If you’re heading out to Germany for your year away, whether you’re Erasmus studying, working a cool internship or going down a volunteering route, you should look into practicing skills, passions and random activities in your spare time. Why? Because you’ll have way more spare time now then you will come 4th year, or, shudder, upon graduating when CVs, interviews and grown-up jobs will take over your life. Here’s our definitive list of the cool and quirky, from hip Berlin to dreamy Dortmund, happening Frankfurt and more...

Amelia Clapham is teaching in Rheine, Germany, for her year abroad. Here, she gives us an insider's view of what it's like to manage classes, live with a host family and adapt to life in Germany...