Learn German in Berlin, Germany

Berlin in four words: museums, sausages, ATMs and nightclubs. The city boasts 180 museums, and if you find it challenging to get through all of them, try at least Neues Museum, Berlinische Galerie, DDR Museum, and the Helmut Newton Foundation. Locals and tourists consume around 70 million sausages (the dish is called Currywurst) every year. There are ATMs that allow users to receive gold. So if you have at least €44 to spare, go to The Galeries Lafayette and exchange your banknotes for real gold. And last but not least, you can finish your day hanging out in one of Berlin’s night clubs knowing that 50,000 people in the city are partying with you.

You have three options of lodging to choose from: a host family, a school campus or a private apartment. Staying with a host family, you’ll be able to take a closer look at the day-to-day lives of locals. On a school campus, you’ll get the opportunity to meet students from different countries. The last option, private apartment, is the most convenient in terms of schedule and space but the most expensive as well.

Top chart of the most delicious food in Berlin by LinguaTrip.com:

Currywurst is a matter of national pride for Berliners. This is a grilled sausage with a special sauce: a combination of the three key ingredients ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and curry powder.

Königsberger Klopse — meatballs made of ground veal, beef or pork with onions, eggs, anchovies, and flour, before being cooked in a broth. All that is covered with a creamy sauce made of capers and lemon.

Schnitzel — probably Germany’s most international dish. The most famous version of Schnitzel has to be Wiener Schnitzel. This is a thinly sliced piece of veal, covered with flour, egg and bread crumbs and then deep-fried in oil or butter.

Maultaschen — a traditional German dish consisting of an outer layer of pasta dough which encloses a filling made of minced meat, smoked meat, spinach, bread crumbs, and onions and flavored with various herbs and spices.

Berliner Pfannkuchen — a traditional German pastry, famous worldwide. It is similar to a doughnut with no central hole and is made from sweet yeast dough fried in fat or oil, with a marmalade or jam filling and a sugar icing.

A meal for two in a budget Berlin restaurant will cost you around €16.00, and €40.00 — in a more expensive one.

There are three fare zones in Berlin: Fare zone A is limited to within the S-Bahn ring and includes the city center. Zone B ends at Berlin’s city limits. Zone C includes the surrounding area.

The best place to buy your ticket is at the ticket machines right in the station or at one of the many BVG and S-Bahn Berlin retail outlets.

All the schools will provide you with a high-speed Internet connection, but you may not always have it outside the classroom, so it’s better to buy a local SIM card. There are three big mobile network operators in Berlin: Telefonica/O2, Telekom, and Vodafone. On average, calls and SMS messages will cost 9c per min or one SMS, 1.5 GB — €9.99.

The climate in Berlin is moderately continental and characterized by cold winters (around 0 °C ) and moderately warm summers (24 °C on average). The coldest month is February with the lowest temperature hitting -20 °C. The warmest month is July at 38 to 40 °C max.

For two weeks in Berlin, have with you around €700: €400 for lodgings (in case you rent a private room) and €350 for food, excursions, and shopping. Also, don’t forget that you’ll need a Schengen visa (€60) if you are not an EU citizen.