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Arwarker posted:By the way, if you spent most of your time in the Universitätsstraße, I take it you did not have to be around those soul-crushing towers that are home to English students and the like. Lucky you. I'm wondering - did you expect German universities to be so.. desolate (is it much worse than in the US, not considering Ivy League for a moment)? I saw the buildings, but didn't have to be around them much. Lucky me, I suppose. I really liked how the German unis are. It's definitely very different, but I liked it. My university is kind of desolate as well, but in a different way. It has a great campus but every single building has to be made out of the same type of bricks. Everything is a big, bland brick building, and campus is nicknamed 'Brick City' for it.
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Jul 31, 2010 04:18
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Going to Berlin for one day As for itinerary I wrote down Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the larger Pariser Platz, the Gendarmenmarkt, and Museum Island. I would love some great wurst or doner and a down to earth beer garden. Curry 36 came up as a good wurst place and I found prater garten for beer. Are these good places to visit? I would love suggestions that are a little less touristy. Thanks!
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Jul 31, 2010 23:30
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Liface posted:I wasn't in Marburg, but I really missed the "campus" feel when I studied in Germany. That's something that's just uniquely American. You eat on campus, you go to class, your sports fields are on campus, and you live on campus. There's always something going on all the time. Or you could just study in Bielefeld ;-)
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Jul 31, 2010 23:51
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FLX posted:Or you could just study in Bielefeld ;-) What the hell are you talking about? There's no such place.
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Aug 1, 2010 00:45
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JCrap posted:Going to Berlin for one day Get your rear end to the Burgermeister under the Schlesisches Tor subway station, it's pretty great. Drink Tannenzäpfle beer and feel like a hipster while traffic moves around you The whole joint used to be a former "Café Sechseck" aka public pee-pee place Also take a walk along the Oberbaumbrücke, great view and close by the Burgermeister, just keep walking east, then north. Lotsa great clubs nearby, too. If you wanna see the East Side Gallery, that's just a left after the Oberbaumbrücke, too. As for beer gardens, http://www.luise-dahlem.de/ is pretty great but a bit off the map, almost rural, although it's still within the city limits. http://www.brauhaus-spandau.de/ is also far out but it's got local beer and is a bit expensive but cool too if you're into that whole "holy poo poo I'm piss drunk this must be Europe - hey is that a castle" thing, also you get to see a lot of West German architecture (i.e. tanning salons and cheap Italian restaurants) - for a more authentic experience, venture along the subway line no. 7 (U7), exit at Zitadelle and go asking for medieval dining or whatever. If you wanna, you can take a tour and see bits of the Waffen SS (or whatever) labs, although the majority of the tour is about medieval poo poo and bats. The dining there is top notch, though, albeit expensive. 50 bucks'll get you the whole experience, they'll give you a napkin and a knife and then you can go hog wild on a bunch of food like they used to back in the 1300s or whatever. If you don't wanna go all that far, give http://www.eschenbraeu.de/ a try, it's a very local beer brewed in Wedding, a district of the city which isn't about marriages but rather about immigrants, workers, unemployed and college students. It's close to Leopoldplatz, which in turn is a station of the U9, which is about 10 minutes from Berlin Zoo, the former center of the city. If you don't go to Berlin Zoo while in Berlin, I'll hate you forever. It mightn't be pretty but it's the heart of the Western part of the city. Basically, if you go all "Ohhh I gotta see Mitte", I'll hate you. Mitte is part of the city, but it isn't all there is to see about it. (Fun fact about Bielefeld: The sign language sign for Bielefeld used to be the same as "jerk off" for a while until it changed to something resembling the sign for "suffering", I poo poo you not.)
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Aug 1, 2010 03:22
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The zoo is pretty good.
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Aug 1, 2010 08:15
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JCrap posted:Going to Berlin for one day Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church
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Aug 1, 2010 13:17
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I only have 24 more days before my flight to Germany! If anyone remembers from months ago, I'm moving to Aachen to attend RWTH Aachen for graduate school on my own (directly applied to the school as opposed to participating in a foreign exchange program). I should be over there anywhere from 2-5 years. I finally have been offered a room in a Studentenwohnung. I don't really want to live in this particular one, so I've been looking at postings on wg-gesucht.de for a WG but the problem is that if people respond (which they usually do not), they say that they would like to meet with me first which is something I can't do. Off the top of my head, these are the things that I need to do when I arrive. Is there anything I'm missing?
