus, you can now check to see how full the UniFit gym is at any given time on its website.

...and Singing Your Heart Out

Collegium Musicum is the club to join if you’re musically inclined. It’s where students and employees of Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin come together to play music and sing in different orchestras, big bands, and choirs. Each of the different ensembles accepts new members every winter semester. But if you’d rather not perform, then you can simply attend the next concert on December 6 and 7 at Apostel-Paulus-Kirche in Schöneberg for the Christmas Oratorio.

We bet you’re thinking “With so many options, how will I ever find the time to study?” If you’re worried about maintaining the balancing act that is university life, then you should check out the short and snappy videos recorded by our “weStudents” student ambassadors, where they talk about their studies and how they spend their free time in Berlin. They’ll also give you an insight into how international life really is here at Freie Universität Berlin.

And if that’s not enough excitement for you, then flip ahead to 2023 in your calendars, when we’ll be organizing lots of events for Freie Universität Berlin’s seventy-fifth anniversary celebrations!

But for now, we’ll let you get on with making the most of this winter semester. We hope you learn a lot and have plenty of fun, too!

This article originally appeared in German on October 11, 2022, in campus.leben, the online magazine of Freie Universität Berlin.