By Gentille from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Dortmund is a really nice city, 580,000 people live in Dortmund. The area in which Dortmund is located is called Ruhrgebiet. The Ruhr is a river that characterizes the region. It is said that Dortmund is the center of the Ruhr area, but the Ruhr river does not flow through Dortmund. The people in Dortmund are very friendly and nice, of course not all, about 70% of the people are friendly to me. In the city, if I do not know the way, then I can ask all people in the street,

and they show me the way without any hesitation.  

Once I even asked a taxi driver for directions in the city of Bochum, which is the neighboring city. I thought, maybe I have to pay 5 euros, but he explained the way very clearly to me and said that it was not far and I do not have to drive with his taxi, just straight, then left, then right and I would be there. He did not want to earn money from me.  

Dortmund is located in NRW, which is the abbreviation for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In Dortmund there are many big houses in the city center and many places to visit. Also, it has many theaters and a major train station with 21 tracks. But now there is a big construction site at the station. I also do not think that the big houses actually all look the same. I wonder why is that. Maybe that was a condition of the city when it was built? Maybe people just always wanted to build the same kind of houses?  

I visited the city of Cologne, and I think that the skyscrapers look much more individual there. Why is that so? I do not understand. Once I drove from the Dortmund main station by taxi to the Volunteershaus and I had to pay 20 euros. I think that’s too much money. In Congo, driving by taxi is not that expensive. Here in Dortmund there are many different public transports. subway, S-Bahn, train, bus, taxi, bike – but there are no Motorad taxis. I miss the Motorad taxis in Dortmund. The motor taxis are not expensive, but they are faster than the bus and train. And you do not have to pay attention to the timetable and wait. The buses leave on time, and if I’m late I have to wait for the next bus. But of course, there are several delays in a week at the buses and the subway and the S-Bahn. At the main station, if I look there on the large display board, then each train is „late“ on the display. 

From all over NRW, Dortmund is my favorite city. I have visited other cities in NRW, e.g. Bochum, Hagen, Essen, Castrop-Rauxel, Unna, Witten, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, and others. But Dortmund is my favorite city. Dortmund-Körne is my favorite district. But I live in Dortmund-Wickede and find that Wickede is quiet. If you are in Dortmund-Wickede, for example If you have an office at home, you will not be disturbed there because the district is so quiet.