archived-culture-study-visa

[high lodge]

is there such a law in Austria?

[hidden briar]

in Germany yes, don't know about Austria

[high lodge]

because i am looking at some example of contract so that i will recognize pitfalls like this. There I see this:
"13. Betreten der Mieträume durch den Vermieter

(1) Dem Vermieter sowie dessen Hilfsperson ist die Besichtigung des Mietgegenstandes bei konkretem Anlass(insbesondere bei Beendigung des Mietvertrages zum Zwecke der Anschlussvermietung oder bei einembeabsichtigten Verkauf) nach rechtzeitiger Ankündigung zu angemessener Tageszeit gestattet

(2) Bei längerer Abwesenheit des Mieters hat dieser Sorge zu leisten, dass der Vermieter sein Recht zum Betreten derMieträume weiterhin ausüben kann"

[fleet pelican]

yes but it must be proven that this date and time was agreed upon and reasonable, and that there is a specific reason

another thing you may wanna look into is if the landlord lists the apartment as a 'wohnsitz', or a place of residency, as then they can come and go freely

[high lodge]

@fleet pelican how or where can i check that?

And also how can i check if given landlord owns given apartment?

[fleet pelican]

If the landlord owns the property you will have a direct Mietvertrag, if not, you will have an untermietvertrag

I admit I do not know, my best bet would be on asking directly

[high lodge]

@fleet pelican okay..because that is one typical scam scenarios. Someone gives offer of the place he doesnt own, you sign contract, give money but place is not yours still

[fleet pelican]

Almost happened to me too, irs really important to get those bases covered before signing and unfortunately requires more than a healthy dose of paranoia

[high lodge]

@fleet pelican uhm so where can i check if its direct or un?

On contract, offer, some gov website?

[fleet pelican]

Like I said I really dont know where it can be officially confirmed but I would contact a meldeamt or check your contract

If you live in vienna i can help you out finding contsct info for one in the area

[humble bough]

welp kill me I need to look for a new place to live

I've got accounts on all the places but I'm annoyed

[tight kelp]

the way i did it was remembering the sheer desperation i felt when first moving to germany

by contrast, finding a new place is easy

||it was still hard||

[wise obsidian]

my current job offered to extend my contract so i think i'll need to go flat-hunting soon too 😅

i only need to find somewhere for a month or two, so hopefully shouldn't be super hard

[high lodge]

@wise obsidian why such short stay 🤔 ?

[wise obsidian]

i'm thinking about extending my contract for about a month and a half

[high lodge]

oh okay

[wise obsidian]

what i'm still not sure about is whether i'm allowed to stay in germany after my contract ends - anyone know about this?

[high lodge]

if you find another

[wise obsidian]

say my contract ends 14th May, can I stay through to the end of May? (EU citizen, not here on a visa) - can i just pay to cover the health insurance gap or st?

[high lodge]

then i believe that wont be a problem 🤔

[wise obsidian]

oh no i probably won't be finding another

back to uni after that

[high lodge]

you mean german uni?

[wise obsidian]

no

[high lodge]

oh then i doubt sadly. not an expert tho so might be mistkaen

[wise obsidian]

do you know where i could find out?

it'd be no problem if i were staying in the UK but idk what the rules are in germany

[jade arch]

Habe es schon gefragt, aber unter neuen Umständen(?). Nächstes Jahr möchte ich ein Austauschjahr in Deutschland machen. Ich studiere Informatik, aber ehrlich gesagt ist mir Informatik egal, wenn es um die Universität geht. Ich bin kein Informatiker - für das Geld schreibe ich über Informatik - ich bin eher ein Schreiber als ein Informatiker (Technical Writer). Meine Optionen sind in Baden Württemburg - ich überlege mich Heidelberg oder Freiburg. Ich mag Musik, Kultur, Kunst, usw, und möchte Deutsch fließend zu sprechen. Ich komme aus einer sehr kleinen Stadt - nur 90,000 leute. Beide sind für mich nicht klein. Welche Universität würdet ihr auswählen und warum? Ehrlich gesagt weiß ich nicht, wie es in Heidelberg ist - alle sagen, dass Heidelberg so schön ist, aber es scheint "Touristy" und vielliecht "snobby".

[bold stump]

Heidelberg ist recht bürgerlich aber nicht snobby. Die Uni ist sehr gut. Freiburg ebenso. Du kannst bei beiden Städten nichts falsch machen

[amber grotto]

@tame parrot

@pseudo flax

[tame parrot]

kann man pauschalisieren dass die deutsche mentalität ist dass man asublidung machen soll und dann zur uni gehen. also schreit für schreit ?

[vapid sorrel]

Is it normal for a 14-15 year old to drink a beer at a restaurant with their family? Cause in the laws it says that 14 year olds are allowed to drink with permission from their legal tutor

[grand patio]

Viele studieren direkt und einige andere studieren nie

[jolly mural]

I don't know if it's legal or not but it's normal imo

[rotund trellis]

Is it common to have a philosophy discipline in secondary education in Germany? (Meaning in a Gymnasium, Realschule, or Hauptschule)

[dry ravine]

are there plans for even stricter lockdown, i.e. no leaving home?

[wise obsidian]

according to tagesschau, german government's discussing on tuesday whether they will have a stricter lockdown

[dry ravine]

and the rules would be implemented on tuesday?

[wise obsidian]

i don't think they'll implement them the same day they announce them

[dry ravine]

thanks for the info

[wise obsidian]

general question about jobs: how do you know if your german is 'good enough' for working in german?

i'm thinking of applying for an internship that asks for C1/C2, and my german is definitely around C1, but 🤷‍♂️

[dry ravine]

honestly just apply man

they'll usually call you to check your german, thats what happened to me

[lime fern]

What are DACH countries?

[wise obsidian]

germany, austria, switzerland

[wise obsidian]

how'd they check your german? just like a chat, or?

[lime fern]

What holds them together? What does DACH stand for?

[wise obsidian]

D = germany (deutschland)
A = austria
CH = switzerland

the three german-speaking countries

i believe there's also DACHL if you're including Liechtenstein or Luxembourg

[lime fern]

i see!

Doesn't belgium speak German too?

How does ch = switzerland

[wise obsidian]

ja but I believe the German-speaking community in Belgium is fairly slow

whereas german drives a large part of the economy in each of the DACH countries

[wise obsidian]

as i just learned,
A = Austria because the latin is Austria
CH = Switzerland because the latin is Confoederatio Helvetica

[lime fern]

Makes sense!!

[wise obsidian]

if you want to practice your german a little bit, try reading the article on german wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-A-CH

[lime fern]

And i was gonna ask with isn't it Österreich but you answered me, it's all in latin

Ahh I'm a very much a beginner but i will give it a shot!

Thank you for you help :)

[dry ravine]

they did a quick interview on the phone preliminary to the actual interview

[wise obsidian]

gotcha, gotcha. did you get the job, out of curiosity?

[dry ravine]

internship actually

still waiting for response from 2 positions

both did this process

[wise obsidian]

oh, very interesting

can i ask which field the internships are in?

i'm looking for things in data science / ML and it's hard to find positions that seem to be open to non-native speakers

[dry ravine]

mechanical engineering

it took me 80 applications to get an interview btw

[wise obsidian]

is this like a pre-uni internship?

my application:interview ratio has been almost 1:1 for internships in germany 🤨

but I think CS is a much 'hotter' field, the girl in my Sprachkurs was looking at a similar ratio to you for an aerospace pre-internship

[dry ravine]

nope it's a mandatory internship

as part of my studies, 6 months internship

@wise obsidian

i guess you might be lucky or already have experience beforehand

[wise obsidian]

oh yea i have a lot of previous experience (~2 years)

[dry ravine]

well there's your reason

im applying iwth zero experience

[wise obsidian]

but eg. the job market in the UK is really bad right now and i got rejected from all the stuff i applied for there, so 🤷‍♂️

job hunting hard, tbh

harder still if it's in a new language 😅

[dry ravine]

it's easier here than my home country

at least there's job boards and companies have offers

where i come from, you need some serious luck to land anything

[wise obsidian]

ah, yeah

i expect a part of that will be that internships aren't expected in your home country?