The only thing I'm confused about is the order to do all of this. For example, I need to show the student housing proof that I'm attending the university before they let me move in, but I need a German mailing address in order to formally enroll at the university. I need to show proof that I'm a student to buy health insurance at the student price as well, but once again I can't enroll at the university until I have health insurance. Edit: I also have questions about what type of clothes to bring. I'm not sure if I should bring a suit (or at least a sportcoat). Will I need one? Ziir fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Aug 8, 2010 |
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Aug 8, 2010 18:57
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Sounds like the premise for a modern-day interpretation of "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick" 
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Aug 8, 2010 21:09
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Ziir posted:Edit: I also have questions about what type of clothes to bring. I'm not sure if I should bring a suit (or at least a sportcoat). Will I need one? I brought a suit and I'm glad I did because I used it multiple times. Once was because my roommates thought I looked like Agent 47 from Hitman and made me dress up like him for the premiere. Then two of my flatmates ended up getting married. As for wg-gesucht, I can understand why someone wouldn't let a random person move in without meeting him or her first. Maybe you can live in a hostel for the first two weeks and go around touring different WGs?
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Aug 8, 2010 21:45
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I am a Brazilian student, going to study at Technische Universität Berlin for 1 year. I would like to know what I should expect to spend daily on food. I will have a small kitchen in my room, so I don't have to eat out every day. I also plan to buy an Android cellphone there, with a 1 year plan so I can take it back to Brazil when I'm done. Should I expect any difficulties?
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Aug 8, 2010 22:03
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Greiskul posted:I am a Brazilian student, going to study at Technische Universität Berlin for 1 year. I spend an overall average of something like 4 or 5 € a day for myself, including occasional bigger purchases like some good cheese or a bottle of quality oil or whatever. It's entirely possible to live on less (although perhaps not as much fun), and you certainly won't need a very great deal more than that for one person unless you have really expensive tastes.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:19
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Yeah, a pack of noodles and some tomatoes in a can go a long way. 3-5 € a day sound about right although you can stretch that further if you buy in bulk, like at ethnic supermarkets. There's loads of huge Asian supermarkets that have big bags of rice (and of course instant noodles but those get old fast, at least for me, even when I try to mix things up with veggies and poo poo)... As for the cell phone - I think most plans are for 2 years, not one, so you might have a problem there if you want to unlock that phone beforehand unless you're tech savvy.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:24
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Ziir posted:
Do you have an office or something at Uni? You could use that as a mailing address. Otherwise ask the person responsible for helping international students how this is normally handled, I guess this scenario appears every year for many people: http://www.international.rwth-aache...dieren/?lang=en If you have room in your luggage, I would bring a suit. If nothing else, you can wear it at your thesis defense. 
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Aug 8, 2010 22:24
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Liface posted:As for wg-gesucht, I can understand why someone wouldn't let a random person move in without meeting him or her first. Maybe you can live in a hostel for the first two weeks and go around touring different WGs? Yeah, I understand why people would be wary. It's either I move into the dorms I'm guaranteed, or I show up to Germany without a home and hostel it up for x days/weeks/months. I'm perfectly fine with hosteling it up and looking for a place to live because I really don't own anything anymore (sold it all, I'll be flying to Germany with a checked bag for clothes, and carry on and personal item for things I don't want to check like my laptop). But my mom was freaking out about me not having a place to live until last week.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:39
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Ziir posted:Yeah, I understand why people would be wary. It can take a long time to find a place, relative to what I was used to. Some Germans can take wg's very seriously, it's almost like a surrogate family. It varies from place to place though. I would try and find a temporary place for 1 month while you look around, then start looking as soon as you get there. There's usually a few weeks at least before the room advertised becomes free.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:58
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Hamiltonian Bicycle posted:I spend an overall average of something like 4 or 5 € a day for myself, including occasional bigger purchases like some good cheese or a bottle of quality oil or whatever. It's entirely possible to live on less (although perhaps not as much fun), and you certainly won't need a very great deal more than that for one person unless you have really expensive tastes. Thank you, I can easily afford that, and will be able to save money for travels and stuff (I'm on a foreign exchange student program, with a scholarship). Zwille posted:As for the cell phone - I think most plans are for 2 years, not one, so you might have a problem there if you want to unlock that phone beforehand unless you're tech savvy. I guess I will have to take a look into that. Thanks.
