|
Yeah no, Munich doesn't really have a nightlife (for people who should not be hunted for sport, that is). I've heard one medium-to-positive review for a kiosk near the Münchner Freiheit, but that was coming from someone was actively trying to drink themself to death in order to escape Munich, so ymmv. There are nice things to do in Munich, but going out at night when the beer gardens aren't open isn't one of them.
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2019 20:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 2, 2024 03:10 |
|
|
There are some cool night things in Munich but I don't remember where they are. Good small concerts at least. E: Glockenbachviertel
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2019 20:28
|
|
|
kiimo posted:So my thoughts on Munich are that city is not at all walkable unless you want to just hang out at hofbrauhaus all night. Also I went to Pusser's based on its rating and, let's be honest, its name and welp. That place sucks. Super expensive whiskey served by snotty waiters. Y'all love Woodford Reserve for some reason. FYI, Woodford Reserve is just ok. I live in Kentucky and I can indeed confirm Woodford Reserve is just okay.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2019 00:16
|
|
|
Last time I was there the nightlife in Florence was like 90% American college students wearing those stupid sweatshirts and was absolutely awful
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2019 17:00
|
|
|
I guess traveling in late January when college students just went back to school is a good time then. Not sure why you'd hate hanging out with a bunch of american college students wearing sweatshirts as opposed to anything else but maybe you hate that type of socializing.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2019 17:45
|
|
|
I'll be visiting Berlin for a few days later this month. I've already been there and enjoyed the unavoidable Ostalgie-Tour, Museumsinsel and most of the Top Attractions Recommended By The Berlin Tourism Agency. Now, I'm about as hip as a twenty-sided die and, so far, plan on seeing some museums, unguided drinking and avoiding hipster clubs. Does anyone have suggestions on things to experience that an Alpenseppel like me would not be able to find in homely old Austria?
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2019 18:11
|
|
|
I can only reiterate Eschenbräu (cheap good locally brewed beer, Wedding) and Cralle(Wedding)/Tristeza(Neukölln) for leftie pubs if that’s your thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2019 18:34
|
|
|
So my fiancee and I are in Berlin for the weekend with plans to go see museum island, some other things, and generally roam around the city. We're staying in Friedrichschain. Anywhere in particular we have to go? After that, we have two days in Bamberg, which seems like a neat little place for walking, drinking, eating, and reading, but again, if anyone has suggestions for key places to go or things to look out for, I'd appreciate it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2019 23:28
|
|
|
As for Bamberg: the cathedral (Dom) and the New Residence, the nearby museum and the whole of the old town should last you for one day and lead you past more than enough choices for eating and drinking, too. Alternateively, you could do a guided tour or try these. For the second day, consider the Altenburg. I would have suggested the St. Michael's monastery and its surroundings and the view from up there, but you can't go inside due to renovations at this time which takes away a good part of the appeal.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 02:03
|
|
|
Berliner Unterwelten offers tours of underground installations both WW2 and Cold War. Highly recommended.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 08:55
|
|
|
When you're in Bamberg try a Rauchbier at the Schlenkerla or Spezial brewery pubs right in the middle of the city. Those are smoked beers which are afaik only brewed in Bamberg and by those two breweries and which tbh might *not* be to your taste (especially the Schlenkerla which kinda tastes like smoked meat) but you'll never know until you try! Personally I think they are delicious 
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 08:58
|
|
|
Gatac posted:Berliner Unterwelten offers tours of underground installations both WW2 and Cold War. Highly recommended. Oh, the Berlin Story Bunker (not to be confused with the now demolished Story of Berlin) is also supposed to be very good.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 09:21
|
|
|
Fantastic, thanks for the Bamberg and Berlin reccs!
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 10:20
|
|
|
System Metternich posted:When you're in Bamberg try a Rauchbier at the Schlenkerla or Spezial brewery pubs right in the middle of the city. Those are smoked beers which are afaik only brewed in Bamberg and by those two breweries and which tbh might *not* be to your taste (especially the Schlenkerla which kinda tastes like smoked meat) but you'll never know until you try! Personally I think they are delicious My parents in-law brought me some of that stuff back from their Bamberg trip. They know I’m into trying all kinds of different beers so that was really nice of them. I couldn’t finish the bottle though. Don’t think that ever happened to me before or since.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 11:56
|
|
|
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check out Berliner Unterwelten, don't think the Story Bunker is quite my thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2019 16:23
|
|
|
Trip report: Sadly couldn't make it to the Unterwelten, their policy of only selling limited day tickets you have to pick up at Gesundbrunnen is a bit of a hassle if everything else you do is at the opposite side of town. I've seen my share of art museums, but the Bode Museum is a stunning place when it comes to medieval and renaissance sculptures. So is the Charlottenburg park when it comes to baroque/19th cent. garden architecture. Met two goons, got drunk, did not get murdered. Also, which city has a Hauptbahnhof that only connects to a single three station subway line?