[dry ravine]

i mean we dont have jobs in my country lmao

even in engineering

[olive summit]

hardly anyone is eager to hire nowadays unfortunately

[simple sable]

I was wondering if anyone could answer a question about University for me?

I’ve been planning on going to Germany for University and from my research it says tuition is free. Does that also count for international students? I’ve never gotten a solid answer

[wise obsidian]

here's a table: https://www.studis-online.de/studiengebuehren/
basically it's only really baden-württemberg that charges fees to people from outside the EU.

i believe /r/germany has a wiki page about this, hold on

yep, have a read: https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/studying

[simple sable]

Thank you!

[rotund trellis]

@wise obsidian (From their article specifically about tuition fees in Baden-Württemberg)

However, everyone who is "Bildungsinländer" (ie who graduated from high school in Germany) should not be affected.
This means that people who have done Studienkolleg are free of this € 1,500 fee, right?

Nevermind. Wikipedia says that the Bildungsinländer isn't given to people who go through Studienkolleg...

[median salmon]

Hellooo.. is there anyone here, who goes to Fachhochschule or someone who is doing Duales Studium?🥺👉🏼👈🏼 i wanna ask questions on personal chat if thats okay. Thanks🥰

[dry ravine]

you can just ask them here, would reach more than one person to answer the questions, and would help future people who may have the same questions

[median salmon]

I wish i could ask it here but its too personal for me. 😁

[dry ravine]

np then

[grand patio]

Benutz am besten #voice-chat das nächste Mal, aber danke für den Report!

[tropic edge]

What do you guys do for dry eyes in winter?

I struggle in the mornings when the heating is on through the night and when I'm out in the cold wind

[tight kelp]

personally i just keep the heating to a minimum year round. If you feel there's not enough moisture in the air, put a glass of water near the heaters

[wise obsidian]

y'all want to swap rooms? the air in mine gets really moist no matter what i do 🤣

[tight kelp]

my nose pretty much tries to murder me in my sleep whether it's moist or dry

but i kinda prefer dry, at least i save on paper for blowing my nose

[tropic edge]

okay, like above the heater?

its just that i want to gauge my eyes out

i got hand cream for my hands and droplets for my eyes but im maybe im doing something with regards to cold climate wrong

[wise obsidian]

have you tried like an eye mask? that might help

[tight kelp]

yeah

[tropic edge]

ill try that

[glossy portal]

I have a question regarding education in Germany, according to Anabin/daad, the requirements to be admitted to a uni in Germany are

The subject and grade overview of the Western Australian Certificate of Education has to include the following subjects on class 12-level:

• Mathematics
• 1 natural science subject
• English

For Mathematics, i can choose between Applications, Methods and Specialist

But for English, my education centre offers "ATAR English" and "ATAR English as an Additional Language or Dialect" under ATAR Language

My question is whether the English requirement is referring to only the subject "ATAR English", or "ATAR English additional..." is also included

This question is so obscure i cannot find anything about it in r/germany, local forums and obscure forums

[fringe summit]

By ATAR do you mean the NSW system?

@glossy portal

Im not sure about WA but in NSW, you can only do the english as a second language English subject if you have a different first language. If your first language is english, in order to receive the High School Certificate you have to do one of the standard levels of English.

At least from what i can remember from high school

[glossy portal]

WA also uses the atar system, my education centre offers ausmat which is basically wace
I fit the requirements of having English as an additional language because my schools have not used english as the main medium of education for 11 years

But i don't know whether or not i should take it or take english instead

[fringe summit]

Oh cool WA uses atar

Hmm i dont have the exact answer there, it sounds like a different kind of case.

My assumption would be that it doesnt matter which level you take as long as you reach the requirements for receiving the certificate. Your teachers might have more insight, the careers advisor in particular if your school has one.

My recommendation would be to take the highest level of English that you feel comfortable with

[glad current]

does the jobcentre money cover private healthinsurance?

like i got asked which krankenkasse i wanna join

but honestly idk the difference just people ik are with ikk

most people are with tk

i think ikk is private

jobcentre money being alg2

or social something 4

[slim fulcrum]

Has any BIPOC living in Germany managed to find a way to vent, or find coping mechanisms to the stress of moving to Germany and just feeling helpless about racism in society and the lack of support from employers who recruit your here? I just try to live my life and do good work, but sometimes something gets said or something happens to remind me that I still live in a world full of racists and I have 0 skills to empower myself or brush them off.

My psychotherapist never addresses the stress and trauma caused by racism since moving to Germany and I'm growing increasingly frustrated because it's not something I want to bog my friends and family about because it just takes over my personality and I become that unfun friend who just makes everything about race and political correctness 😬

[tight kelp]

have you talked about this specifically to your therapist? If they refuse to help on the matter it might be time to find someone better equipped to help you

[slim fulcrum]

I will bring it up again, it's coming up on the end of my set of sessions and I need to decide to continue or not.

I don't know how therapy is supposed to progress or anything. and with COVID I imagine it will be a long time before i find someone new let alone someone with experience dealing with racism-related anxiety/stress, and speaking English.

[glad current]

does tk cover eye appointments or i know they cover dental

[olive summit]

yes

also afaik there is no difference in terms price between the publically subsidized insurance like TK or AOK

[glad current]

but thats so good, once youre 18 in the uk u gotta pay for ur eyetests and dentist checkups

[olive summit]

yeah obv new eyeglasses or contacts you must pay for

[glad current]

yeah ofc that

[shadow ibex]

hi there everyone! I’m moving to germany (düsseldorf specifically) this summer and I was wondering, how much do people on average spend for groceries?

I’m thinking of maybe €250 for monthly groceries for one person, would that be enough?

[wise obsidian]

i probably average €30 a week for groceries - €250 a month will be more than enough unless you have expensive tastes 😉

[shadow ibex]

that’s great to hear! thank you for the information!

[tight kelp]

düsseldorf is a bit on the expensive side though

[solemn bay]

Not sure if in Germany the supermarkets use websites, but if they do, one thing you could do is to go on there, make a list of products you normally buy in a month, and see how much it costs. Then you get a pretty accurate estimate of your expenses.

[shadow ibex]

yeah this was what concerned me the most :(

[olive summit]

pro tip: go to discounters like Lidl on Saturday evening and lots perishables like bread and produce are half off

[shadow ibex]

I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!

[dry arch]

Eine Website hat jeder deutsche Supermarkt

z.b.

https://www.penny.de/

[solemn bay]

Oh, that's good then. I just know sometimes some businesses like that have "websites" but you can't search individual products or anything, so it's kinda worthless for customers.

But some of them have really nice online shopping / list-making stuff so you can easily make a list of stuff and see the prices.

[slim fulcrum]

Oh yeah sometimes expensive grocery stores will leave out free produce- Lestra does this in my city. There is also an app called Too Good To Go where you can buy mystery bags of produce at a discount, or take 9 eur of bakery items for 3eur etc, and leftover food at a significant discount. They have a cart in the back. I've gotten pomegranates, infinity bananas, root veggies, and even veggie soups which expired that day. Personally I spend about 50 a week, but I have expensive tastes/can't live without specialty items from the ethnic grocery stores 😅

[tight kelp]

oh that's cool

[shadow ibex]

oh that’s right, I forgot to consider spices and such 😓

are specialty items far more expensive in germany? I can’t live without fried shallots and sambal

[tight kelp]

depends how popular the specific cuisine is (i don't know what those two things are), but you don't generally find ethnic stuff in discounts

you have to go to non-discount supermarkets like Rewe or ethnic food sellers

[humble bough]

raw shallots are at like every supermarket, idk if fried shallots are something pre-bought or something you wanna make yourself but that's there if you want

I haven't looked for sambal but on a quick google it looks like an asian market would be your best bet (they're also usually pretty good price-wise, especially for spices)

[exotic barn]

Omg yes sambal asian markets sell them. They tend to be quite pricey tho. Some discounters like lidl have them too, but the authentic taste of sambal is well.. mm certainly not there, gone. But more affordable, thats for sure! If im not mistaken sambal, like lets say sambal abc costs around 2.5€

[faint kelp]

how viable is it if i didn't have sperrkonto for uni but instead just have my parents show their income and fund my studies there? has anyone had their experience be like that and what are the chances of me being able to study there if I proved my finances this way than through a sperrkonto?

