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Are you thinking of studying abroad? Or have you done a year abroad already? Not sure where to go or what the benefits are? Well, here’s some tips and advice.

First of all, and perhaps most importantly, studying or working abroad gives you an insight into the workings of a new and exciting culture and living in a different country is truly an amazing experience.

Setting yourself a challenge such as studying abroad prepares you for difficult future situations, because after all, if you can fathom how to get by on your own in a foreign county, you can do pretty much anything! It’s important to remember to grab this opportunity with both hands. Join all the extra curricular groups you can, go to that Salsa class or conversation evening that looked interesting, and don’t be afraid to converse with people, ask questions and practice your language!

The top ten places to study abroad in the world, according to the Study Abroad Research Group, are as follows:

1. UK

2. Italy

3. Spain

4. France

5. Australia

6. Mexico

7. Germany

8. Ireland

9. China

10. Costa Rica

…AND…

The people who tend to succeed on study years abroad are the following; These findings are based on studies by Brecht, Davidson and colleagues (1995, 1996) and by Lapkin, Swain and their colleagues (1995).

• Pre-departure reading and grammar (If you do some work before you go, you’ll get on better when you get there)
• Gender (some studies have shown males to do better, but the reverse may be true in others)
• Age (This has had mixed findings, with some saying younger people are quicker to adapt)
• Previous Time Abroad (those who have been abroad before do better)
• Initial Language Proficiency (those with two to three years of langauage studying behind them tend to do best).

As well as this, some other findings suggest that:

• Students abroad use English more than their second language (Freed, Segalowitz & Dewey, 2003).
• Gender, group affiliations and host family preferences can influence reading habits while abroad (Kline, 1995).
• Students are critical of their classroom instruction while abroad, but this instruction helps them to form goals (Brecht & Robinson, 1995).
• Conversation with host families is often simple and redundant (Frank, 1997).

Finding friends and somewhere to live can be a daunting aspect, but browse social networks to find people just like you, such as the hundreds of study abroad facebook groups, “ERASMUS in Milan 2008″, for exmple. Visit websites such as loquo.com, where you can find long term rentals or well trusted companies such as Open House Spain, where you can find accommodation.

Doing a year abroad work, or study shows employers that you are independent, strong willed and you take the initiative and thus, could be a great advantage when it comes to what to write on your CV. After all, there are many fully grown adults who cannot even get on a plane, let alone contemplate living in a foreign country.

Surprised?

Well maybe it isn’t so surprising when you think about it,  English is one of the most widely used languages in the world and in previous years Australia, USA and Canada have consistently been amongst the top ten favourite places for students to go to when it comes to gap years and studying abroad. This not only comes from the fact that foreign languages are playing less of a role in the school curriculums of Britain, and thus students don’t tend to speak foriegn languages, seeking study abroad in English speaking countries instead.

We at Oh Trip hope this gives you some food for thought!!

For more information about where to actually go on your study year abroad, why not view our articles on Barcelona, Paris, Berlin and Rome!

Technorati Tags: accommodation Barcelona, accommodation Berlin, apartments in Barcelona, Barcelona apartments, Berlin apartments, hotels in Berlin, Paris accommodation, Paris apartments, Paris hotels, study abroad, top ten travel, travel destinations

Looking for an alternative trip to Berlin? Here’s a guide to some of the most interesting things to eat, see and do, whilst you are on your break in Berlin, especially things that you haven’t thought of doing before. First, imagine a strange park where everything is still, quiet and untouched, save for a ferris wheel and old, fading, fairground rides, and you’ve arrived at Spreepark Pläntnerwald. This eerily quiet theme park has stood still since 2002, and has quietly and slowly fallen into disrepair.

The park was created in 1969, as Cultural Park Plänterwald, covering an area of 29.5 hectares. The area lies in the north of the Plänterwald in direct proximity to the Spree. It was the only constant entertainment park in the GDR and after the consolidation of the two German states also the only one in all of Berlin. A special attraction was the Ferris Wheel of Berlin, which was replaced in 1989 with a new, larger version with 36 cars and rising to a height of 45 metres. For many years this was a landmark in the surrounding area. In GDR times the park attracted up to 1.7 million visitors per year.

