Miscellaneous

These are just some random things that I did not really know where to place, but figured I might as well mention somewhere.

Manners in Germany are a lot more serious, like you are supposed to know how to hold a fork and all that stuff Americans make fun of elitist Europeans for doing. While I have not met any Germans (or Europeans) that actually really seem to care about those kinds of things, they do notice and it is easy to spot that Americans by the way they eat. You will fit in better if you take the time to learn the rules and such, but do not take this to mean it is that big a deal, just one of those strange things you happen to notice.

Students Germany also dress more formally and often more what Americans imagine again as a bit more ‘elitist’ style of dress for students. This means Americans are generally pretty easy to spot based on their dress and can stand out a bit, so being a little more formal than back home can make it a little less easy to be one in the crowd. Of course there are some people who do not mind that. As I have previously mentioned buying clothes can be a lot more expensive here so I would not expect to come here being able to get a whole new wardrobe. I found this out the hard way as I was hoping to be able to buy some clothes here so that I did not have to carry an obscene amount across the Atlantic.

I guess I should also make some sort of a quick note on flying. Personally so far I have only made the flight here, which I elected to do as a direct flight to Frankfurt, which was naturally more expensive. There are several cheap airlines you can take once you get to Europe, most notably Ryan Air, but when you take Ryan Air be prepared to bring only a little carry on luggage, have to go out of your way to get to the airport (most are former American Airbases that Ryan Air now uses), and the service is far from good. Fortunately there are other options as far as cheap airlines are concerned. One could also just use the train for a discounted rate within Germany as well by getting a Bahn card (25 or 50 percent discounts).

The internet has become a basic necessity for American (and German) college students, so I figure that deserves a little time as well. When you get here, you are not allowed access to the University’s network (unless you are living in a former American barracks, (go USA). That means your only option is to find somewhere that sells wifi, which is not hard, there are plenty around, but forewarning it does take more than a week to get internet here and when you finally do, you get an impossible to use instruction paper. While I have been here my dorm has also lost Internet once for a day and another time for a week. This is an extreme nuisance for pretty much everyone I know regardless of nationality so I thought it might be worth mentioning. Once it is working, the internet here is actually quite fast (probably more so than UMass) and other than those outages the entire network is more reliable.

I guess that is it for my add on end segment, so thanks again for taking the time to read this and I hope it was of some help. Best of luck in your adventures. 

Zeit

Getting here one thinks they have all the time in the world and things then fly by without you knowing it and suddenly months have gone by. That is why you should not try to put things off or not take advantage of the opportunities you get. Being in Germany has been an incredible experience so far and I hope that the good times will continue. But that being said there is also a lot of stress that comes along with all these moves and all the responsibility that is placed upon you. The fact that you are on your own can be one of the more difficult parts, but therein lays the beauty of meeting new people. They understand your problems and it helps lessen the struggle of getting through it all (like that paperwork I was talking about). So I guess I should thank you for taking the time to read through all that stuff in my blog (or at least checking it out). I hope my ramblings were of some help and that you have/had (or whatever) a good trip to Germany, or wherever you might end up. Safe travels comrades.

Kaufen

Shopping in Germany is not terribly different from back in the States as far as I have found, although there are some noticeable differences. The big one is that Germans (for reasons that escape me) use cash for almost all purposes when it comes to buying things and almost never use credit cards (which is probably a good thing). The downside is that credit cards are not accepted in a terribly large number of stores, which can be a real pain when you first get here (Visa is more accepted than Mastercard).

This stresses the importance of opening a bank account, which you will need for doing most of your transactions with the Uni and for withdrawing money. Personally I chose Deutsche bank, but they are all about the same and have relatively similar student account plans. Banks and ATMs are more sparsely spread out, so that may be something to keep in mind when choosing a bank (location, location, location). Getting everything setup took me about three weeks between getting an appointment, getting my card/pin (they come separately), and getting the money transferred.

Some other good news is that it takes Heidelberg about three days to get you your scholarship money.

Food and the essentials for the most part are a good bit cheaper in Germany, even at the mom and pop places, prices are generally lower across the board. I am not an economist, but I would think this has something to do with the Europeans Union’s agriculture policies. For the most part you can basically all the same food you can in the US, including Ramen noodles with real chicken. There are also plenty of places to go shopping, usually I go to Rewe, but that is mostly about convenience. One thing I have noticed is that food generally tastes more authentic, if that makes sense.

If you are looking to buy anything other than the essentials than unfortunately these tend to be more pricey (if it is technology related than a lot more) and because cash is king, getting your parents to foot the bill is a little harder (some debit accounts, like mine have strict weekly withdrawal limits). Clothes are also quite expensive and because Woolworths has closed, there are no ‘cheap’ places to go, so if you want to buy clothes here, be prepared to spend money, although they do accept credit cards.