[olive summit]

pretty sure the proof of finance must be through the blocked bank account

[faint kelp]

i mean i looked at some resources and they say you should have it because it increases your chance to get the visa, but i don't know maybe it has to be then

[olive summit]

Well typically as long as all your documents are in order and you're eligible you will receive the visa

although depending on your nationality it can be more difficult

[faint kelp]

so how would i go with the finance part then?

i'm american

[olive summit]

Yeah Americans rly dont have an issue as long as everything is in order. The way it was presented to me is you either have the 10k or so euros in a blocked bank account with Deutsche Bank or a relative/guardian who lives in Germany can sign a declaration of financial support (Verpflichtungserklärung) pledging their financial support to you. The German govt will look at their income to make sure they make enough to support you.

There might be other options through grants or other rewards but these were the 2 options available to me

[faint kelp]

so wait they have to live in germany for the verpflichtungserklärung? because the way i'm trying to do it is having my parents back in america sign something similar and send me the money overseas and what not

yea no this will be for bachelors, so i doubt grants can be found sadly

[olive summit]

afaik a Verpflichtungserklärung can only be signed by someone who's residence is in Germany. Its issued by the local Ausländerbehörde.

My uncle who lives in Munich signed one for me, my parents in the US could not.

[faint kelp]

ah

that'll be an issue for me then

[olive summit]

Yeah it was probably the largest hurdle for me during this whole process

[faint kelp]

yea to be fair it's the thing that's annoying me the most about all of this

like i know my parents don't really save money so there's no way they can rip out 12K from their pockets per year

[olive summit]

The financial supporter must only live in Germany btw, my uncle has Austrian citizenship technically.

I don't know the requirements for someone to fill that role if they are outside of your family though

might need to become a legal guardian or something

Yeah you have my sympathies, my family couldn't come up with the amount in such short notice.

[faint kelp]

thanks, i have 3 more semesters of high school and i tried getting a job, but my parents aren't allowing me because of the pandemic and i know time is narrowing down slowly, so i'm getting more anxious over time. it's also that they think that I'm not serious about it either so it sort of sucks too. just a lot of stuff to think about and to think that i gotta pull 12k before i graduate is daunting

like I'm learning german everyday for like 2-4 hours and i'm doing research about wgs and unis and cities and what not

but i'm still thinking that I maybe can't even pull it off because i don't have the money at the time

[olive summit]

You could take a gap year after graduating and work full time to save, giving you more time to work on your German as well.

[faint kelp]

yea but then I still would need to do studienkolleg after that and i think if I told them i'd pause on school they'd kick me out of my house lol

[olive summit]

ah geez thats tough.

i initially arrived in Germany through a year-long exchange program through my American uni, the financial requirement is waived with programs like that.

[faint kelp]

yea because the uni pays right?

for the exchange program?

and then you get billed after?

[olive summit]

well it was through a 3rd party company the uni had an agreement with, so you paid them directly

some exchange programs are directly partnered with the uni and you just pay your normal tuition during the duration of the program

in any case, foreign students coming for a such a short duration of study (6 months or a year, etc.) dont need the 10k or so euros saved

[faint kelp]

damn that's crazy

yea the uni my brother went to had their programs be 2x the price of a normal year or something

was crazy

[hallow oyster]

Students tend to spend less, I guess they have access to some student restaurants?

If you cook everything from scratch (and you want higher quality stuff, eg german meat, brand name stuff etc), like to eat meat in every dish (like 300g per person or a bit less if in goulash/soup) and are not frugal (eg you don't chase discounts at discounter, but you just go to your nearest shop), safer would be to count on 100 eur weekly per person

Also, people often forget to count all takeouts and deliveries into groceries, but it's all food.

It's better to overestimate your expenses before you come, than underestimate and then be very unhappy if you have to worry about every cent on food

Also, check bringmeister.de (choose Berlin, they only operate in some big cities), that's delivery from edeka - decent quality mid range stuff

Then you have rewe.de I think, similar range

Kaufland, real.de, aldi nord/süd should also have informative sites, but don't know if they're shop+delivery

Also, dm.de and rossmann for hygiene and cleaning products

Honestly, that stuff cost non trivial amount :/

[hallow oyster]

https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/german-health-insurance

This is good in depth guide, also check other stuff on the site

In general, private means - you pay yourself and then get reimbursed
If you have preexisting conditions, they won't accept you, or only in basic tariff if you're not eligible for public insurance (and no public one accepts you)

Rule of thumb - if you plan to live here until your retirement - pick public one (because you can't enter after some age, and in pension, private ones will get expensive, yes, you have to pay insurance here even if in rent)

If you know that you'll be here for just a few years, private will be cheaper

If unsure, then check what are conditions for transfer from private to public (like, during studying use private and switch to public once you start working, is relatively common)

Also, if you have dependants (kids, spouse), you can insure them over you in public, but for private no, everyone has to pay for themselves

So, for those undecided, I'd take this as a decision point, for example

What private insurance covers, it depends, you need to read the contract

Public one covers all necessary medical stuff, but not all preventative stuff if you're not in certain age (however if there's some suspicion, then they'll cover the exam)
In short, so far I haven't paid for anything regular (post cancer followups with nuclear medicine and hospital stay, ENT visits, gyn visits, proctologist, dentist checkups, the doc for bones, MRI for head and whatnot)

Things i pay are either preventative breast ultrasound each year, since I'm too young to be covered by insurance (I'm with TK), that's around 70eur, contraception (around 100 eur/3 month, I think)
Hearing aid price difference between 700 they cover and price for the device I want (that's a lot, but I want latest tech, so 2500 per aid, or less if you negotiate a better price)
Glasses I paid for myself, was lazy to even investigate how much they'd cover (mine were around 400 eur I think, but I got custom adjusted and measured lens, because regular single diopter ones didn't work anymorec, before that I paid like 100 or something in fielmann)
Ah, also my antidepressants

I pay for psychiatrist and psychotherapist out of the pocked, but drugs I've got covered :)
Also, thyroid drugs

For drugs I have to pay just a co-pay of 5 eur per package
For hospital stay co-pay is 10 eur per day

And all of that as being insured through my husband, so I'm not even paying anything (until I start working)

Also, dentist is tricky. Only for basic solutions you'll get a bit. Everything else you have to pay.
For a crown, they cover I think 400. Basic solution costs 800 (regular metal). Top quality solution (fully ceramic) costs 1500-2500 depending on how your dentist has prices. So, no matter which solution you take, KK will give only 400 eur.

However, there are additional teeth insurances that give more coverage, but that's a story for itself.

In private health insurance I think they already cover dentistry

However, your premium in private will rise based on services you used or illnesses you got along the way, frok what I've understood, and they don't care much about your income eg if you can afford it anymore

Public doesn't care about your health or needs, but amount is dependent on your income

Young, no ilnesses, less than 10 year stay, private might make sense
In other cases, go public

If want something, you can always pay for that specific exam

Also, if you're in public, if there's some exams that doc recommends but it's not covered by your public insurance, doc will tell you and you have to explicitly agree

For private insurances I'm not sure if they know for each exam and each insurance, but, ask in advance is wise route

[glad current]

ahh ok tysm for the information! so public is like one set price and paid for right away where as private you gotta pay then send the forms and reciepts in, and thats if they cover it

ill check out the website too tysm !

[high lodge]

hmm should I look for 6 months rent as my first rent flat/apartment/wohnung?

[exotic barn]

From my experience you only need the Sperrkonto when you first apply for the student visa (that was for a year). After that I didn't have the Sperrkonto anymore.
When renewing my visa, I only had to show that I had enough money in my bank account to last me a year (around 8800 EUR). They didn't expect a Sperrkonto

Idk how strict they are with it in other places tho. It could vary by city and by the immigration office

[rotund trellis]

@exotic barn

When renewing my visa, I only had to show that I had enough money in my bank account to last me a year (around 8800 EUR). They didn't expect a Sperrkonto
When renewing, does it count if you have a job contract that guarantees you'll have those 8800 Euros in one year?

