Welcome to ZiF

You can move into your apartment from 15:00. Please arrange earlier arrival times with the lodging management (Tel. 2791, zif-lodging@uni-bielefeld.de). On the day of your arrival, you will find the flat key card in the safe to the left of ZiF's main entrance. You received the safe code with your reservation confirmation by e-mail.

Guests of the university usually have to pay their invoice before departure. You will receive the invoice by e-mail and can either transfer the amount or pay it in cash at the University's Cash Office (in the main university building (UHG), to the left of the Infopoint).

Please note that from April to October the gardeners and landscapers take care of the greenery in your garden and on ZiF's campus.

On the day of departure, please leave the flat by 10:00 am. Later departure times must be arranged with the lodging management.

Please, leave the flat as you found it:

• Remove all private belongings
• Empty the waste bins and dispose any food
• Wash the dishes and put them back in the cupboards
• Put furniture back in its place
• Return additional bedding to the laundry room

Check your letterbox and settle any outstanding bills (e.g. medical), close your account if necessary, cancel any subscriptions and change your address.

Return the key card to Lodging Management or drop it in the letterbox next to the main entrance (below key safe).
 

Your flat is fully furnished and has all the important appliances and utensils. Towels and bed linen are provided by the ZiF and can be changed every Wednesday from 8:00 to 11:00 in the laundry.
Consumables (hygiene items such as soap and shampoo, washing and cleaning products) are not provided.

If necessary, remember to bring an EU adapter for electrical appliances.

We kindly ask you to treat the furnishings and the flat with care. Please understand that we will have to charge you for any special cleaning that may be required and also for any repairs that may be necessary.

Please note: for hygienic reasons, there are self-flushing taps in the flats that run automatically once a day.

Fresh towels and bedlinen
Wednesday 8:00 – 11:00

You can access the laundry with your key card. There are three washing machines and dryers available for private use free of charge. Please note that the tumble dryers are reserved for housekeeping on Wednesdays.

During your rental period, you are responsible for cleaning your flat yourself. You will find all the necessary utensils and cleaning equipment in the flat.

In Germany, waste is disposed of separately. There are separate rubbish containers for each type, which are placed at the ZiF on the driveway to the residential street.

Glass containers (round throw-ins)
For used glass and glass (bottles). Please sort by colour.

Paper container (blue lid)
For clean, dry paper and cardboard.

Recycling containers (yellow lid)
For metals, plastics and composites, e.g. plastic packaging, yoghurt pots, etc.

Residual waste container (black lid)
For the rest!

Hazardous waste
Waste containing toxic residues (e.g. batteries, electrical appliances and energy-saving light bulbs) will be collected by the house technician (tel. 2324, ZiF-maintenance@uni-bielefeld.de).

 

Please never put waste down the toilet!

Deposit system for bottles
There is a return system for many beverage bottles and cans. These containers are marked with a symbol and can be returned in shops using the appropriate machines.

Your letterbox
Your flat has a personal letterbox. It is located at the entrance to the administration wing on the upper floor of the main building. Please note that you may only be able to access your letterbox during ZiF office hours (Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 12:30).

Your address is:

Your name

c/o Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung
Methoden 1
33615 Bielefeld
Germany

Delivered parcels are either at the mailboxes or can be collected from the conference office in the entrance area of ZiF.
The nearest post office is at Kreuzberger Str. 29 (see map).

You can use the telephone in your flat to make internal university and Germany-wide landline calls free of charge.
For all external numbers you have to dial '0'. This is followed by the complete landline telephone number with area code.
You will find your own phone number on your phone.

The large mobile phone providers such as Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone or O2 have branches in the city and offer prepaid cards in addition to longer-term contracts. Prepaid sim cards from various providers are also available in many shops (e.g. Aldi, Lidl, Rossmann, dm, Müller, REWE, Real, Marktkauf), sometimes from the respective house brand.

LAN
You can establish a LAN connection with a network cable near your desk.

W-LAN
In all ZiF flats you can also connect to the internet wirelessly.
If your home institution participates in the eduroam programme, you can log into the eduroam network with your known user data.eduroam anmelden.

If you have been given a guest account at Bielefeld University, select the guest network to log in. When you call up any website, you will automatically be redirected to a login page of the University. Use the access data provided here.
You also have the option of accessing the BI-free WLAN network. As soon as you select this network from your WLAN connections, a pop-up window will open asking you to confirm the terms of use. You can find more information about the Bielefeld W-LAN network here.

Your key card also gives you access to the ZiF indoor swimming pool and fitness room.

The pool is closed every second Wednesday (9:00 – 14:00) due to cleaning works.

The indoor swimming pool is unsupervised. Use is at your own risk. For safety reasons, it is not permitted to bring breakable objects such as bottles and glasses.
Passing on the key card to third parties is not permitted.