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Aug 8, 2010 23:20
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Another thing is, what type of (American) paperwork should I bring and what should I leave in the states? I assume my social security card is going to be useless in Germany and I should just leave with my parents. What about immunization records? Edit: And birth certificate? Ziir fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Aug 8, 2010 |
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Aug 8, 2010 23:43
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unixbeard posted:I would try and find a temporary place for 1 month while you look around, then start looking as soon as you get there. Yeah, he could look for "Zwischenmiete" which usually is much easier to get. I know a friend of mine who was fed up with Hamburg and decided to go to Berlin for a while, so she put up an offer for her place in Hamburg (right next to the Reeperbahn though) and went looking for a Zwischemiete place in Berlin. Independently of each other, she managed to claim a place in Berlin as well as having hers claimed, within 15 minutes of posting her offer. Another friend of mine who's looking for a place to stay in Berlin is still looking after two, three weeks - but she's looking for a two-room apartment on her own, which can get pretty expensive for one person but is really affordable for couples - I know two couples personally who found places within a few days. So it depends. If you're looking to shack up with other people it'll depend on whether they'll like you or not more than anything. I don't think a lot of WGs take that stuff seriously and are actually happy about new blood. No clue about the paperwork.
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Aug 9, 2010 08:47
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So can anyone give me some advice on taking the Test DaF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache)? I hear it's hard as gently caress. I studied German in college... but I feel I'm a bit rusty now. I can read books in German fairly well with no problems and I can understand 90% of what I hear, but speaking it I feel I'm pretty rusty, and I haven't written anything in German in over 2 years. Is there any online test prep material anywhere?
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Aug 9, 2010 09:06
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Ziir posted:Another thing is, what type of (American) paperwork should I bring and what should I leave in the states? I assume my social security card is going to be useless in Germany and I should just leave with my parents. What about immunization records? Immunization records are helpful but not necessary. Bring your drivers license and have it translated (in Germany) if you're going to be here a while. I found transcripts from both HS and college to be useful. Social security and draft card less so. What is quite important is proving you can support yourself. So if you don't have a scholarship, you either need to bring bank records or a note from your parents or something proving you will have ~650 EUR/month to spend for the duration of your studies. Other than your passport, obviously, I can't think of anything else. Expect to spend several days standing in lines though. I didn't bring my birth certificate and never had a problem - the birthdate/place on the passport should be enough.
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Aug 10, 2010 11:52
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What are the stereotypes about people from different parts of Germany?
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Aug 10, 2010 15:02
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Stinkyhead posted:What are the stereotypes about people from different parts of Germany? just off the top of my head... Bavarians are conservative country folk and farmers Berliners are the wild, bohemian communists. Easterners are lazy and unemployed and leech off the rest of Germany. Saxons talk funny and sound stupid Frisians are backward and poor and don't have cars; only boats.
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Aug 10, 2010 15:07
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Stinkyhead posted:What are the stereotypes about people from different parts of Germany? Some to add to what OneArmedScissor said: Easterners, in addition to the above, are neonazis. Westerners are arrogant, entitled yuppies and/or snobs (and nobs). Swabians are gigantic cheapskates. Bielefeld doesn't exist. Rhinelanders are drunks. Not Germany, but: Everyone in Switzerland has OCD and/or does everything extremely slowly. Austrians and Bavarians are permanently at one another's throats.
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Aug 10, 2010 15:19
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Others: Northerners are stoic and have really dry humour. Everyone in Köln is gay. People in Berlin are rude (well actually, only half the people are rude, the other half is from some small town in Schwaben). East germans are always nagging. Rhinelanders are not only drunks but also outgoing and friendly. People from the Ruhr area are of a down-to-earth good buddy type.
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Aug 10, 2010 21:40
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Are there areas in the job market where Germany is experiencing a shortage?
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Aug 10, 2010 21:47
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Engineering, computer science, medicine are the ones that come to mind.