[exotic barn]

i was speaking from a student POV but im sure if you have a contract for a full-time job you can renew it without any problems

[olive summit]

I recently got a full time job I can let you all know what the Ausländerbehörde says once I contact them since I'm in the process of renewing my visa

[dry ravine]

Are reusable masks considered surgical masks

Regarding the new mandated masks

[hallow oyster]

@dry ravine afaik, new mandated masks are ffp2 only, so not surgical ones

@glad current yeah, for public I just give my card
Of course, not every doctor works with public insurance
But, compared to my country of origin, Croatia, here I got much better treatment with 'public' gyn than I got with private back there, and it's even cheaper now altough I'm paying for breast ultrasound, than it was back there

For nuclear med, I've changed 3 docs, for ent 3 also
Approval for hearing aid basic amount was done in like several seconds, after my Akustiker had send the request online yesterday, and today I got even letter with confirmation...
Also, they're pushing for electronic prescriptions, so no papers anymore to pick up medicine, private insurance will get that next year I think, public will get it this one

I'm told that for having kids TK is good one, don't know
Friend got on loan breast pump (electric) and whatnot considering the birth, all free of charge, but I don't know which public insurance she has
Not to mention that everyone was nice to her in the hospital
Also, my hospital experience was the best in my life, altough my German was horrible 3 years ago, but everyone was so nice, I was flabbergasted
In Croatia you're lucky if they don't yell at you 🙄

Definitely, there's still a bunch of things that could be improved, but if you have preexisting conditions or are in risk group for something, I think it's better to go public + pay out of own pocket, than pay high premiums for private later on

Not to mention that for bloodwork here, my GP just writes it and done

Also, sick leave for several months (6+), approved by GP, insurance didn't bother anyone
I doubt private insurance would cover such long periods so easily

[hallow oyster]

Dependa on the city
I'd expect similar issues in all big ones, where you need 3 payslips and be out of the probation for best chances
Usually probations are 6 months

For Berlin, I would say count with 9 months of temp accommodation, but no less than 5

Maybe Leipzig and similarly sized could work with 4-5 months

[high lodge]

@hallow oyster i have 3 months probation if we talk about job. Also in Vienna

[dry ravine]

man these masks are expensive as hell 😩

[merry magnet]

I still don't understand if we can use also OP-Maske or only FFP2. Some news sites say that we can use both, but other sites say that we need to use only FFP2

[wise obsidian]

do we know when this new mask requirement starts?

[solemn bay]

In what country/region?

[wise obsidian]

Ba-Wü

i guess it'll be announced in the regional corona restrictions that aren't up yet

i'm also still not sure where i am supposed to buy masks, all the DMs within a 40 min walk of me are sold out

[olive summit]

they should be given for free if its becoming law...hope this doesn't come to NRW lol

[wise obsidian]

it was a nationwide announcement, was it not?

[olive summit]

I thought it was only in Bayern

[wise obsidian]

@olive summit it was only in bayern previously but the press conference last night said that it would be nationwide now

[olive summit]

well thats frustrating

[wise obsidian]

update: rewe had plenty of surgical masks, a bit pricey though. DM was all sold out.

[wise obsidian]

Volkshochschule has officially cancelled my language course :(

[tight kelp]

mine cancelled them like last year, you got lucky 👀

i say mine but i don't work there since before summer

[dry ravine]

NRW are mandating the FFP2 masks now

and same situation in my city, all places are out of masks now

[olive summit]

yeah saw lots of people with the coffee filter masks already

[vapid sorrel]

this was a bad idea

[tight kelp]

lol how's one supposed to comply if there's exactly zero notice and the masks are sold out

[wise obsidian]

bavaria had a one-week period where it was being introduced but not enforced to give people time - i assume similar?

[tight kelp]

haven't read the specifics

very typical that this would happen right when i have to go to work in person tomorrow, after weeks of home office

[wise obsidian]

they haven't published specifics yet 😩

[olive summit]

well I'm sure places wont start enforcing it immediately, just went to Penny with my cloth mask no issue, also seen plenty of other people without the FFP2 about.

[exotic barn]

It doesn't have to be FFP2 btw. Standard Op-Masks are also allowed unless you are living in Bavaria.

[olive summit]

so the blue surgical ones?

[exotic barn]

Exactly

[tight kelp]

those are way too big for my face, they don't work 😂

[tropic edge]

Has anyone done a food intolerance test in Germany? One that isn't strictly for allergies but for general foods that just make one feel iffy/ weird. Did the insurance cover it? Did it help? Anything to be aware of? Thanks a lot in advance!

[humble bough]

I have no idea wtf I'm allowed to wear for masks and I already have like 5 nice cloth masks with the little nose wires that I got as gifts and I leave the house once every two weeks anyway and I'm just so done with this shit

I'm not going to a crowded drug store to panic buy new expensive masks, that's literally the most likely position to get corona they could put me in atm and I have fucking asthma

how does Germany expect us to all go out and buy new masks with no notice when they were too cheap to even buy vaccines that were developed in Germany

[olive summit]

those basic blue surgical masks aren't as effective as FF2P so idk why they view them evenly

[exotic barn]

Yeah that's right. It is annoying. Btw, I've ordered it online from Amazon, they'll arrive today. There are plenty of them. You can also buy it from Apotheke (Pharmacy), they are not allowed to be crowded that much.

And one side note: If you are not living in Bavaria then you are allowed to wear standard basic OP Masks. It is just the cloth masks which are not allowed.

[tight kelp]

Ffp2 masks are mandatory starting Monday, or at least supermarkets are mandating them within their premises.
On the plus side, apparently they guarantee they have them for sale starting today

[humble bough]

they're like 5€ each on amazon tho fml

also the apotheke always has a line out the door these days which is only marginally better than the store itself being crowded :/

[exotic barn]

anyone living in München? what‘s the lockdown like? is anyone outside at all?

[thorny crag]

Ich überlege es mir gerade, mich umzuziehen

(innerhalb der Stadt)

ich will einfach wechseln

Ich hab einen Altbau mit zentraler Lage gefunden, aber er hat keinen Waschmaschinenanschluss

hat hier jemand Erfahrung mit sowas?

[exotic barn]

ich hab 2mal ohne waschmaschine gewohnt und ich musste dafür zum waschsalon. das wäre eine Option.

[thorny crag]

war das ein großer Aufwand? Wie sieht das mit den Arbeitszeiten aus?

[exotic barn]

also es kommt darauf an wo sich der nächste Waschsalon bei dir befindet und wie die Öffnungszeiten sind

ich hatte einen in der Nähe, etwa 10min zu Fuß aber dafür war der auch rund um die uhr geöffnet

ach sorry du meintest arbeitszeiten

es ist auf jeden fall nicht optimal besonders wenn man jeden tag dahin muss. ich ging allerdings nur 1mal die Woche und daher war es nicht so schlimm

[thorny crag]

Ich bin allein wie mein Kleinfinger, also brauch ich nicht of waschen :D

danke, du hast mir viel geholfen

[exotic barn]

kein Ding. such dir auch Angebote aus

manchmal gibt es bei Studentenwohnheimen auch Waschräume. du kannst da auch nachfragen ob du als Gast diese benutzen darfst. da kannst du auch geld sparen

[thorny crag]

Na ja, aber ich will komplett alleine wohnen

[exotic barn]

ja ich weiß deswegen meinte ich als Gast". also kein Bewohner des Wohnheims

[thorny crag]

ah, okay, ich verstehe

[warped atlas]

Hallo zusammen, bin schon einer Weile seit ich hier was geschrieben habe. 🙂

Ab heute gebe ich mein WG-Zimmer in Aalen ab, und ziehe ich nach Stuttgart um. Darüber hinaus habe ich heute endlich meine Niederlassungserlaubnis bekommen.

So, jetzt kommt die Frage....was kommt danach eigentlich? Was kann ich damit machen? Soweit ich verstehe, ich darf jetzt bei einer anderen Unternehmen arbeiten, ohne hin und her neues Visum beantragen (Blaue Karte Visum), und ich darf auch im Prinzip als Selbstständiger arbeiten. Oder?

Was noch kann ich damit machen? Und letztendlich lohnt es sich eine Niederlassungserlaubnis EU zu beantragen, wenn ich hauptsächlich in Deutschland wohne?

[distant surge]

Hallo, ich möchte gerne in Deutschland studieren, aber ich weiß nicht viel über die Universitäten da. Kennen sie einige davon?