Unfortunately, since 1999 the park had to cope with large debts. The increase in the admission fee to 30DM per person and a lack of parking space contributed to a drop in visitor numbers until in 2001 only 400,000 visitors entered the park. In 2001 Spreepark GmbH announced that they were insolvent and the park was closed. Now you can walk through the park and see the damaged relics of East Berlin family entertainment - dinosaurs, a Ferris wheel, little riding metal horses….It is possible to walk around the fun fair grounds and get a good view through the fence.

Next, why not sample a night out at Nocti Vagus, Berlin’s restaurant where food is served in the dark? Would you believe it, you enter the dining room and eat your meal in complete darkness, whilst blind waiters serve you… The menu is delicious, serving food such as Venison ham on a bed of marinated salad variations served with orange filets, Consommé of veal tail with vegetable garnish, sfuffed breast of guinea fowl with pumpkin risotto served on a bed of oyster mushrooms and morello cherry juice…You can even order the surprise menu which is compiled according to your tastes and preferences! As well as this, you can experience relaxing music, comedy, classical concerts, jazz concerts and dark theatre, literally a journey into the world of experience, mystery evenings and much more - all you have to do is be prepared to sit back and relax in the dark! Nocti Vagus can be found at Saarbrücker Str. 36-38,10405 Berlin, Tel:(030) 74 74 91 23, kontakt@noctivagus.de and is open from 6 pm. To get there, take the U-Bahn U2 Senefelder Platz / Tram: Linie 1 Mollstraße/Prenzlauer Allee or suburban train & railway: S-Bahn Alexanderplatz.

Technorati Tags: Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels, Berlin restaurants, Cultural Park Plänterwald, Nocti Vagus, Spreepark Pläntnerwald, weekend in Berlin

Backpackers, (and most of the whole world), listen up! Here are the top ten best hostels in the world (compiled by the web site Trifter.com). From one to ten, the absolute best hostels in the world are listed here, starting with the Flying Pig in Amsterdam. The best one is in uptown Amsterdam, this has to be cleared up as there are two more “Flying Pigs” in the Dutch capital, one downtown and the other next to “Noordwijk” beach. The fame of “the Flying Pig” is, in effect, so great that it has been selected by a Canadian couple planning to stay their during their honeymoon. The second best hostel in Berlin, the Circus Hostel, and close behind is the Greek Pink Palace Hostel, on the island of Corfú.

Here are the Top 10:

1 - Flying Pig Uptown Youth Hostel (Amsterdam, Holland)
2 - Circus Hostel (Berlin, Germany)
3 - Pink Palace Hostel (Corfù, Greece)
4 - Chase The Wild Goose Hostel (Banavie, Scotland)
5 - Wood Duck Inn (Sydney, Australia)
6 - Villa Saint Exupery (Nice, France)
7 - St. Catherine’s Monastery (Hostel, Sinai, Egypt)
8 - Backpackers International (Rarotonga, the Cook Islands)
9 - Casa Esmeralda (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
10 - Czech Inn Hostel (Prague, Czech Republic)

Taking bronze, silver and gold for European hostels, we also have three more positions in the top 10, meaning that Europe holds 6 of the top 10 best hostels in the world! This data is not just a coincidence but proof of the fact that many Europeans enjoy travelling and staying in hostels in Europe, not only due to the money you can save, but also because it is so much fun.

… Visit our Twitter Profile here for more interesting updates!

Technorati Tags: Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hostels, Berlin hotels, hostels Europe

If you’re looking for somewhere to spend the British half term from 16^th – 20^th Feb or a place to spend your bank holiday on 4^th May, why not choose from our top three destinations; Barcelona, Paris and Berlin and see which one you prefer? It is going to be difficult though, each one has so many exciting things to offer! All three destinations are child friendly.

You could begin with a trip to the beautiful city of Paris, where romance is always in the air and there is always a delicious smell of French baguette and coffee… Be sure to visit the magnificent sights of the city, take a trip up the Eiffel tower and eat in the restaurant at the top, walk down The Champs-Elysées (the symbolic gathering place of a nation for sports victories and New Year’s Eve) and visit some of the best market places in the world; Marché Bastille, Marché Batignolles for food and for antiques and flea markets; Louvre des Antiquaires and Marché aux Puces de Vanves. A must see is the Mona Lisa en the Louvre, the picturesque district of Montmartre and of course, Notre Dame…

In Berlin, the zoo, amongst other things, is a definite must see on the sightseeing checklist. With almost 14,000 creatures to see, Knut the polar bear, the elephants, penguins, rhinos and crocodiles are waiting for your visit to Germany’s oldest zoo! Charlottenburg stretches across the west of the city from the Tiergarten to Spandau, from Tegel airport down to Wilmersdorf. Visit the Kurfürstendamm, west Berlin’s wonderful tree-lined shopping boulevard, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtskirche (the famous neo-Romanesque church built in 1891, dazzling mosaics on the inside, stark reminder of the war on the outside) and the beautiful palace and gardens of Schloss Charlottenburg which gave Charlottenburg its name.