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2019 19:32
|
|
|
One that’s still trying to connect it to the rest of it (U5 starting off Alexanderplatz) but yeah it‘s silly right now and has been for a while. Sounds like you had fun despite the Unterwelten trouble!
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2019 19:40
|
|
|
It also connects to one bundle of S-Bahn lines, and is going to connect to a new-ish north-south S-Bahn line at some point in the future (possibly). Also, there's trams now! You should have seen it when it opened in 2006, that was dire. e: also also, you generally don't have to use it. There's a whole bunch of other ICE stations, unlike in some other cities. I guess "towns" would be more appropriate Smirr fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Apr 1, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2019 19:57
|
|
|
Is it a good idea to visit Germany (mostly Saxony & Brandenburg I guess) during this Friday-Monday? Or would it be like Sundays but worse? I don't need to do any shopping specifically but more about general touristy poo poo so some museums, zoos, or other attractions and hopefully food.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 11:58
|
|
|
It may not be a great idea simply because the roads and trains will be packed with people going on short holidays or visiting relatives, and the touristy spots and restaurants that are open are likely to be crowded too. Roads and trains are probably worst on Friday and Monday and the tourist spots inbetween, but generally Easter weekend is considered not great for travelling. e: Friday is also when school holidays start in Saxony and that's really not going to help matters. My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 12:13 on Apr 17, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 12:10
|
|
|
Thanks! But, ugh, what am I supposed to do on 4 day weekend  Saturday's just a normal Saturday though, right? I might give Dresden a try since it's close enough drive (from Prague) but this definitely puts the larger scale plan to rest.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 13:48
|
|
|
Yeah, Saturday is a regular Saturday. Shops might close earlier than during the week. Dresden should have plenty of sights and then there’s Leipzig, too, if you get bored.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 15:04
|
|
|
Zwille posted:One that’s still trying to connect it to the rest of it (U5 starting off Alexanderplatz) but yeah it‘s silly right now and has been for a while. Are there betting pools for whether the U5 connection is built before the new airport, and if either will happen before the sun goes dark and the heat death of the universe?
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 16:24
|
|
|
Saladman posted:Are there betting pools for whether the U5 connection is built before the new airport, and if either will happen before the sun goes dark and the heat death of the universe? The U5 extension is just one year late, and only because they found archeologically valuable stuff near the Rotes Rathaus. You will also notice that it hasn't killed anyone yet, unlike other tunnel works in other cities
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 17:11
|
|
|
Saladman posted:Are there betting pools for whether the U5 connection is built before the new airport, and if either will happen before the sun goes dark and the heat death of the universe? Brandenburg will never open.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 17:55
|
|
|
Smirr posted:The U5 extension is just one year late, and only because they found archeologically valuable stuff near the Rotes Rathaus. You will also notice that it hasn't killed anyone yet, unlike other tunnel works in other cities Holy christ, no kidding. The French wikipedia gives the same timeline ("débute en 2010 pour un budget de 433M€, avec une inauguration prévue en 2019."). That is... shockingly slow construction for a subway tunnel, even through the center of an old city. Like the new Elizabeth Line subway in central London also started in 2009 and it's already largely finished, and it's an order of magnitude larger. I mean I'm not a civil engineer and don't know anything about the ground in Berlin, but 10 years to build a 2km subway tunnel seems like rent seeking for a construction company.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 18:09
|
|
|
Berlin sits on particularly unsuitable ground IIRC, but it's still no excuse for being this slow to build a tunnel. Or an airport, of course.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 18:17
|
|
|
Or take Cologne, where after 10 years, they still can't fill in a hole in the ground (I know, it's a little more complicated than that, but is it really?) to complete the Nord-Süd Stadtbahn .