[bold stump]

Merseburg, Koblenz, Osnabrück i haven't heard anything about but the rest seem very decent are pretty similar i'd say

[tropic edge]

I study in TU Berlin

[olive summit]

one of my coworkers went to Osnabrück for his agricultural degree

places like Göttingen or Heidelberg will offer the traditional German university curriculum and experience while recently founded unis have a more modern approach

[bold stump]

Hu? How do you mean? Haven't heard of this before 😄

[olive summit]

They're just older institutions with a long tradition

[bold stump]

Hm. Except Bremen the ones he listed are all rather old-ish

and Ulm i guess

[olive summit]

I mean pre industrial revolution old, Göttingen was founded in the 18th century for instance, Osnabrück was founded in the 70s

[tropic edge]

I haven't heard that opinion before, but at my university it's basically this: lots of theoretical work, some hands on experience, a decent chunk of academic writing, and theoretical application. I'm only in the second semester but this has been the forefront of my experience the past year.

[olive summit]

the older institutions are more likely to focus on classical literature and whatnot, this is true in lots of places in Europe

[bold stump]

Never noticed this in Göttingen. More than likely everything is in the 1950s++ buildings. Especially the stem faculties.

I'd guess most unis had a hard reset around 1945 in any case

[astral warren]

Alright i have a question about taking commissions for art or selling already existing art as a student. I will be there in march for my präp term then in october my bachelors will start and i was thinking about selling my work or taking commissions for some extra money. And that got me thinking, i know that i cant legally work untill my uni study starts and then it has like a limit. So im wondering is this transaction considered as "work" or is it ok to do and when im doing, is it taxable because i know there are many nitpicky laws in germany and dont want to do something illegal despite it being fairly innocent. Like would anyone be this petty about tracking it down or reporting etc? Can someone who has knowledge about this help me plz

[tight kelp]

under 450€ a month it's not taxable

[astral warren]

Do i have to register it as income?

[spiral cosmos]

Hallo Leute ,
Sind die Sprachschulen in **Hannover **derzeit geschlossen ?
d.h bieten sie noch Präsenz-Kurse? oder ist alles ausschließlich online?

[dry ravine]

du kannst sie fragen

[vocal vigil]

Hallo

[ocean ginkgo]

Hallo

[wise obsidian]

folks, do any of y'all know what the rules re: entering bayern from other states looks like right now? i may need to travel into munich at very short notice (maybe 24h) to visit my embassy - is that allowed, do i need to get a corona test?

[exotic barn]

heyyyyy, hat irgendwer bock among us zu spielen?

[covert marsh]

es muss irgendjemand Unter Uns geben

[dry ravine]

call the embassy, easiest option

ask them waht u need to do

[exotic barn]

is Postanweisung still possible in Germany? (postal order)

[olive summit]

Netto has FF2P masks for .99 cents a piece if anyone needs some

[wise obsidian]

likewise aldi had decent stocks at the same price last i went :)

[olive summit]

yep same with Lidl actually

[odd bison]

:^) just bought 4 masks for 14 euros at a pharmacy

[raw ice]

kan man die wieder benutzen? oder sind es die die man blos einmal benutzt

[fleet pelican]

wtf we sell them for60 cents here

in austria, who loves taxing thigns up

[fiery edge]

No

[warped atlas]

Alle Maske, OP, KN95 oder FFP2 können im Prinzip nur einmal getragen werden (Einwegmaske), weil die Feuchtigkeit von unserem eigenen Atmen ihre Leistung verringern wird. Allerdings gibt es schon Studie aus FH Münster, dass man im Prinzip die FFP2 Maske maximal 5 Mal tragen kann, wenn man die richtig desinfiziert. Studie: https://www.fh-muenster.de/gesundheit/forschung/forschungsprojekte/moeglichkeiten-und-grenzen-der-eigenverantwortlichen-wiederverwendung-von-ffp2-masken-im-privatgebrauch/index.php

[high lodge]

How the protocol for receiving wohnung look like? Like the one that you fill once you signed mietevertrag. I know that it needs to have current values from counters but nothing else

[exotic barn]

Wat.

[spark nexus]

Hello! o/
does anyone know any resources that can help teach one's self on how to love to Germany? Eg how to get into a college and what a college would offer, or how to get a job, costs of living and all that

[exotic barn]

https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/studying#green

this covers a few things

[spark nexus]

Tyvm!

I'm not sure if I'll be studying or just working so this'll be very helpful for the first half

[wise obsidian]

same wiki also has resources on moving to germany for work, iirc

[cold aspen]

You mean the Wohnungsübergabeprotokoll?

If yes, in there will be a list of everything included in the Wohnung with a detailed mention of every fault or damage. Also it will be mentioned what keys you got from the previous tenant.

if you sign that, you declare that you received the Wohnung exactly as written down. So every fault not mentioned can be turned against you. Keep that in mind

[unreal monolith]

What are chinatowns like in Germany?

[tight kelp]

why do you assume there are ghettos

in my city there are many chinese people and they tend to live near to each other but it's not segregated like it would happen in the usa

[solemn bay]

Is a Chinatown considered a ghetto?

[tight kelp]

i don't know if there's a specific definition of ghetto that's different than what i have in my head but if people of the same ethnicity live in a specific part of a city and not anywhere else, and there's literal walls or gates signalling the presence of that specific part of town, to me that's a ghetto

[solemn bay]

Ah I see. I thought a ghetto is something more related to things like... a (usually) poorer area where the people of a certain group are pretty much expected or required to live, in the sense of a segregated social group.

[tight kelp]

segregated part of town is the more generic definition i'd give

[solemn bay]

Whereas a Chinatown is usually more like just a type of ethnic enclave, i.e. a place where a lot of people of a certain ethnic group tend to be located but without any other social aspects involved.

[tight kelp]

and if you can claim the existence of a chinatown in a given town, that place is in some way segregated

not necessarily physically

point is, i see it as a negative concept at least in the context of how cities are over here

[solemn bay]

I think calling it that adds a lot of implications that don't exist in the person's original question.

[tight kelp]

i think the problem lies in the assumptions that every country would have "chinatowns". Any of the definitions given so far would still qualify as negative because it's like assuming chinese people can't integrate anywhere and they'll always form an enclave that is more or less separated from the local culture

[solemn bay]

I disagree but this isn't the place to have this discussion anyway.

[tight kelp]

which, at least here, is so marginally true that i wouldn't dare call any part of town, including those with high density of chinese citizens, chinatown

[olive summit]

well the chinese living there "would dare"

I don't want to sound antagonistic but the people living in these districts often name these places such because it reflects the community and culture which resides there

[high lodge]

yes thats what i asked for. will see in net for examples thank you

[grave urchin]

can anyone who properly understand German translate this?? im Anhang Ihre Aufnahmebestätigung

Nach erfolgter Antragstellung setzen wir uns erst wieder mit Ihnen in Verbindung, wenn es eine Übereinstimmung Ihrer Antragsdaten mit den frei gewordenen Wohnheimplätzen gibt.
Google translate gave me a confusing translation .

[exotic barn]

they will contact you only when they find an available dorm room matching the details in your application

[grave urchin]

thank you.

[wise obsidian]

fyi, deepl will often produce more 'comprehensible' translations than google translate

[cold aspen]

Also with deepl the grammar will always be correct, though it might still easily sound unnatural

[mortal escarp]

Ayye, in Austria how important is the Valentine's Day if you got a spouse/life partner? Is it just like having a romantic candlelight dinner, gifting some flowers and maybe some chocolate, then spending the night together? Like usually in my country?

Or do the girls expect more such as actual presents on top of all that?

Also, I saw on ÖBB you must wear an FFP2 mask. The KN95 therefore is not good? What's the difference?

[olive summit]

KN95 still allowed i believe, as well as the blue surgical mask

[mortal escarp]

I would travel on the 10th of February

Not sure if it will be still allowed then

[merry magnet]

Hallo Leute. Do you know if a blocked account is needed for the resident permit? I have all my money for the year in a standard Deutsche Bank account and I don't want to pay them 150 Euros only for blocking it

[exotic barn]

in my experience u only needed the block account to get your first visa to enter germany

after that they just needed to see enough money in your bank account to last you a year (8800 EUR), and thats only when it was time to renew the visa (resident permit)

[hallow oyster]

These two are great start for all things immigration and they're official ones

https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/living-in-germany/discover-germany/immigration/

https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/EN/publikationen/Willkommen_in_Deutschland_en.html

[spark nexus]

Awesome! Thank you for all the help, peeps. I'm excited to read up on this

[glad current]

the forigners office said i cant stay in germany (im a uk national)

ive lived here since june 2020

so before the end of the transition period

are my withdrawal rights based off if ive worked 1 single day or havent worked?