Barcelona is synonymous with the word “Gaudí” and thus a visit to his works will help you understand this city. The magnificent Parc Guell, the underwater world in Casa Battló, the fantastic mosaic chimneys at La Pedrera and of course, the unfinished cathedral that Gaudí dedicated many years of his life to; La Sagrada Familia, should all be covered during this long weekend. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable cities to relax in, Barcelona has a fantastic mix of beach and city life, with an abundance of Barcelona hotels and Barcelona apartments, where a delicious meal of paella at the beach can be combined with a stroll down Las Ramblas watching the street artists and a trip to El Parc de la Ciutadella. Then go to Montjuic to visit the Joan Miró Foundation, the Olympic pool and the Castle.

Technorati Tags: Bank holiday 2009, Bank holiday 4th May, Bank holiday Barcelona, Bank holiday Berlin, Bank holiday Paris, Barcelona accommodation, Barcelona apartments, Barcelona hotels, Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels, Paris accommodation, Paris apartments, Paris hotels

You thought this article was going to be about Spandau ballet, didn’t you? Well actually it isn’t. This article is about a beautiful, less known town near to, and rival of Berlin. One of the most picturesque and oldest towns near Berlin, Spandau is found slightly to the west of the capital.

Spandau is only a short journey away taking the U7 to either Zitadelle or Altstadt Spandau. Spandau is the place where Berliners go to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, much like the Romans head to Ostia or Madridians to .

This little baroque town is now more or less part of Berlin, and is considered by Berliners as part of west Berlin. The Zitadelle (citadel) contains Spandau’s original town charter which dates back to 1232 and has therefore been used as the argument for historical primacy over Berlin.

The majority of the old town is pedestrianised and full of pretty 18^th century houses, flower boxes and then modern restaurants and department stores. Perhaps the loveliest of the sights is the former Gasthof zum Stern in Carl-Schurz-Strasse and older still are houses in Kinkelstrasse and Ritterstrasse, but perhaps the best preserved district is north of Am Juliusturn in the area bounded by Hoher Steinweig, Kolk and Behnitz.

Technorati Tags: accommodation in Berlin, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels

The Berlin Radio Tower is a radio transmission tower situated in Berlin in Germany. It was built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is well known as “der lange Lulatsch” and is one of the cities well known sights. It can be found in the theme park in Berlin in the Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf district.

On the third of September 1926, the radio tower was inaugurated, coinciding with the 3 Grossen Deutschen Funkausstellung (the third great German radio exhibition). The tower is currently a protected monument.

The tower is built from a framework of steel, similiar to the Eiffel tower in Paris. It measures 150 metres high and weighs 600 tones. It was conceived soley as the only communications tower, although earlier they added a restaurant to it, 52 metres up, with an observation platform of 125 metres. The visitors can get up to the top by use of a lift which travels 4 metres every second.

The radio tower has two notable structural characteristics. Firstly, it sits upon a square base of 20 metres. The distance between the base and the height is 1/6,9. In comparison, the Eiffel Tower sights above a platform of 129 metres, giving a size of 1/2,3. In second place, the radio tower is probably the only observation tower in the world which has insulators made from porcelean. It was designed as an antennae tower for Amplitude Modulation (AM), and the insulators were thought of to disguise the electrical transmitters for the whole antennae. However, this was not very practical because the visitors would have been vulnerable to the massive electrical discharge, as a result the insulators were put along the axis of the elevator down to earth. The insulators used were made in the Königlich Preussische Porzellanmanufaktur (Royal Prussian Porcelain Factory).

The tower transmitted a televisión programme for the first time on 22nd March 1935. After 1965, this tower stopped transmitting television signals. Currently, the tower is used for tours and mobile phone communication systems.

Technorati Tags: Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels

Babylon is a permenant fasciation for historians around the globe and for the first time, all the information that is known about it will be brough together in an exciting exhibition, taking place at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which aims to discover some of its secrets. The exhibition is running from 26th June until 5th October 2008.