Something that has been a great pain for me has been the opening times of stores, which are nothing compared to back home. For starters, the city is basically shut down on Sundays, so there is not much hope of being able to do anything. While this is extremely strange for someone who has grown up in New England, religion is far more a part of everyday life and culture in Germany than it is in Massachusetts, despite the stigma. Which means that you kind of need to prepare for Sunday or else it will be a long day. Germans also have a much more traditionally normal schedule here in Heidelberg, so if you are an American like me, that means waking up at obnoxious hours in order to get anything done (by that I of course mean before noonish). Simply put I have been forced into a much more adult sleeping schedule in order to get anything done, it is not like back home where you can expect the super market to be open at midnight. The markets are smaller and have comparably smaller hours of operation. There are a couple gas stations that are 24/7, but they do not sell very much. 

Bücher und die Bibliothek

Fortunately I have only had to buy one book the entire time I have been in Germany (my German course book). This is pretty typical as almost all readings are online and free, so you do not have to worry about spending more than $30 or not much more depending on major. On the other hand as I have previously talked about, you are expected to do a lot more research by yourself during your time here, which means acquiring information. If you feel like spending money for some reason than there are plenty of bookstores in Heidelberg, although almost all of those are in German. Amazon offers the first alternative, once again it costs money, but you can get kindle books or regular books shipped if there is something specific your are looking for, which is generally pretty cheap and easy. If you are looking for a free source then I use two online ones, which still work in Germany. The first is my UMass account with the library, which still allows me to access academic search engines, which is a major help for English sources. Another easy way to get some quick sources is Googlebooks, which also still works here and you can get some good chapters from books that can be quite useful. Apparently some students have been lack in their choice of sources and their grades have suffered as a result, so I figured I would mention those in case anyone was wondering. I am sure there is more and the Heidelberg library has more online, but to this point I have not used them.

That happens to go nicely into the thing I wanted to talk about next, the library. Hundreds of years old and containing millions of records, it would seem that the library would be an amazing resource to use for research. False. The library like its counterparts in Cambridge and Oxford has held onto to a ridiculous cataloging system from the middle ages, which means it takes forever to try to find anything inside. Fortunately there are many, many other libraries on campus and in the city that you have access to. So you can go to the fancy library and try to figure it out, but I would suggest save yourself the stress and instead just try to find a smaller library you can use more effectively.

 

Learning German

Naturally one of the major things anyone coming to Germany wants to achieve is learning German, myself of course being included. Two of the most obvious things you can do are quite obviously speaking and listening. Just trying to speak a few words of starting conversations in German can really help you get a couple minutes practice a few times a day, which can add up surprisingly quick and you might even be able to pick up a few words or phrases in the process. Not to mention the help with pronunciation (although a few beers helps with that too). Listening to people can help you likewise…and it is not really that weird to eavesdrop on someone if you can not understand the language (right?). But what you can really get out of trying to listen is a better understanding of spoken German, and if you can pick out words and structures better from spoken German than it only makes speaking that much easier. Trying to get access to some TV or Radio can be a big help too.

The structured learning of German at the Max Weber Haus also offers a good opportunity to make some progress, but with some unfortunate drawbacks. For starters you are placed in your class based on the results of what I find to be a somewhat inaccurate test, which generally means a class that is too easy. And there are also some administrative issues that hurt Heidlberg’s German language program from reaching its potential. But these classes are very important for another reason: socializing. Pretty much all of the friends I have made here have been people from the language program here partly because of language and partly because I arrived here in September over a month before classes actually started. Another thing that I have had the chance to take are directed language course, such as the Business German class that I am currently taking. This has actually been my favorite class here (and by far my hardest). Here you get the chance to have an open discussion in German about economics and you are not put through the same tedious grammatical examination that other classes get caught up in and personally have been a hindrance. There are a few other courses offered here too!

From my experience those these things are a good start, but simply not enough to make the kinds of strides in German that one expects when coming here. One thing that can really be a big help is trying to meet and talk to Germans (who will often just talk English to you). If you can get in a little practice with native speakers they can be a real help telling you how to say things more naturally and be a pretty quick dictionary too. Another thing is you have to make an effort to each yourself more too. The internet offers some great resources for honing and practicing your German and you can find pretty much anything that interests you to do in German. Personally I have been reading Die Zeit online, Harry Potter (books and movies: dorky, but if you know what is going on it helps), and watching Stromberg (Germany’s the Office). For me it has been pushing myself while here to learn independently has where I have made most of my progress. Something I have really found out here, is that just because you are here does not mean that you will just be learning German.