[wise obsidian]

that sounds odd? FCO guidance is that UK nationals resident in the EU before 1st jan 2021 continue to have the same rights under the withdrawal agreement (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-europe#uk-nationals-in-the-eu)

it might be worth contacting the embassy for advice 🤔

[glad current]

yeah ex said i can stay but i cant be supported by the jobcentre, and I cant work because i dont have a physical permit which takes months to get

I cant be supported by the jobcentre because my permit is about looking for a job (my intergration course apparently doesnt pay a factor in this)

[exotic barn]

You can still work, double check with them.

[glad current]

the person from the ausla:nder beho:rde said i'd need a permit to work i think, well thats what they told me

and where can i get a rapid test? i need one within 3 days of travel to the uk

[wise obsidian]

most airports will have rapid testing facilities, for sure

(that's where all my friends are getting them)

[exotic barn]

Ask other banks like Sparkasse? There's some sketchy banks that offer Sperrkonto online too.

[exotic barn]

Hausartz?

[exotic barn]

Why these universities?

[exotic barn]

That sounds like nonsense.

[glad current]

dont have one or insurance

its gotta be within 3 days of flying

well say negative within 3 days so when u get your boarding pass u show its negative

[exotic barn]

I mean it's not covered by insurance anyways if you don't have symptoms.

[exotic barn]

Of course there's a specific definition on dictionary. You have very weird take on the word.

[glad current]

its just so i can take a plane

back to my home country

otherwise they fine me for £500

[exotic barn]

Good luck with that. Germans like to pretend there is no racism in Germany.

[tropic edge]

depending on the city you are staying in, you could do it at any testing center.

[glad current]

well im flying out of hamburg

i dont live in a city :C

need the results fast

[tight kelp]

A part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups.
does that mean that my neighbourhood is an italian ghetto because my husband and I live here? We do qualify for the definition of group¹ and we're certainly in the minority. 😉

¹

A number of people or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.

[tropic edge]

https://www.centogene.com/de/covid-19/test-centers/testen-am-hamburger-flughafen.html check this out maybe

[olive summit]

@exotic barn not nonsense lol, literally the history of classical education in Europe

surprised you scrolled up that far

[glad current]

tysm !!!

ah

number 1 suits me but my flight is on a sunday

[distant surge]

these are the universities my university has erasmus deals with

[exotic barn]

Source: my ass.

[tight kelp]

a bit aggressive, this one

[olive summit]

my professor has taught at numerous universities throughout Germany, I'd say he's a fairly reputable source on this

[solemn bay]

@exotic barn Please only comment here if you have something constructive to add.

[rotund trellis]

What degree someone usually needs in order to start teaching in secondary school? Is a Bachelor's enough?

[shut kelp]

I think so

[solemn bay]

In which country?

[rotund trellis]

Oh, Germany

[oak cloud]

Why is this chat called living under the roof? I'm new here 🙂

[rose crane]

DACH

The letters D, A and CH are very common abbreviations for the countries Germany (Deutschland, its German name), Austria (Austria, its Latin name) and Switzerland (Confoederatio Helvetica, its Latin name). These abbreviations are found, for example, on licence plates. Germany and Austria also have two-letter abbreviations, which are DE and AT. These, alongside the Swiss one, are used among other things in URLs.

Incidentally, the word Dach is German for “roof”, so the name of the channel #archived-culture-study-visa is a pun: it literally means “living under the roof”, which can be seen as a metaphor for the cultural similarities between these countries.
Despite not included in the abbreviation, DACH may also include other German-speaking countries, especially Liechtenstein.

[glad current]

With the lockdown, can I travel between towns ?

Within the same state

[olive summit]

believe so but only when necessary

[exotic barn]

benutzt irgendjemand N26? ist es wirklich vertrauenswürdig oder hat es Probleme?

[high lodge]

how german you call a guy that replaces you front doors? also how much does it cost on avg?

because i have old front doors with one lock and a armored (?) glass

so not like super safe

the neighbourhood might be okay but I am not so...

confident that this may last xD

[hidden briar]

"Schreiner"

[high lodge]

and how much does it cost?

[hidden briar]

"Haustür [Stadt]" in your favorite search engine finds several tradesmen that you can call

[humble bough]

tbh I wouldn't know what you call a guy who replaces doors in english

[tight kelp]

doorer

[high lodge]

okay

but how much does it cost?

any experience?

[tight kelp]

no sorry

[exotic barn]

handyman probably

[hallow oyster]

@high lodge check my-hammer.de
I remember seeing prices there, somewhere
Don't know for which region is it, but at least it could help with the vocabulary

[humble bough]

hm ig but tbh handyman is broad it covers p much anything requiring a toolbox lol

[olive summit]

carpenter

[glad current]

guys

where can i get a rona test

apparently i cant get it the same day i fly out :/

had to be within 3 days of flying out

[wise obsidian]

if you're close to the airport you could do a trip there 2 days before your flight and get the test done?

[glad current]

not close to it

2h drive away

the dad wouldnt be there to drive me

unless i go by myself on train xD

i emailed the landkreis health department

but idk

they nevcer reply to emails

in germany

[wise obsidian]

i'd probably go to the airport, 2h isn't that long

you could also maybe call your hausarzt and ask if they do tests for travellers?

[glad current]

yeah but id have to go there myself

dont have a doctors

i live in the woods

the doctors here is

1 man

i need the test done within 72 hours

of me flying out

[wise obsidian]

are you close to a big city/town?

[glad current]

celle

uelzen

only 2 big cities near me

xD

and theyre not that big

but again

i'd have to go there by myself because the dad wouldnt be there

to drive to the cities

[wise obsidian]

maybe call 116117 and ask for advice? 🤔 they might be able to advise you on providers https://www.116117.de/de/home.php

tbh i'm gonna need to sort a PCR/lateral flow test soon too

[glad current]

yeah i emailed them

because not many people

[wise obsidian]

calling will get you a faster answer than emailing :P

[glad current]

in my area even knows english xD

and idk any german

ex wont help me

[olive summit]

when I lived in Lüneburg there were several buses to the more rural areas, might want to investigate if any of those go your way.

[latent whale]

anyone from Clausthal Zellerfeld oder Goslar

[high lodge]

@hallow oyster sadly not for Austria

[amber grotto]

@slender lily

[slender lily]

Danke schön

[high lodge]

hmm after some research i see that replacing doors will be too expensive (like either over 1k euro or 5k)

so would like...installing additional grid/cell bars in front of doors would be cheaper?

[humble bough]

...perhaps I'm just ill-informed but that feels like it would cost just as much if not more

[olive summit]

How does one despose of Staubsaugerbeutel? Not sure where to put them.

[last rampart]

Idk if this is the right place to ask, but I've got a friend in berlin and I wanna get her a gift card for an art store for her birthday. I live in the US so I'd need to be able to buy it online too, any suggestions on a store I can look at?

[dry ravine]

are hotel and airbnb bookings still restricted in germany?

[fiery edge]

Restmüll I'd say, if it's full

[lament tinsel]

Hello, if someone knows about job opportunities and Majors in Germany please DM me as I'm a student and I have general questions regarding this.
I'm studying Energy Engineering and would like to know if I will have good job opportunities in Germany or that I should change my Major to something like Computer Engineering or something.
Please help me as I need to gather information.

[hidden briar]

have you read the wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/studying?

[lament tinsel]

I didn't.

I'm not studying in Germany

[lament tinsel]

if someone could help I would really appreciate it.

[humble bough]

I don't know about other art stores, but near me there are a couple branches of idee, and they sell gift cards online:
https://www.idee-shop.com/idee.-geschenk-karte

[grave urchin]

Which public health insurance is cheap, still good and legit for international students??

[wise obsidian]

don't all public health insurances charge the same...?

in an case TK seems to be popular among the students i know. i'm with AOK and i'm happy with them.

