Welcome back reader!
In this entry, I am going to ask the question of what we can expect in the future. Will we see another city with a university? Will the current university cities grow or shrink because the more students there are, the more discounts there will be for different places? Are the places/cities mentioned in my blog the only ones to visit? I am asking these questions because this will probably be my last entry as my lectures are coming to an end and I do not know if I have the motivation that I had at the beginning of the semester.
Will we see another university city?
In the next two years probably not because in the ‘Higher Education Strategy Plan’ there are no other planned and even if we put that aside, where should be another one. Every big city already has a university and why would they build a new one, but who knows what the future will hold. Maybe there will be a bigger spectrum of degrees in Erfurt so that the university can grow a little bit or the universities in Gera and Eisenach will part ways from each other. It has to been seen what will happen. Everything is possible as Thuringia is an up and coming state where a person can study, and a lot of money is put into the support of students.
Are the places/cities mentioned the only ones worth a visit?
Definitely not, Thuringia has a lot more to offer. All the featured cities were chosen because they have a university and therefore they have more places with a discount. There are a lot more cities that are worth a visit. Just to name a few, Saalfeld (Saalfeld fairy cave), Rudolstadt, Gotha, Apolda, Mühlhausen, Ronneburg or Altenburg. It is also noteworthy that every several years there are ‘garden shows’ (Gartenschau), where parks and gardens of the chosen city will get beautifully decorated. Such a show was already in Apolda (2017), Schmalkalden (2015) or in Ronneburg/Gera (2007) and in the future there will be a ‘Federal Garden Show’ in Erfurt (2021) where the ‘egapark’ and ‘Petersberg’ will be decorated. There will also be a ‘horticultural show’ in Leinefelde-Worbis (2024), but until then there is a lot of time. Other than that, there will probably be a lot of new places such as museums and galleries in the cities which will offer a discount for student, and even the ‘Federal Garden Show’ in Erfurt will most likely offer a discount for students. For example, Weimar is celebrating 100 years of Bauhaus, therefore, a new museum was built (the opening is April the 6th) and will grant every citizen of Weimar free entry in the first three days. The city is also celebrating 100 years of the ‘Weimar Constitution’. There will be several festivals over the year, already starting this week (Feb. 2nd – Feb 9th), with a light show on the ‘National Theatre’ and Angela Merkel visiting several sites in the city.
As I mentioned in my introduction, this will most likely be my last entry for this blog because I currently lack the motivation to write more. Despite that, I would like to thank you the reader for showing continuous interest in my blog and supporting me with constructive comments, so that I could improve myself as time went on.
In the end, I would like to thank you very much again and I wish you the best.
The Green Heart of Germany 