Moving to Germany

So I'm moving to Mannheim in September, small city just out of Frankfurt, Which I'm really excited about.

I'm going to be studying so with help of our government i won't need to work which is good and Ive already lived over sees so used to setting myself up, never in a non English speaking country before thou.

But wondered if anyone had lived in Germany before and how they found it. Any tips, cultural differences to watch out for?

cheers

So I used to live in Germany for a few years (Munich, Hamm/Dortmund). Learn German, Drink Beer.

Germans tend to be more formal initially than over here, but once you're past all that they are pretty friendly people. Oh, and do obey the law, 5 euro fines for jaywalking do happen!

I'm in Germany now, Offenbach (small town 5k from Frankfurt)

First thing I noticed is that 95% of Germans speak English with about 80%of them being almost fluent, so it's really easy to get by.
If you learn a bit of German before you come it will help, knowing your numbers and how to ask for things would be a big help but other than that you will pick stuff up pretty quick the more you go out.

Frankfurt itself is ok.. bikes EVERYWHERE.. no decent bike shops though, all they carry are Cruiser/shopping bikes, I've only found one 'Fixed Gear' shop there so far.

Riding on the right hand side of the road is confusing at first, as are some of the street signs they have, luckily I've had no close calls so far despite unintentionally running red cycle lights.. (car lights go green but sometimes the bike light stays red)

You will probably find that at Uni everyone will speak English and a great deal of your course is English too, my girlfriend is studying here and she's found that to be the case.

I lived in Leipzig as part of my Uni course in 2006 and it was possibly the best time of my life. In the former East fewer people speak English but my course was German anyway so I didn't mind.

There were tons of cheap bikes to be had there (I had an old Diamant) but bike theft was a real issue. Crime overall was WAY lower and the whole country is on the whole safer, or feels that way.

I found the people were really nice and informal. Compared to France where I have also lived I think Germany feels more like the UK. Feel free to PM for more questions.

I moved to Germany 6 months ago, North of Berlin and rural, so very different experience to most of the above, very little English spoken where I live.

On the whole I find Germans surprisingly similar to Englanders, though maybe a little better behaved and tidier!

....I really like Leipzig too, have been there many times.

I recently set up Bikes Berlin a forum for English-speaking cyclists in Germany (not just Berlin) you might want to join and share your info and experiences...we're just starting to get a bit of momentum on the site

Thanks for all the comments.

I've been to the city before and Berlin and Koln a few times before so familer with how things are as a tourist, I will have some german lessions wile there also. Had loads of info on looking for a place to live and settign up a bank account that stuff like that.

Pretty much everyone has said what an amazing place to live it is.

Ill check out that site, thinking of riding to Berlin some time so ill shout when I'm going over,

Thanks again for the comments.

If you want a bad thing about Germany...they can't queue to save their lives. Also they stare a lot more than we do. For the first few weeks I was there I walked round the whole time conviced I was growing a second head.

That's all.

The girlfriend and I are both gingers.. she has flaming red hair and I have an amazing flaming beard (my hair isn't really ginger anymore..) We get stared at all the time, very strange but then again I haven't seen that many gingers over here..

No, I don't think it's very common on the continent.

To completely drail the topic, in France I had an American friend who had a great shock of red hair and she couldn't take a train on her own without being chatted up. She became almost famous in our (quite sizeable) town as "La rousse".

Anyway another thing about Germany is that you might find they're slightly more casually racist than we are so don't get shocked if someone talks about black people being made of chocolate or something similarly outdated. I think again that this is more the case in the east than the west actually.

Can't be worse then were I live now. I always get stared at, raciest remarks even spat at my feet. Good old east London.

I lived in Germany ages ago (Karlsruher). Nothing bad to say, great public transport, lovely people, food not too bad (I'm veggie).

I think language is key - I can speak German so it was never a problem- but without it I think I would have struggled. I was workign there so I had to do all the town hall registration and the like but I'm unsure if you have to do that as a student.

The only thing I'd suggest is trying to find a place somewhere central. If you end up in the sticks it can feel quite isolated.

Oh and as a bonus - and this may be viewing everything wth rose tinted glassess - but the women seemed to really like English men (and I remember them all being really attractive and lovely).

I had to do that registration thing ("anmelden") as a student becasue you need it for a bank account. You're supposed to unregister ("abmelden") as well but I never bothered.