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Aug 11, 2010 15:18
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quote:German companies are already complaining about a lack of skilled workers. According to the German Association for Information Technology (BITKOM), the industry is currently seeking 20,000 IT specialists. And the Association of German Engineers (VDI) says that Germany needs 35,000 more engineers than are currently available. The shortage applies to all sectors. from here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,711046,00.html
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Aug 12, 2010 11:00
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There's definitely no shortage of doctors, though. Just shortage of doctors willing to work in the more rural areas - and there's a good reason for that (it doesn't pay).
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Aug 12, 2010 14:16
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I finally opened up a checking account with Bank of America today because I think it was Liface who recommended that, because they're part of the Global ATM Alliance. I was led to believe that this meant free debit card pulls from the ATM at any Deutsche Bank, but what this really means is that they get rid of the $5 non-BoA charge. The 1% currency/transaction fee is still there (added on top of the US dollar amount). Do I just chalk up the 1% charge as a convenience factor or is there a better option? Obviously it's a pretty small charge, but I'm trying to make the most out of my money since I'm pretty much using all of my savings just to make this move. Also there was talk about the differences between the US and German university system. I'd like to hear more stories and accounts please . I know as a grad student it'll be slightly different than the undergrad level, but the experiences should be relatively the same I think.schoenfelder posted:Engineering, computer science, medicine are the ones that come to mind. The vibe I'm getting from talking to my European friends that I met on vacation seems to be that there is a general shortage of engineers in Europe, and you just reinforced that (at east for Germany). Why is that? When I was on vacation in Switzerland visiting a friend, she made it seem like nobody went to school to be an engineer, and instead more people went to university for more practical degrees (if they went to university at all, that is). She made it seem like I could pack up and move to Switzerland and easily find a job as an aerospace (or mechanical) engineer with no issues. Contrast that with America, a ton of people go to college, and a ton of people major in engineering. My graduating class last May consisted of something like 150 mechanical engineers and 20 aerospace engineers, and they're all fighting for jobs and a quite a handful are unsuccessful. My numbers might be wrong but you get the point. Ziir fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Aug 14, 2010 |
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Aug 14, 2010 08:30
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Ziir posted:The vibe I'm getting from talking to my European friends that I met on vacation seems to be that there is a general shortage of engineers in Europe, and you just reinforced that (at east for Germany). Why is that? Example: My high school graduating class consisted of 40 people and only 5 or 6 of those went into any of the sciences (biology, computer science, aerospace engineering, maths, physics). schoenfelder fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Aug 14, 2010 |
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Aug 14, 2010 09:19
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Ziir posted:The vibe I'm getting from talking to my European friends that I met on vacation seems to be that there is a general shortage of engineers in Europe, and you just reinforced that (at east for Germany). Why is that? When I was on vacation in Switzerland visiting a friend, she made it seem like nobody went to school to be an engineer, and instead more people went to university for more practical degrees (if they went to university at all, that is). She made it seem like I could pack up and move to Switzerland and easily find a job as an aerospace (or mechanical) engineer with no issues. Switzerland has a very small population and some very big, global companies. It is impossible to staff them from the local population purely because it's so small. Getting a work permit is another thing though. They are not part of the EU so still control who can reside and work there. It does seem easier if you are on an EU passport, but they do have quotas for both EU and non EU permits. Germany is a little different because of the Mittelstand, which is far more pronounced than in Switzerland. It's basically lots of small - medium sized businesses that are all fairly niche but world class and form the backbone of the German economy (the world's second largest exporter). Much of those exports are service or engineering based, so all of the companies need good engineers. It seemed to me like studying engineering was kind of the default for Germans who finished high school and didn't know what to do. That is purely anecdotal though and based off a very small, probably biased sample (im a nerd so tend to meet nerdy people). It does seem like there is a shortage though. Will be interesting to see if the migration policy changes. The differences in the academic systems probably didn't help either.
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Aug 14, 2010 09:43
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Ziir posted:Do I just chalk up the 1% charge as a convenience factor or is there a better option? Obviously it's a pretty small charge, but I'm trying to make the most out of my money since I'm pretty much using all of my savings just to make this move. My local bank charges me $1.50 for using other ATMs and no % currency conversion. Last time I took money out it bascially cost me €1 more than what was on xe.com for the day (as opposed to when I took money with my HSBC card and it charged me like $9 extra). So maybe check out some of your local banks? (or are you a resident of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Texas?) Also, we're going to be city neighbors (I got to Cologne two months ago, here learning German). As for your visa question, I got mine in about an hour, just had to show proof of German health insurance, my VHS language school acceptance letter and a print out of my bank statement (plus a photograph and the fee). I was actually quite surprised. I pretty much just brought my passport and drivers license, though I'm not really expecting to drive. Total Confusion fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Aug 14, 2010 |
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Aug 14, 2010 11:12
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unixbeard posted:It seemed to me like studying engineering was kind of the default for Germans who finished high school and didn't know what to do. That is purely anecdotal though and based off a very small, probably biased sample (im a nerd so tend to meet nerdy people). It does seem like there is a shortage though. Will be interesting to see if the migration policy changes. The differences in the academic systems probably didn't help either.
