Studying abroad in Germany

[JimmerDunda]

Hello Escapist,

I am entering a program that will allow me to study in Germany for a year. I want to open this thread for a Germany general talk. What are good cities to go to, things to do. I will either be living somewhere in Hessen or Osnabruck. Also tell me about the German people and how they act towards Americans. Also other things like sports that are popular in Germany.

I would prefer Escapist members who have actually lived in or been in Germany for accuracy purposes.

 

[historybuff]

I have heard that Germans are very punctual. I had some friends (Americans) who studied in Ireland and they said they got along really well with the German students--because Germans and Americans have this thing about being on time for stuff--so they had that in common.

I have also heard--and this comes from my French/German professor (she teaches both and I've taken both), who is married to an Austrian--that Germans are neat and well-organized.

Other things I have heard--but only through others. I, unfortunately, have never had the money to go myself.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

I love Cologne, tis a lovely old city to visit, (especially in December for the Weihnachtsmarkt), also, Aachen is pretty cool, but I don't think Osnabruck is that close to either. About the only thing I know about Osnabruck is that there is/was a British Army base fairly close by, as my boyfriend's brother was staioned there for a couple of years. He loved the place, so I don't think it can be that bad!

 

[Pimppeter2]

Never been to Germany myself, one of the few places in continental Europe I haven't been to. (Visiting wise, I've been in the airport and stuff).

I would recommend not flying Lufthansa. The food upset my stomach on the trip there and back.

 

[thiosk]

I suggest going through the low countries, rather than trying to penetrate the maginot line.

 

[JimmerDunda]

Du sollst nach Hannover einen besuch machen. München ist auch ein toller stadt. Aber, befolge meinen rat: sagst das du von Kanada bist, weil Europäischer haßen Amerika.

Well maybe I could play that off considering I am from Wisconsin. We are basically Canadian.

One of my friends who is now living in Germany considers Germany one of the more friendlier countries, especially towards Americans. However I think I need to brush up on my German to the point where I can hold a small conversation.

I will make note to visit Munich though, I heard the city is awesome.

 

[Daffy F]

I loved the north side. Near to the coast in East Frisia. Lovely in the summer :] Although I'm not going to be very helpful about the cities. What I HAVE heard is that Berlin is the wrong place to go if you want history. It was TOTALLY flattened during the war. No lovely old buildings to enjoy, but I hear other German cities are great for this sort of thing. Every German person I have met is very nice and cool with English speakers. (I speak German, but not very well)

 

[Schmidtzkrieg]

Du sollst nach Hannover einen besuch machen. München ist auch ein toller stadt. Aber, befolge meinen rat: wann jemand fragst dir von wo du kommst, sagst das du von Kanada bist, weil Europäischer haßen Amerika.

Run through Google translate...

Thou shalt make a visit to Hanover one. Munich is also a great city. But follow my advice say, that you're from Canada, because of European hate America

Honestly though who doesn't love Canadians?

 

[Aardvark]

But beware. Germans aren't all smiles and sunshine.

 

[Summerstorm]

Du sollst nach Hannover einen besuch machen. München ist auch ein toller stadt. Aber, befolge meinen rat: wann jemand fragst dir von wo du kommst, sagst das du von Kanada bist, weil Europäischer haßen Amerika.

Hm... 10 years german? Umm... havn't used it much, yes?

Well i am a german (not the evil kind) and lived near Osnabrück. Very nice city, good choice. At the moment i live near Braunschweig (City is a very good place for studying, good University - but not very big.) And it is great here. Old buildings, monuments, but a lot of entertainment and interesting modern stuff and businesses.

If you want to party and see strange customs, go to bavaria. If you want to live in a dirty Megaplex, move near to Dortmund. To work in an extremely modern corporation, go near Frankfurt... and if you need drugs just live near the dutch border *g*

You should have no problems as an american. A lot of people speak english (and ALL people with higher education) - but prepare for most having an atrocious accent and not that much of a vocabulary. The thought we all think the americans are stupid is just a joke... very few people are opiniated that way. (And most just question some decisions... for example of your last head-honcho *g*)

 

[VanityGirl]

Hallo, wei gehts?

My German is so rusty... I need to go back to Japanese.
Like most other countries, Germans will appreciate if you at least try speaking their language. I went to Germany with my extremely rusty German and tried speaking, thankfully the person told me in English, where I needed to go.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Well, Germany is very beautiful, but you probably know that already.
The Germans I have met are friendly, nice, and punctual. most of the time.
Oh, and about crossing the roads... you can get a 50 Euro on the spot fine for J-walking, so only cross at the designated crossings :|
and as for places to visit, from what I have seen, the town of Bernkastel-Kues is rather stunning in its beauty. I want to go there.
And they make damn good wine.