Yeah they told me about that. No mention of unregistered thou. Also have to pay 60 euros for a student ID. Little steep in my opinion But i think i get free travel with it so not to bad

Yup you get to ride the trains for free, which will save you a shite load of money and will get you anywhere you need to go, the trains are awesome here.

Ride the trains for free? Eh?

Frankfurt itself is ok. Bit of a boring business town at first but it has it's got lots of bars and some good clubs. All the beer is pissy lager and the local brew is apfelwien - a pretty bad take on cider.
The clubs are very difficult to get in unless you speak german. Also bikes ride on the pavement rather than the road, which can confuse you at first. It has decent shops and apart from bouncers the locals are very friendly. Casual racism is common. My friend was refused service in a bar for no reason (sober, at the beginning of the night) probably because he's Indian.

Ride the trains for free? Eh?

Yeah, the Uni kids get semester long train tickets.

@Bluequinn, that apfelwein stuff is hideous, yet they seem to be proud of the stuff..
Was out to dinner with an Asian (HongKong) friend of mine the other night and we asked for English menus, waiter came back handed me mine and then put on a really bad Chinese accent and tried to say 'Here is you menu my Chinese friend' to my mate! Not many places you'd get away with that!

Yeah, the Uni kids get semester long train tickets.

Oh right. Where I was (Leipzig) we got to travel for free on local city transport on evenings and weekends but I don't think we got any automatic Deutche Bahn discount.

I'm also currently living in Germany at the moment, more spefically Berlin! On the whole I find the germans very relaxed and friendly, in some ways you seem to have a lot more freedom here than in the uk! Don't worry about your limited knowlege of German, because most people speak english any way and best of all is the amount of people who ride bikes here, they are bike crazy! Cycling is the only way you can get around this city!

Possibly moving to Germany in the New Year for a few months: any experience/thoughts on Hamburg? Also possible I could be in Dusseldorf. Or Freiburg.

Which should i be gunning for or any alternatives? i'm pretty flexible and would like to have some good roads to cycle, good food to eat, good beer to drink and some interesting things to see...

Reporting in from Germany as a German.

For the best weather, choose Freiburg. It's the one place in Germany with the highest average temperatur.

Hamburg if you want to have a more british weather.
For the best roads to cycle, choose Freiburg or Düsseldorf. Hamburg is known for one of the worst cycling infrastructures in Germany. But therefore you get the biggest Critical Mass in Europe since Budapest isn't anymore. Also Hamburg has a good fixed gear scene, with some well known Shops (Suicycle, Big Lebikeski) as centers.
For excellent coffee, a big vegetarian/vegan scene and football (St. Pauli) you should also choose Hamburg.

For the best art scene and possibility to see stuff and other citys, choose Düsseldorf. It lays just right to travel in all directions to see stuff around and attend events in Cologne, Dortmund Frankfurt or Amsterdam. If you are into asian(japanese culture) its also the place to be in Germany.

To find a flat will be hardest in Hamburg.

This for a start. What are you up to in Germany?

Work in Düsseldorf could probably live in Cologne. That is where I am from. Cycling you can ride Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege Bastogne Liege territory as a weekend trip and Schmitzebud Sunday club runs will possibly ride you into the gutter. In a nutshell it is better then the Finestre.

thanks for the info! Very helpful, I've not been anywhere other than Berlin and Munich in Germany.

I'm just taking a few months to work on some art projects and earn some money and with through my gf can do some work there pretty easy. Dusseldorf sounds like it could be a winner for cultural things, Cologne sounds pretty awesome for cycling though. Is renting an apartment pretty straightforward in Dusseldorf/Cologne? We're hoping to find something for about 600-900 euros a month which seems to take in the averages for most places.

And fussballclub I've no doubt Teutonic-style club runs would leave me in tatters... I'll just need to make sure and pass around a big hip flask of whisky before and after to endear myself to people enough for them not to humiliate me too much!

ahh gruber, i still so freshly remember the caravan stories in the eor thread.. things have gotten quickly better for you, good one!

Ha. thanks! A big change indeed-a big bike tour, a change of scene in italy for a few months and a wonderful lady in my life and i feel like a new man!

Looking forward to learning more about germany and exploring a new city for a while too.

Dortmund looks much cheaper than comparible cities in the area-why is tthis?