Universität Bielefeld sports programme

Sports facilities and swimming pools in Bielefeld

• Upcoming events in Bielefeld
• Overview over museums, theaters and orchestra
• Arthouse cinemas

 

 

The Adult Education Centre Bielefeld (Volkshochschule Bielefeld) offers various further education courses, such as languages, IT, society or culture.

There are various language courses at the University's Language Centre (Fachsprachenzentrum) for students, staff and fellows.

German courses at the University for students, staff and fellows at 'PunktUm' (Bielefeld University)

In the main building of the university there is also a language tandem pinboard in the corridor in front of C01-246, where language learning partners can be found.

As a Fellow of ZiF, the University Library is at your disposal. The UniCard is also your library card.

You will find the Bielefeld City Library at
Neumarkt 1
33602 Bielefeld

In addition to the refectory in Building X, the university has various cafeterias, the Bistro Westend (in the main building) and the Restaurant Univarza (Turkish cuisine, also in the main building). You will find various cafés and snack options near the shops on Wertherstraße.

Also close to the ZiF are

• Restaurant Rosenhof (Italian cuisine), Wiegandweg 49
• Pappelkrug (pub / outdoor patio), Wertherstraße 311
• Finca und Bar Celona, Schloßhofstraße 73 a
• Restaurant Vahle (German cuisine), Wertherstraße 24
• Restaurant KDW (Greek cuisine), Wertherstraße 58
• Wirtshaus 1802 im Bültmannshof, Kurt-Schuhmacher-Straße 17a

Christian congregation with translation service

Catholic churches:
African congregation
Further congregations of different mother tongues

Jewish community

Muslim community

In Bielefeld, there are buses and trams ('Stadtbahn'). Timetables and route information can be found here. MoBiel or Öffis is also available as a free app in the Play Store.

Nearest bus stop: "Uni/Stud.-Wohnheim" on Wertherstraße (5 minutes walk)

Served bus lines to the city centre:

21 Bi-Heepen

61 Bielefeld Hbf

62 Bielefeld Hbf

Nearest tram station: Universität (15 minutes walk)

Served tram line to the city centre: 4 Stieghorst
At the university you have access to the tram line 4, which also takes you to the city centre and the main railway station.

Tickets can be bought at the blue ticket machines at every StadtBahn stop, from busdrivers and at the moBiel ServiceCenter at Jahnplatz station. Tickets are not sold in the trams themselves. Once you have boarded the train or bus, you must validate your ticket. For journeys within the Bielefeld city area, price level 1 applies. Once stamped, this ticket is valid for 90 minutes for any number of journeys.

You can order taxis from the following providers (please remember to pre-dial '0' when calling from ZiF):

Ihr Taxi: 65151
BIETA: 97111
Hansa: 444366

The bike-sharing app meinSiggi (available in the App Store and Google Play) allows you to rent bikes in the Bielefeld city area. Via the app or the website, you can find further information, explanations and an overview of the rental conditions and the places where the bikes (some of them flexible) can be rented and parked.

ZiF campus is part of the "flex-street zone" (blue area). This means that bicycles can be parked on ZiF campus and do not have to be returned to a station. The parked bikes must remain accessible to the public. Please make sure that the bikes do not block any driveways or pavements.
 

You can find various car rental offers and companies online.
The carsharing provider Cambio CarSharing has a station at Bielefeld University.

Please note that most shops are open from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays and public holidays the shops are closed.

Near ZiF (about a ten-minute walk on Wertherstraße towards Werther) you will find a supermarket, a pharmacy, a savings bank and some other shops.
In the main university building, in the central hall, there are also some shops: a small grocery shop, a bakery, a stationery shop and ATMs.

Always take some cash with you when you shop, as not all shops accept EC or credit cards.

• SuperBioMarkt Babenhausen
• SuperBioMarkt Mitte
• Löwenzahn Biofeinkost

Overview over all farmers markets in Bielefeld

Nearby:

• Siegfriedplatz: Wednesday and Friday from 7 am to 1 pm
• Kesselbrink (main market): Saturday from 7 am to 1 pm
• Old town "Alter Markt": Tuesday and friday from 9 am to 2 pm and saturday from 9 am to 4 pm

Jaffna Store (asian and african foods)
Feilenstr. 8

Asia Supermarkt Bao Thy
Neumarkt 11

Asia Markt Ngoc Thao
Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 7

Some Supermarkets offer delivery services.

• Rewe
• Combi
• Edeka (offline registration necessary)

For food orders, you can use the Lieferando website or the free Lieferando app (available in the App Store and on Google Play).

Flaschenpost delivers drinks within 120 minutes.

Sparkasse Bielefeld
Weststr. 53-55 (the nearest bank branch where you can open an account)

Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh
Stapenhorststr. 34

Deutsche Bank
Herforder Str. 23

Santander Bank
Alfred-Bozi-Str. 23