liveliest, most friendly University towns in europe?
 

What are your opinions? Basically, I'm looking for a place that's going to be very fun and welcoming for an American to study the local language and meet people. Obviously if the city is pretty that's a plus too. Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg are probably my preferred countries.

Thanks!

My votes for Heidelberg!I stayed there for one month and have missed it ever since leaving!

Freiburg usually gets highest marks for "livelihood" (is this a word?.

Located in the SW corner of the Germany on the foothills of the Black Forest, it has the best weather, a beautiful old town, vineyards, very "green" city management (you can go everywhere by bike), and a top-notch uni. Despite its compact size, it has a "young" and not provincial atmosphere (because of the uni).
Both France/Alsace and Switzerland are just around the corner.

Costs of living probably the lowest or at the lower end in Germany if you compare grocery shopping, going out, restaurants/pubs, or rents with your other options.

Montpellier, France.

We enjoyed Tubingen Germany, a large university city. [Twenty five thousand students]. Easy to get around, friendy people/students. Were there five nights visiting the granddaughter doing a semester abroad. Richard P.S. General information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tubingen

Leiden, The Netherlands would work if you were willing to
go that country.

I've heard good things about Utrecht too. The Netherlands seems nice!

Cowboy's suggestion has my vote. Beautiful city, the best weather in Germany, loads of students.

Tübingen is also a good choice.

Heidelberg is too touristy for my taste. I lived there on an army base for five years in the 1960's, and when I've returned I've been really shocked at how much it's changed. The Goethe Institute used to have a three or four week course there, and I assume they still do. Perhaps that's far enough away from touristy places that one can get a real taste of Germany.

I like Goethe Institutes for German language study. You can spend a month in one city, like Dresden, Munich, etc., and then spend a month at a different city. You meet people from all over the world, most of them younger (although I'm oooooold) and most friendly and fun.

Paris is too big to be a university town, so the university is totally disolved in it.

In France, the main university towns are considered to be Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Grenoble, Rennes, Lille (Villeneuve d'Ascq) and, more recently, Amiens.

I also vote for Heidelberg!

Paris has a section though that is young and lively though right..the 6th arr i believe?

haha don't know why i used though twice

Jeez -- the 6th arrondissement is for American tourists over the age of 55. I thought the Fodor's site made that clear.

Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Tilburg, Groningen all great student cities in the Netherlands.

Unless you have some prior qualification in Dutch you won't be able to study it at a Dutch university, though many offer intensive summer courses.
And if you want to learn Dutch just by immersion it will be tough as everyone will speak English to you.

Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg are probably my preferred countries.>

Ones i have enjoyed

Germany - Tubingen (near Stuttgart)
Holland - Leiden and Amsterdam
Belgium - Leuven (Walloon or French speaking i believe)
Denmark - well right across the Sound in Lund, Sweden

Scotland - St Andrews - and you can learn Scottish!

France - Aix-en-Provence

Spain - Salamanca

@hetismij : I Know you can learn Dutch without any knowledge of it from Leiden University.

Montpellier, France is an awesome university town and not too touristy. That's where I did my junior year abroad.

Aix-en-Provence and Heidelberg are great towns, but have too many Americans and too many locals who will just switch to English as soon as you open your mouth. I had a friend who studied in Aix while I was in Montpellier, and I was shocked when we went out and she just ended up speaking English everywhere. No one ever did that to me in Montpellier. Same with Heidelberg, plus it just doesn't have as "German" an atmosphere with the huge American military presence.

Tuebingen is a great idea - gorgeous old town with a very lively student scene.

Leuven is a really nice university town, 20 minutes form Brussels. Brussels and Bruges might be nice too.

You didn't mention Ireland, but when we were at Trinity College in Dublin, we talked to some American students and they really liked Trinity. They were all in line to use the ATM as the rates were favorable for them.

The military presence in Heidelberg will diminish, as the headquarters of United States Army Europe is moving elsewhere next year.

P.S. Aarhus, Denmark, is a very lively university town. The students all seemed to be partying every night directly under our window at the CabIn Aarhus. Very attractive young people.

Another vote for Montpellier. We spent a month there studying French and were very impressed by the friendliness and the entertainment. For the whole month of July, we had a choice of activities every night: free concerts (classical, jazz etc.), inexpensive wine-tastings. Always something going on. Plus, Montpellier offers some nice off-the-beaten-track day trips like the Aigues-Mortes.

Pegontheroad, did you like CabInn Aarhus? we are considering staying there.

Hi dt,

>welcoming for an American to study the local language and meet people.<

Well, considering your post, I get the feeling that the fun part is more important than the study part. :)

My suggestions are
Bologna, IT
London, UK
Aarhus, DK (You really want to learn to speak Danish?)

((I))

Hmm, I'd pick Seville or Santiago in Spain, but they are not on your preferred list.

Salzburg, Austria. I was an exchange student there and loved it!

Bologna, Italy.

@ira : It's true Danish probably isn't the most useful language to learn. To tell you the truth I like the sound of Dutch much better although it's not very useful either!

Cowboy, livelihood is a word but it means something different (earning a living). The word you are looking for is liveliness.

@ PalenQ
<Belgium - Leuven (Walloon or French speaking i believe)>
There's a uni in Leuven (Dutch speaking) and in Louvain-la-Neuve (French speaking). Both are 30 km apart.
Gent is a great university city, too.

Did I miss it or did no one say Perugia, Italy? It has 5 or 7 colleges including the one for strangers with its 3-month Italian immersion course. I know Italy wasn't your preferred country, but this place is special. Thus spake a 64 year old.

Montpellier would be my close second choice but I have only visited France and Italy so can't compare to the others noted above.

We met a young man in Marseille who was going to the Sorbonne in Paris but spending time in the summer (weeks? can't remember) in Cannes for language cramming session. Poor baby!

Yes, Perugia and Parma are both great university cities. I just didn't see Italy on the OP's list of countries.

I like cold weather, rain snow fog...that's one of the reasons I want to stay north.

My relatives go to Abo (Turku) Finland. You could study Swedish and Finnish there. They also speak some English in Finland.

http://www.abo.fi/public/en/

In Italy, Perugia, Padua (not as lively), Bologna, and--especially if off season--Venice!

But if you are willing to have Gaelic as your language: Galway! Youngest town in Europe, if memory serves.

I like St. Andrews or Oxford in the UK.

Might as well throw this into the mix: I'm very artistic/creative so if the city/town has that bent plus the attributes I've already mentioned I'll be in heaven!

Will Copernicus do? Consider Torun, a university town. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/torun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

I'm not very interested in learning Polish though...aside from that the town looks wonderful.

How about Kraków? If I were young and in college, I'd go there just for the coeds. Come to think of it, that's why I chose San Diego State!

((H))

Now, Tom! [-X

You might have warmer weather in Aix but we sure like Perugia. Met a kid from New Jersey who went there for language school and knew he couldn't leave for a while! He and a group of compatriots were running a bar, traveling and generally having more fun than parents might want to know about! My guess is that they are mid to late-20s.