The exhibition has been created with the help of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with Musée du Louvre and the Réunion des musées nationaux in Paris, as well as the British Museum in London.

This exciting and vivid exhibition will explore four key features; “myth, city, legend and truth”. In doing so, the myth of Babel and the true facts of this amazing ancient city will be unearthed. The first part of the exhibition looks at the archaelogical remains of Babylon, of which there are many ruins now, and they lie on the east bank of the Euphrates, the principal ones being three vast mounds; Babil, the Qasr, and Amran ibn. Over 800 objects are exhibited, among them statues, reliefs, votive offerings, architectural fragments, and documents.

“Myth” explores the dark sides of the civilization of Babylon, the repression and lack of freedom, terror and violence. As well as exploring the legend behind the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (possibly a myth, but credited as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), visitors are invited to explore the darker side of this city, portrayed as a city of tyranny and confusion of tongues.

Technorati Tags: Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels

The Berlin marathon takes place every year on the last weekend of September. This, the 35^th marathon, took place on 28^th September this year. The official marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers is set up as a city-wide road race where professional athletes and amateur sportsmen jointly participate.

First initiated in 1974, the event is split in 2 days. Around 8,000 additional inline skaters competing at the marathon course one day before the running event, usually at a Saturday. Power walkers, handbikers, wheelchair riders, and a children’s marathon (4.2195 km) are also part of the marathon weekend which is organised by SCC Running and currently sponsored by real-hypermarkets. The course within the centre of Berlin starts and finishes near the Brandenburg Gate and the course runs by many historic sights such as the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz and Berliner Dom.

The Marathon has seen many people set world records. This year, the German; Irina Mikitenko, set a new record for the time taken to complete the marathon, a huge record of record time of 2:19:19. As well as this, the Brit; Karen Holdsworth, set a record in 1983 of 2:40:32.

If you want to watch the marathon next year, or even run in it! Why not visit the Berlin marathon website

Technorati Tags: Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels

“Silvester” in German, or “New Year’s Eve” to us, this night is possibly the most hotly anticipated night of the year, where everyone seeks out fun, laughter and entertainment. Make no mistake, Berlin hosts one huge party every year on New Year’s Eve, which can be found in this vibrant city between Brandenburger Tor and Siegessäule.

The party covers an area of over 80,000 square metres, which will be home to stages, a media centre, food and drink stands as well as enormous video screens and laser performaces for your enjoyment. Not only this, but the new year will be welcomed in with a fantastic display of fireworks at midnight, which is easily the highlight of the event.

Each year, the Berlin New Year’s Eve Party offers a varied stage programme of international music stars, famous rock and pop bands as well as live acts. Furthermore, several djs, supported by TV and radio offer permanent entertainment until the early hours of the morning suitable for all different ages and tastes.

Entrance is free to this amazing event and the international program and the stars of the live TV- Show will be presented at December 13 at our pressconference and at this website.

Technorati Tags: Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin hotels, New Year Berlin, New Year's Eve Berlin

Taking place from 14th to 26th October, this festival with illuminate the most fantastic Berlin monuments and will bring the city to life at night. World famous spots such as the Brandenburg Gate and the TV tower will light up the city by means of lights, projections and fireworks. Make sure you get your Berlin accommodation booked now!

In addition to the festival there will be numerous cultural events dealing with the subject of “light”. The City Foundation Berlin, the Union Investment Real Estate AG, the light artist Andreas Boehlke and the festival coordinator Birgit Zander with her agency Zander & Partner Event-Marketing are the initiators and organisers of the festival.

Amazing light artists such as “Satis&fy” will be illuminating the buildings with their wonderful light shows and the event will also provide special “Lightseeing Tours” which include trips by bus with the Light-Liner, by ship with the Light-Ship, by walking with the Light-Cruso or by Velotaxi with the Light-Bike – people from Berlin and their guests can enjoy the aesthetic compositions from up close…

Last year’s Festival of Lights had more than 40 sights all over the city, including the Victory Column and the German, French and Berlin cathedrals. Beside the classical sights, modern building complexes such as Neues Kranzler Eck and the DomAquarée were illuminated as well.

Technorati Tags: Berlin 2008, Berlin accommodation, Berlin apartments, Berlin festival of lights, Berlin festivals, Berlin hotels