Mensa (The Canteen)
If you’re searching for something to eat, the Mensa (the canteen) is your first place to go! Nowhere else on the campus you will this food this cheap, fresh and delicious at the same time. Unfortunately, the Mensa was closed for a few months because of the corona pandemic. But now, thanks to a functioning hygiene plan, it is open again from Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 14:15 pm. Currently only 100 guests can enter the Mensa at a time. Everyone gets a small plastic-chip, a tray with cutlery, a paper for contact information and an disinfected pen. The plastic chip is there to keep track of how many people are inside already. You are obliged to wear a mask until you sit down at a table to eat. You are also asked to keep a distance of 1,5 m to the people around you at all times.
Meals a day are sold in the Mensa
Due to the limitations at the mensa, the meals you can choose from are limited as well. Still, everyone should be able to find something. Most of the time the mensa offers one vegetarian or vegan meal, and one containing meat or fish. They also always have a selection of different salads, as well as deserts. The price for a warm lunch meal varies between 2,50 € and 5€.
Did you know, that..
normally two times a year the mensa is transformed into a huge club, being the host of the biggest student party in Bremen and around? On three areas up to 2500 guest can party to main, house, and rock music. In summer the party is located at the “Unisee” (the lake close to uni) where up to 5000 guests can party right next to the water. More info can be found here.
The mensa is pretty big, so it is easy to keep the distance between each other at all times. For every meal the there is another serving counter. The employees are preparing your plate completely, and are very flexible if you want to have more of one component, or less of another. After getting the meal you decided on, you go to the cash desk to pay with your mensa card.
As already mentioned, the food in our mensa is always fresh and delicious. The meals have nothing to do with the typical canteen food rumours. The mensa has a very good reputation among us students, so it is not unlikely for someone to visit the campus for the mensa only. You can find a current meal plan of the mensa here.
Currently only students or employees of the Uni can be welcomed at the mensa, therefore it is only possible to pay with the so called mensa card. You can get the mensa card at the servicepoint, located on the left when entering the mensa. To get one you need to have your student ID at hand and pay 5€ deposit, and another 5€ for the first charge. Losing the mensa card may be annoying, but it’s not as bad as it seems. You can go to the service point and get a new one for 5€, and if there is still money on your lost card, it can be transferred to the new one.
To charge the mensa card you use the “Menscard-Aufwärter” (the mensa card charger), which is located right at the entry. You just put the card and the money you want to charge on the card in the charger. Before the corona pandemic, owning a mensa card wasn’t necessary but still very useful, as the payment process was way fast than paying with cash.
Did you know, that..
In 1997 the mensa burned down almost completely and needed to be rebuild? This was obviously tragic, but also brought us the mensa we know today. The system was changes from food on an assembly lane and plastic plates, to the system we love to have today.
Die Mensa Karte aufladen könnt ihr am Mensacard-Aufwärter, der sich direkt beim Eingang befindet. Hierfür einfach die Karte, sowie den gewünschten Betrag in Scheinen in den Automaten stecken. Auch sehr praktisch ist, dass man den Flaschenpfand den man in der Mensa erworben hat, auch auf direkt auf die Karte laden kann. Auch dies ist an dem Mensacard-Aufwerter möglich. Eine Mensa-Karte war vor der Corona-Pandemie zwar nicht notwendig, aber trotzdem sehr praktisch, da das Bezahlen mit Bargeld oft deutlich länger dauerte.