(AOK being my local AOK, AOK BW - i expect there's regional variations in quality)

[grave urchin]

@wise obsidian Can you tell me about travel insurance? Are travel insurances free on TK? German Embassy in my country is Asking for one

[wise obsidian]

your insurance should cover treatment with an European Health Insurance Card - outside of europe you'd need private cover supplementally (afaik). but i'm not familiar with what embassies might be looking for

[grave urchin]

Coracle told me that they provide health and travel insurance(free) all together. They have three options. They said I can present the travel insurance certificate from coracle to Embassy. Should I go with them?? I don’t think travel insurance on my country covers Covid and related health issues.

[grave urchin]

@wise obsidian

[lament tinsel]

So, no one can help ?

[shut kelp]

Sorry man I'm no expert in Uni, and job opportunities, im a highschool student.

[fossil hare]

Hey I am an American with a BA in Philosophy and am looking to study linguistics in graduate school. I've applied to a few universities here but I'm also interested in looking at German/Austrian schools. One thing I've sort of noticed is that in Europe schools are a little less open to switching fields of study than schools are in the US. Can anyone affirm or deny this? Any advice?

[fossil hare]

I also am looking at Germanistik programs

[wise obsidian]

it's really common in europe that your masters subject is a direct continuation of your bachelors subject, and if you don't have enough ECTS in said subject at your undergrad you're required either to make up the ECTS or just rejected straight-up. (eg. TUM Informatics will only accept you if you have less than 30 ECTS missing compared to their bachelors)

[fossil hare]

Hmm ok I also read the wiki, it seems like it's unlikely/depends on the program.

A bulk of the wiki that's linked above is about the bachelor level, how common is it to get a second masters degree? There's a computational linguistics program in Germany I'm interested in and I've considered getting an MA in Linguistics here and then applying for the MA in Germany. Is that strange for the German university system?

[wise obsidian]

computational linguistics 👀 i do that as part of my degree

i don't think there'd be anything stopping you but i'm not super familiar with the system. germans take weird routes with education sometimes

[fossil hare]

Oh cool! Would you mind if I PMed you to talk about computational linguistics generally?

Yeah ok well I think I'll take a look at the funding for linguistics here and see if that's even a good idea. Thanks for the help!

[wise obsidian]

sure, but i'm doing it from a CS/informatics background rather than a linguistics background so no promises 😉

[fossil hare]

Haha I know for sure you can go linguistics -> comp ling, but I think it's definitely less preferred

[humble bough]

you can absolutely get into a computational linguistics degree with a linguistics degree as an undergrad -- getting an MA in linguistics in the US is a waste of money don't do it lol

linguistics -> compling is really common and honestly in my experience not much less preferred than cs -> compling? it just changes which parts of compling you'll already know and which are new lol. compling is usually within linguistics programs/departments in my experience anyway

an MA in compling is a little odd though, most programs I looked at in compling were M.Sc here. but I supposed full-on linguistics might be an MA idk

anyway I came from the US into a german compling (well, compling-adjacent tbf) master's so hmu if you have questions

[olive summit]

is there a more comprehensive list of Studienkollegs? studienkollegs.de has hardly any

[exotic barn]

found this one: https://www.studienkolleg-paderborn.de/de/liste-der-studienkollegs-in-deutschland/

tho afaik the ones listed on your site are all state-run and are tuition free

[olive summit]

yeah apparently NRW abolished public studienkollegs thats why there are so few

[rotund trellis]

Do the Studienkollegen also charge this fee to international students? Or is it just the universities?

[olive summit]

Studienkollegen always have a fee

for private ones it gets really expensive

[rotund trellis]

Of course, the administration fee. I'm asking because Baden-Württemberg charges a fee for international students in their universities.

[olive summit]

Why would you be charged a student fee if you're not a student

[hallow oyster]

I think the best way would be to assess the job market yourself

Main reason being - I can tell you there are 200 jobs per day with keyword x, but that does not mean that even one will interest you
Good consequence of looking at job ads is to figure out what market wants specifically, so you can work on that if you're interested in that position
And second, you'll know a bit more about what you want/don't want and what exists out there

Common culprits are linkedin, glassdoor

There are stepstone, monster and some others, but for some I've heard that they're loaded with spam or fake ads (where someone kust collects cvs which they'll attempt to push onto someone and sell themselves as a headhunter to get a fee, or something like that)

And for my interest there is ton of ads in the first two, that I haven't looked further

For german speakers, joining xing is recommended as far as I've heard

[hallow oyster]

Never heard of them
So, check throughly if they really are proper health insurance

I vaguely remember that TK has some options for taking travel insurance with them for some surcharge

Public health insurances are roughly the same, but, they have a variable part, which was raised by many starting this year

For people who need to count every cent, this was a trouble

For the rest of us, it is negligible - considering that you'd need to apply for the new one, before that find who covers at least the same stuff (like some prevention stuff, and childbirth, and children stuff differs, some also give teeth cleaning refund up to some sum, like 60eur, so it depends)
For TK increase was like from 1.1 to 1.3% or something like that, which would lead to I don't know, 50 eur more per year? And that's for a salary that pays maximum allowed amount

Prices go up all the time, so, unless you really need to count every cent, and unless you have some special wants considering optional stuff that one insurance covers and other not, any public one is equal, they all provide same basic service

And changing makes sense if you're not happy with the insurance, like they refuse to cover your aids and help, like wheelchairs or hearing aids above basic tarif for example (but from what I hear, all public ones are equally bad for Hilfsmittel, some are worse, eg they won't be convinced to pay more just with letters but you'll end up at the court to defend your case, and it will take 1-2 years to get there, and TK is supposedly the worst there, they'll use all delays available)

[distant surge]

Does anyone know about Universitaet Koblenz Landau?

[exotic barn]

What do you wanna know about it?

[distant surge]

I'm thinking about studying there (as an erasmus student), from my choices i think it's the best one, but i would like to know what other people think about it

[olive summit]

if there is no Studienkolleg near me is there really anything I can do to get into the local university? Are some allowing completion of it from a distance now?

[exotic barn]

many Studienkollegs are holding online Aufnahmeprüfungen this Sommersemester (e.g. Kaisserslautern, KIT, Halle-Wittenberg), although for you to be able to join one you should have registered last Nov/Oct, and received a Zulassungsbescheid from them... try and register for the next Wintersemester, maybe? i have a feeling they might still be held online...

[shadow ibex]

mine (STK Düsseldorf) is having exclusively online learning classes, and I've also had online Aufnahmeprüfung from STK Anhalt, STK Mittweida and Kaiserslautern. I do know Kaiserslautern has an ANP in July, you might want to apply before then.

[olive summit]

Just looked it up, the one in Düsseldorf is probably my best bet. Unfortunately, I dont really have the money right now. Probably just gonna keep working and saving while improving my German.

Not really missing much with uni courses being all online anyway

[weary kindle]

idk what this channel means

[wise obsidian]

it's for questions about living in germany/austria/switzerland :)

and the name's a clever pun.

[weary kindle]

oh ok

[tight kelp]

purpose

[rose crane]

:x: The required argument input is missing.

[tight kelp]

purpose #archived-culture-study-visa

[rose crane]

Information about leben-unterm-dach

leben-unterm-dach

This is your place for any unanswered questions in regard to education, life, work or culture of DACH countries. :flag_de: :flag_at: :flag_ch:

[tight kelp]

oh i thought it was explained there. Lousy admins

[hidden briar]

It's ">faq dach"

[solemn pine]

Hello! Does anyone know if France has an organisation similar to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)? Something that offers funding for study and research trips?

Ideally I want to spend a month of summer in France learning the language

Or if anyone knows of good, France-based online French classes

[sacred bough]

Look up the European Solidarity Corps

[hard delta]

Guys i want to know is the acceptance in the german or the austrian universities easy? Or does it take time

[olive summit]

depends what program, some are restricted admission (NC), others arent. What's more important is checking if you're eligible to study in Germany.

[exotic barn]

for most unis in germany, international students will have to apply through websites like uni-assist.de or hochschulstart.de. you should be able to find info on the processing times (and other info regarding applications) on their respective websites

[lime igloo]

nice name xD

[stiff pendant]

Kann jemand mir sagen, wie die Immatrikulation an der Universität Heidelberg ist?