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 18:19
|
|
|
Nobody really gives a poo poo about that last bit of subway. Once finished it’ll be kinda convenient for people coming from the eastern part of the city but other than that, it’s just a nuisance right now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2019 18:23
|
|
|
Hi beautiful leute. I'm thinking about moving to Germany. Here is some context and concerns. If this is a dumb place to put this or there is a big thread about moving to deutschland somewhere, I'll check that out. I am a 27 year old software engineer with a b.s. in software engineering, working at a TechCo. I didn't study abroad or get to travel much until I was well into college/past college, and even then mostly for random 2 weeks I could get off of work, but always felt very at home in Europe. I am generally a bit tired of the US. I definitely don't hate it or anything, and I'm sure there are things I will miss dearly, but I've always wanted to learn another language through immersion and I have a foundation in German (a few years in high school and lots of very casual study since then, attempting to read newspaper articles and consume media, nowhere close to fluency but confident I could learn in an immersive environment). I have some student debt although it should be well gone by the end of 2019. By mid 2020 (around this time next year) is when my lease is up and I would like to possibly move to Germany then. I would love to leverage my software engineering skills to make the move, and living there, easier. If everything goes well, I should have a bit of money saved up then. I don't think I'll be rich or anything, but hopefully like a "8 months expenses in my expensive US city" level of savings. Hopefully that will go a decent way in Germany. My other motive other than living, working in Germany and learning german, is to potentially study and get my master's. Probably in something like CS or human-computer interaction, but also interested in statistics and economics. Most likely target city is Berlin. I understand Berlin proper can be a bit weird for learning german as it's more english-centric than even other places in Germany (Or correct me if I'm wrong). But overall, it seems to have a nice balance of things I'm looking for, including tech opportunity + universities + nightlife etc. So, here are some questions related to that. If anyone wants to chime in that would be great. Even better if you want to DM or correspond elsewhere (love SA dearly but it's not the most convenient platform these days). 1) General realism check. Is anything I mentioned here totally off? 2) Employment/visa: Ideally I would go with a transfer with my current company that has an office in Berlin. But if I do that, what happens if I get fired or quit? Can I find a new job in Germany or am I immediately banished back to the land of the brave / home of the free? What if I want to quit and do freelance from germany? Basically, how much am I a slave to my specific employment situation at time of move? How tolerant is Germany of dirty US immigrants in the age of Trump? 3) Let's say I don't move with a phat relo package from my current employer and I want to bring stuff over. Could I reasonably throw $2000ish dollars at that problem and bring my life over? Or is it much more expensive than that? What if I ditch large furniture? How much to live in a nice, safe, central spot in Berlin? 4) Education: is it realistic to pursue a master's part time in Berlin? Do I need to be fluent in German? What if I had mediocre graduating GPA in the US (not horrible but I think I may have had right at a 3.0 out of 4.0 because of a bad freshman year, need to double check). 5) Any other things to look out for? I heard US taxes don't kick in for your first $100k of income (if you're lucky enough to make that much)? Apologies again if no one gives a poo poo or this is the wrong place for this, but if anyone does want to help out, it would be greatly appreciated.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 07:43
|
|
|
Also, on the topic of Munich nightlife: I went to Harry Klein in Munich and it seemed like a great club, although outside of that I don't think there's a ton of options.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 07:50
|
|
|
I don't think it's realistic to bring furniture from the US unless you're willing to pay a lot for the privilege. Just buy new stuff at IKEA. There are schools where you can get a master's through evening classes, though this is somewhat understood to be strictly for earning more money after you're done and not actually a real scientific education. They're also a lot of work, but I know people who did it and are pretty happy with the results. Most people have a positive / neutral attitude to generic white or black Americans. Most people don't think too much about Trump unless they're making fun of him, kind of like you might think about Berlusconi or Putin. Software devs earn a lot less money in Germany than the US, though that may be different if you're transferring in the same company or freelancing. I don't know anything about Berlin or visas.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 08:04
|
|
|