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Aug 14, 2010 12:30
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Ziir posted:I finally opened up a checking account with Bank of America today because I think it was Liface who recommended that, because they're part of the Global ATM Alliance. I was led to believe that this meant free debit card pulls from the ATM at any Deutsche Bank, but what this really means is that they get rid of the $5 non-BoA charge. The 1% currency/transaction fee is still there (added on top of the US dollar amount). Interesting. I never even noticed that they were levying a 1% fee. I think that's the best you're going to be able to do, though. Just get a German bank account as soon as possible.
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Aug 14, 2010 18:55
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Liface posted:Interesting. I never even noticed that they were levying a 1% fee. I think that's the best you're going to be able to do, though. Just get a German bank account as soon as possible. Yep, it's in the fine print and on the wikipedia article. 1% is $3 per $300 max pull, so it's not that a big of a deal but I'm sure it'll add up after a while. This is probably the cheapest I can transfer money into Germany though, barring that I withdraw my entire savings account and bring it over in cash. Unless I can find a German bank that would let me transfer money from my American savings account for free? Gold and a Pager posted:My local bank charges me $1.50 for using other ATMs and no % currency conversion. Last time I took money out it bascially cost me €1 more than what was on xe.com for the day (as opposed to when I took money with my HSBC card and it charged me like $9 extra). So maybe check out some of your local banks? (or are you a resident of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Texas?) Sup (future) NRW buddy? How do you like that Kölsch? I met a ton of Germans from Cologne when I was vacationing in NYC. We went out to a German biergarten one night and they told me to order a liter of Kölsch because that was their best beer and the beer I'd be drinking. Can't say I enjoyed it too much though. But seriously though, are you just there for a semester for a foreign exchange program? How hard was it making friends and finding things to do with people? I guess if you're part of a foreign exchange it'd be easier as it seems like people in those programs tend to stick together. Is there anything interesting in Cologne? I'm sure there is and I'd go visit regardless since my tuition pays for a ticket with free travel throughout NRW. Also, I'm not a resident of those states and I think I figured out the whole visa/order of registration thing after emailing the international office. They said showing my admissions letter should be enough as proof that I'm a student.
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Aug 14, 2010 19:52
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Nice to see there are other Köln-Goons. I had a feeling I was the only one, apart from this gay photographer guy, who I read about in some mod-challenge dating thread  I moved here two years ago after University, but haven't gotten out much because of work. If anybody wants to have a beer or something, shoot me a PM (or reply in this thread). I won't be much of a city guide, but I know a good (yet also very obvious) place to eat Currywurst. Das MicroKorg fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Aug 14, 2010 |
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Aug 14, 2010 20:56
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For people asking about prepaid SIM cards, I found this wiki on Lifehacker http://paygsimwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/Germany Going by that list, is there a reason I'd want to choose Blau (it's been recommended before) over Fonic? Fonic is on the O2 network so it's faster/better. Both costs ,09/min for calls/SMS. It's 9,95€/month for unlimited data whereas Blau is 9,90€ for 1GB.
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Aug 14, 2010 23:46
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Ziir posted:Sup (future) NRW buddy? How do you like that Kölsch? I met a ton of Germans from Cologne when I was vacationing in NYC. We went out to a German biergarten one night and they told me to order a liter of Kölsch because that was their best beer and the beer I'd be drinking. Can't say I enjoyed it too much though. Also Kölsch sucks, noone but them strange Kölner weirdos drink it anyway. Got I hate that stuff with a passion. And most of germany does, too.
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Aug 15, 2010 17:41
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here's an interesting piece on the state of the german economy http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95292e5a-a898-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html
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Aug 16, 2010 09:35
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