As part of the 75th anniversary, alumni, students, and university staff share their favorite places at Freie Universität. The Audimax in the Henry Ford Building, the meadow in Thielpark, the regular place in the refectory, in the library, the Dahlem-Dorf subway station, or a very secret location? We would love to hear about the places you associate with your time at Freie Universität and what has shaped you here.

With Lara Shaker and Andreja Pazanin, two students have shared their favorite places - the Pi Café and the intermediate gardens of "Rostlaube" and "Silberlaube" are their favorites for taking a break from studying and relaxing. Shaker, who is studying General and Comparative Literature and Philosophy, has found Freie Universität to be more of the person she wants to be, has met inspiring people, and appreciates that she can pursue her interests on a daily basis during university life. In addition to her studies, she works as a yoga instructor in university sports. Pazanin, a Germany Scholar, went through a non-traditional school path, is studying for a master's degree in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, and experiences it as a privilege and a feeling of happiness to acquire knowledge at Freie Universität and to exchange knowledge with others. The aspiring psychologist is involved in volunteer work and accompanies children of incarcerated mothers to the correctional facility for visiting hours.

Alumni Markus Wilms and Stefanie Groenke experienced Freie Universität in the 1990s. They studied political science here at the Otto Suhr Institute from 1992 to 1998 and English and German as teachers from 1993 to 2001. Wilms' favorite place, also for studying, was the Dreipfuhlpark next to the Freie Universität subway station: "Just a few steps away from the OSI, just cross Garystraße, and you're in another world," he recalls. "If you've spent hours before smoking your head off discussing Hobbes and Heidegger, you can come back down here, into real life." Groenke cites the student cafés as favorite places, including the Anglists' under the roof and, like Pazanin, the indoor gardens of "Rostlaube" and "Silberlaube," for resting, reading, eating and having a nice chat.

By Anna Meißner