an skeleton posted:Hi beautiful leute. First: have you been to Berlin before? Why Berlin? 1.) I did mostly the same thing as you seven years ago, except I came here having already studied German, and had a place to live (with my then-boyfriend now-husband). It is realistic, but it is harder than you think -- both in terms of how lucky to have to be for the stars to align and have everything work out, and in terms of the emotional impact that emigration can have. It's often hard to explain what that feels like. The experience will change you, sometimes in ways you didn't quite expect. 2.) A transfer at your current company will, with absolute certainty, be the best way of going about this. You would have guaranteed employment and income (which I didn't have... I was a freelance IT dude, which in Berlin meant that I was unemployed save for teaching my landlady English two hours a week). I'm going to write the rest of this post assuming you are able to transfer with your current employer and not on the alternative. At the beginning, your visa will be tied to your employment. Your initial visa application, even with sponsorship from your company, will need to go through what is called a Vorrangprüfung. Basically this means that there is an office of the state government (in your case, Berlin) that will review your application and decide if your job is something that is sufficiently in-demand, that your skills line up with it, that your pay is above a certain amount (when I went through it years ago it was like 42k gross annual salary minimum), and that there is a reasonable assumption that your job couldn't be filled by a German. Where this probably doesn't come into play is if your transfer status at your company is as an expat -- meaning there is a clear start and end date of your time in Germany, usually reserved for short-term relocations of like 6-12 months. If your employment runs out, I believe you will have a short grace period to either find something else, or leave the country. I'm not sure how long this is, but I think it's pretty short, maybe like 60 days if that? After you've been in Germany on your visa for a certain amount of time (it was 3 years when I did it), your visa will become decoupled from your employment, meaning you will be free to take nearly any job offer without needing to go through the Vorrangprüfung again. Don't confuse this with a permanent residency visa, which it definitely isn't. Your visa will still be time-limited, usually in two-year increments. Quitting your job to do freelance work is more complicated, as a freelance visa is different than a normal visa that you would get as an employee. In order to freelance in Germany, you need to have a bunch of additional poo poo (just hit the ? under my username in this thread, I've listed the requirements several times for others asking about it), the most important of which are specific, concrete offers of work from at least two companies. As an American immigrant, you will have an exponentially easier time of things than someone from, say, CIS/Africa/Asia/South America. There are countries where it is even easier (Canada, Australia), but in general being an American will help you more than hinder you. Nobody in the bureaucratic process will give a poo poo that you're an American in the age of Trump... but be prepared to hear about it all the loving time in your private life -- almost always sympathetically, but still. Independently of being American, I gotta say that the Ausländerbehorde (Foreigner's Registration Office) is, without a doubt in my mind, the least happy and most depressing location I have ever had the misfortune of visiting, in my entire life. And it's apparently only gotten worse. 3.) What do you mean by "bring my life over"? You can forget moving furniture unless you're some kind of Romney. Sell your poo poo in the US (or, if you're concerned about your Berlin experiment failing, put it into long-term storage), don't bother bringing it over. My company has several American executives that have relocated here and literally none of them have brought furniture/car/etc. As far as cost of living in Berlin goes, this has gone up in recent years. It used to be considered quite cheap, but I think it's balanced out on the whole since then. When I lived there, we lived in generally nice places in Wilmersdorf (typical West Berlin neighborhood) and paid around 800ish a month for a one-bedroom apartment. As far as being safe, I never once felt unsafe in Berlin, even in neighborhoods that don't generally have a good reputation. Berlin is going to shock you if all you've been exposed to so far is living in an American city, which will seem like a loving dystopian future streetcrime Judge Dredd nightmare in comparison to any German city. 4.) Part-time masters programs in English depend on your field of study. The most often part-time degree I've seen are evening MBA programs, but I'm sure some kind of compsci stuff exists as well, especially in a city like Berlin. You'll have to look up specific programs on the website of the universities in Berlin though. You'll only need German fluency if you're pursuing a master's degree in a program that is only offered in the German language (like a BWL, which is like a German MBA). Level of fluency depends on the university but I'd consider C1 (Advanced) to be a minimum for anything at that degree level. As far as GPA: I'm not sure they'd care so much tbh, but I haven't applied for any master's programs here, so I have no idea. I had roughly the same GPA as you and nobody's batted an eye about anything since I've been here. 5.) US taxes absolutely -do- matter... though I'll be honest, I failed to do mine correctly up until... this year. As with all things involving the US tax code it's complicated and changes yearly depending on the whims of Congress, but:
As I mentioned earlier, I failed to do mine correctly until this year, and am sorta relaying info that I've received over the past few weeks from my tax advisor at H&R Block in Wiesbaden (they have offices there to help US soldiers, I guess). If you aren't rich and are just a normal worker, there's not likely to be any issues if you are late, and there's always a way to get back on the right track. Also don't forget that you'll be paying German taxes. Honestly depending on your income I'd seriously recommend getting both a German tax advisor (Steuerberater) and an American one (H&R Block in my case) to handle this poo poo for you. I tried doing it all on my own and all it did was make me tremendously depressed and overwhelmed. The advisors aren't cheap, but imho the peace of mind is worth it. German taxes are, as mentioned, higher than the US, but not dramatically so. Beyond that... remember that you'll earn less in Germany than you would have in the US. However, imo the other benefits of working in Germany are far greater than the raw income you'd have lost -- good statutory health insurance, much longer vacation times (the federal minimum is 4 weeks of vacation per year, but many companies go over this... my company has 6 weeks yearly), Sunday work is strongly regulated (for better or worse), and a much stronger social safety net in case you run into issues. Edit: other things you probably haven't thought about but should consider:
Drone fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Apr 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 08:43
|
|
|
Drone posted:awesomeness Welp, can't ask for much of a better/timelier answer than this. Yeah, I was hoping I'd be able to bring stuff (I know someone who recently moved back to the US from new zealand and their company paid to relocate their stuff -- i think it took some months in a shipping container, but it made it) but the life experience is more important than my TV or couch or whatever. Would be nice to not have to get all new clothing though. I'll probably have to re-read this post a few times to absorb everything, but seriously thanks for sharing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 09:13
|
|
|
an skeleton posted:I'll probably have to re-read this post a few times to absorb everything, but seriously thanks for sharing. I edited in some more stuff too  Re: clothing, when I came I brought a full-sized suitcase full of clothes, a suit bag for my suit and a few blazers, and a backpack stuffed with t-shirts, underwear, socks, and my laptop. Beyond that, nothin'. When I left the States I had ~$6k USD in my bank account, which given my basically-unemployed status in Berlin was exhausted within the first 4-ish months. I'd recommend $10k as a minimum if you can swing it.Seriously if you have any questions about the process or what life's like as an American who has (probably permanently) relocated to Germany, hit me up! Edit again: also re: Berlin being a place to learn the German language... it's definitely possible to immerse yourself in German in Berlin, but it would be easier in pretty much any other German city (with the possible exceptions of Hamburg and Frankfurt). Drone fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Apr 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 09:15
|
|
|
I don't work in software/IT, but there are a lot of tech companies/start-ups in Berlin. If you don't get a transfer via your company, you have a couple of options. As long as you have like $8-10,000 saved up, you can come over on a language study visa for like a year and you can learn German at the VHS while job searching. There is also some 6 month "job searching" visa for certain professions (maybe all, but IT should def. be included). You still have to do all the other visa poo poo, but you don't have to do language classes if you don't want to. Finally, as you are in IT, you probably have a better chance than some. The field has more of the kinds of jobs that will pay you above €42,000 (or whatever the threshold is now) so that you can qualify for a Blue Card. Having never gotten one, my understanding is that if you have a job offer from a company and it pays more than X amount, you don't have to jump through a bunch of immigration hurdles to get a work visa. As for taxes, it's easy. You will pay more taxes on almost any amount of income as compared to the US, so you can either use the FEIE for the first $100,000 or just used Foreign Tax Credits (IMO better as you can still do stuff like contribute to a Roth IRA or get refundable tax credits if you go this route. Also, any extra (paid $5,000 to Germany but your US obligation was only $4,000) can be banked for 10 years to offset taxes you owe should you move back to the US) to offset your tax burden. The tax advice assume you just have normal wage income and nothing crazy like a company or rental property, etc. VVVVVVV Not knowing his exact job, IT/Software Development is a profession that qualifies for a Blue Card VVVVVVV Magic City Monday fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Apr 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 09:27
|
|
|
Magic City Monday posted:Blue Card. Be careful, as a German visa (Aufenthaltserlaubnis mit Beschäftigung gestattet) doesn't also mean a Blue Card (which is mainly for academics and other "hochqualifizierte"). They are different, though very similar, things. Drone fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Apr 18, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2019 09:35
|
|
|
Drone posted:Be careful, as a German visa (Aufenthaltserlaubnis mit Beschäftigung gestattet) doesn't also mean a Blue Card (which is mainly for academics and other "hochqualifizierte"). They are different, though very similar, things. What's the blue card called in German? That's probably what I'll be coming over on.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2019 14:38
|
|
|
Greatest Living Man posted:What's the blue card called in German? That's probably what I'll be coming over on. Blaue Karte EU.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2019 15:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 2, 2024 03:10 |
|
|
My gf and I are traveling through Germany for two weeks starting July 9th, and we'll essentially navigate the country counter-clockwise via Bacharach/Baden-Baden/Munich/Nurnberg/Dresden/Berlin. Munich and Berlin are the only cities on our itinerary for which we'll be staying multiple days. Any suggestions for things to do/see, especially for a far-left history/culture nerd like myself?
|
|
#
?
Jun 26, 2019 21:33
|
|