 

[nick_knack]

Never been to Germany myself, one of the few places in continental Europe I haven't been to. (Visiting wise, I've been in the airport and stuff).

I would recommend not flying Lufthansa. The food upset my stomach on the trip there and back.

I disagree! Lufthansa was the best I'd ever flown!

Granted North American airlines are all shit in my experience, but Lufthansa was good!

 

[DA_MAISTA]

That leaves the question of sports.
I think I'm right in saying that football (yes, soccer to Americans) has No. 1 spot pretty much to itself. No. 2 is Handball and after that its Basketball, maybe field hockey. Besides the team sports a lot of people go to the gym, although my uneducated guess would be that Americans are somehow more serious about that.
Ah, yes, you will probably find American football and baseball somewhere, but they are really not mainstream. Likewise, shooting for sporting or recreational purposes is only very rarely encountered.


Hope you enjoy your stay over here.
DA MAISTA!

 

[NLS]

I spent half a year there in 2007.
Berlin is awesome, big city with lots of stuff to see and experience.
A few things to remember:
Don't walk across the street when it is red-lighted, it's actually illegal.
Also, if you're living at a guest-family, be careful about throwing your garbage in the correct garbage bin (no food in the "plastics" bin).
They tend to eat dinner/hot food quite early on the day, typically at work/school, and then bread and other stuff later in the evening.
Paying with a credit/debit card can be a problem, sometimes easier to cash out on forehand.
Electricity costs a bit more, so turn off the light in any room you leave empty.
Censorship on games with violence is very strict.

Dunno how this might differentiate from America, since I'm from Norway.

But overall it's a nice place, cheap, nice food and beer. I'm going back there in a month or so.

 

[SeniorDingDong]

I am from Germany. Besides not beeing a travel happy person myself, I still can suggest you Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin (but only the tourist areas !), Dresden (only the tourist areas !) and if you want to see some impressive skylines Frankfurth a.M. Besides the big ones, you can almost everywhere find very nice historical cities like Trier or Hameln. But dont go to Hannover

And about communication:

If you meet older people, try speaking german right from the start. Especially if you are in eastern Germany, they rather got russian in school and hardly speak any english. Besides that, you can always try both languages.

After Obama got elected, Germans became much more America friendly (again !) since the years of the Bush administration. You should not have any problems.

Germany might look small on the map, but the people can be very different in each federal state. In the north they tend to be more impersonal and not very religious compared to the south. In the east they are very direct, but kind for example.

Dont listen to DiryCommie

 

[Hanogar]

Yup, have fun, we Germans hate americans, and we have enough good reasons to do so. So say your from Canada.

Germany, on the whole, is a verrrrry conservative country. It probably wont take you too long to start hating the two major political partys, the CDU and FDP, who like to sit around and do nothing while the country slowly collapses in on itself. Id reccomend you visit Berlin-Kreuzberg, which should give you a glance at what the country is really like, if you dont get shot.

so wrong ... first of all the 2 "big" partys are CDU/CSU and the SPD the smaller partys are FDP and "Die Gruenen" and about hating, its not that we hate americans the generall thinking is more like "they are stupid" but thats the same as americans think "they are nazis" or everybody thinks "japanese are only samurai and kamikatze" its a good old vorurteil

about the citiys if you want to lern a little bit about germany you should consider traveling around. berlin is the most "modern" city very open a meltingpot of cultures but not realy "german". hannover is well more the silent city nothing to big nothing to small here once a year we got the cebit, the worlds biggest computer expo. if you want to lern about our history you can visit every bigger city. if you want to be "shocked" you should consider visiting colonge in the "5 jahreszeit" karneval its crazy and loud but sometimes fun.

a good advice on top, if your drinking beer here be carefull, its stronger than the american beer. and try some of our bread we have a lot of sorts of bread and i often hear (esspecialy from americans) that it taste great. about the language, the younger once are quite good at english so if your not sure about a few words you can try it in english most people will understand it.

 

[ThePoodonkis]

I lived in Bavaria for a few years. It was awesome.
The people are usually polite, and some do speak English, but it's good to know German anyway.
The festivals are pretty fun to go to, don't believe the drunkenness stereotype.
I suggest visiting the castles. There's tons of history to them, and it's a great place to just walk around for a day.

 

[Umberphoenix]

Have fun, bring me a souvenir.