[ornate harbor]

||~~***1345***~~||

||https://www.google.com/maps/search/unternehmen/@50.9399129,6.9786641,12z/data=!3m1!4b1||

[exotic barn]

?

[ornate harbor]

meinst die studentkolleg?

[peak hollow]

hey, i know this server is more focused on language specifically but i am looking into moving to Germany within the next year if i can make it work and was wondering if anyone on this server might have some good resources for Americans that are looking to move to Germany. i just want to be as prepared as i can be and have preparation go as smooth as i can make it.

specifically like how to get a residence permit as fast as possible and how one might achieve that since I'm relatively poor and most likely wont have a large buffer for living expenses when i first arrive

[wise obsidian]

https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index

[peak hollow]

Idk why i never even thought about reddit lol thanks

[unreal monolith]

Assuming there is no COVID-19, when I travel to Berlin, Germany, should I fly directly to Berlin or take a train from a nearby city to Germany? Which one is cheaper?

[wise obsidian]

what are your options?

like, what's the alternative to flying in to BER

and where are you coming from :P

[dusky oracle]

^

[dusky oracle]

If you are coming from somewhere like France, Spain, the UK (Brexit messed that up), Poland, or any place close to Germany, it is better to take a train. If you are travelling from overseas or are travelling from a place where Germany is very far away, it is better to fly.

[olive summit]

flights are typically cheaper than trains tbh

[unreal monolith]

Thanks

[dusky oracle]

It depends where you are flying from

[olive summit]

well for instance my flight from Hamburg to München was 100 euros round trip. Meanwhile the ticket with DB was nearly 600. Budget airlines can be quite affordable.

Of course this was before the current situation so perhaps it's different but DB tickets (especially on the ICE trains are expensive)

[dusky oracle]

Doesn't Dutch Railways serve in Germany?

Or is it just international travel (Netherlands to Germany and vice versa)?

[wise obsidian]

i think covid may have changed some things a bit - the DE->PL trip i'm looking at is ~140 euro by flight but 40 euro by train if you book early enough

but said train is also 11 hours which is too much of a risk for me.

[dry arch]

I’ve never heard of in all my life a train ticket costing more than a plane ticket

But I also never take a train from one country to the next

[wise obsidian]

a lot of europe is like this 😅

eg. if i fly from my uni to my parents house (1 hour), that's around 40 pounds
a train (8 hours) is 100-250 pounds depending on when you book.

[olive summit]

@dusky oracle other way around I believe, as in there are direct trains from DE to NL but not from NL to DE. Otherwise you can take buses from NL to DE. I live near the border so I've done it quite a bit.

@wise obsidian also worth noting the plane ticket was on Christmas Eve and was with Lufthansa. We got a really great deal. Still, the ICE trains can have absurd pricing when the distance is long.

[dry arch]

Yeah but I lived in Germany for 2 semesters and never noticed that xD

[bold stump]

that's first class train ride with massage and snacks

[olive summit]

it wasn't first-class

the regional trains might be a bit cheaper, but they have multiple stops and transfers which will cause them to take nearly twice as long for that particular route.

[bold stump]

still, no way you can spend that much on a train ride if you don't do something really strange

one trip first class, full flexibility without any reductions is basically 250, so roundtrip 500 - but there's probably no one who would buy such a ticket anyway 😄

[olive summit]

The flight was the obvious choice for us. Train rides can be nice (especially on the fancier ICE trains) since you're traveling through the scenery.

[bold stump]

sure, just saying the hamburg munich round trip first class would usually cost you less than 250 if you book 2-3 days in advance via train

[olive summit]

we checked weeks in advance and it was still expensive, to be fair this was around the holidays

[bold stump]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fehmarn_Belt_Fixed_Link There'll be direct links again once this is finished 😄

[olive summit]

2029 looking forward to it

lmao

[bold stump]

mh? That's pretty darn quick for such a project

Germany is just weird in that obtaining the permission and going through courts basically adds +5-20 years to every infrastructure project

[olive summit]

idk just feel like direct trains between 2 countries with a long, land border would be easier to instate than an underwater tunnel

[bold stump]

They were taking the ferry or the train via Lüneburg beforehand. So.. there are connections

and, to be honest, i find it kinda cool that there were regular connections where a long distance train is put on a ferry 😄

[olive summit]

never went that way when i lived in Lüneburg, shame

[bold stump]

also i meant flensburg not lüneburg, my bad

[olive summit]

ah right, that makes more sense then lol

[neon stream]

Weiß jemand ob man in Deutschland Lehramt kostenlos studieren kann? (Mittelschullehrer, wenn es relevant ist)

Oh I didn't process the fact that I could have asked in english lol, I was in german mode))

[wise obsidian]

wouldn't it be the same as any other degree?

[neon stream]

Well I read that it depends on what you are studying..
I generally don't know much about the system and how it works

[wise obsidian]

i'd maybe recommend this: https://old.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/studying and looking at individual uni pages 😉

[bold onyx]

Hi, could you someone tell me about if there is a procedure to apply for internships (Praktikum) in Germany?

e.g. I did go to the company's website and applied but with no luck..

just wanted to ask if I am missing something like are they looking for something specific? (e.g. my resume was in English, anything that could help or should change?)

or is it just not common to accept international students for internships?

[tight kelp]

you should apply the same way you would submit an application for a regular job, so exactly as you already did. It takes a while to find a company that will even reply to you so don't despair

you should research the company and see if they seem first of all interested in english-speaking (or rather non-german-speaking) applicants. If they have a recruitment page in english that should be enough. If there's nothing of the sort, they probably only expect applications in german

[shadow ibex]

Hi there, does anyone know whether or not we can use KN95 masks? or must they be FFP3?

[wise obsidian]

currently doing an internship in germany, hi 😅

apply with CV / cover letter in the language of the job posting (and the cover letter matters!) - ideally CV in the "german" format rather than anglo format unless the company's very international

i'm not sure how it is if you need a visa, but i found companies were fine taking me as an "international" (EU) student

websites are very often black holes though, if you don't have a contact at the company or prior experience it can be difficult to "get your foot in the door", but that's true of every country.

what fields are you applying for internships in?

[bold onyx]

@wise obsidian information technology, computer science

[wise obsidian]

my internship is CS actually

what sort of things are you applying for?

(& where are you applying from, would be the follow up question i guess)

generally applying for one thing won't be enough

or they might take ages to get back to you

[bold onyx]

I didn't get this part

something like I see a job post which interests me on LinkedIn, I go to their website, create an account and apply

[wise obsidian]

what i mean is that if you're looking for an internship be prepared to send 20+ applications before you hear back from anywhere

[bold onyx]

and then they send the "sorry we can't move forward with your application, we moved forward with other applicants"

[wise obsidian]

when it's a CV (or cover letter) issue, probably

assuming you have right to work in germany

[bold onyx]

I should have mentioned Non-EU student

[wise obsidian]

ah, yeah, i imagine that's going to be tough

have you had a look at IAESTE/AIESEC?

they often have opportunities in tech roles and they deal with the visa stuff

i don't know what the exact situation / requirements are for international (non-EU) applicants, unfortunately

[exotic barn]

as long as you have Arbeitserlaubnis, nothings gonna be different

[bold onyx]

I haven't yet, I will, danke

[bold onyx]

but isn't the order of getting one over other messed up, if I don't have an offer letter, it would be hard to get a work permit visa

[exotic barn]

u dont need a separate work permit. if you have your Aufenthaltstitel and you're a student, you probably shouldve gotten a "Zusatzblatt" with it. on this it states whether you're allowed to work or not

something about not being able to work over 120 full days/240 half days in a year

[bold onyx]

My situation is I am not a student in Germany or any EU place

[exotic barn]

oh

[olive summit]

if you're not a student, the work permit should come after you've secured a work contract

[wise obsidian]

i can't really comment on immigration stuff, but re: being rejected, make sure your resume & cover letter are top quality

and apply for a bunch of stuff

make sure you're looking at sources other than linkedin as well - i've seen eg. campusjaeger be used a lot to advertise internships, but mostly german-language ones

[bold onyx]

Okay I also looked at stepstone

I guess its a bit rare for non-EU students to apply for internships

[bold onyx]

hey do you mind if DM you for checking it? (in near future)

[wise obsidian]

sure

[bold onyx]

Danke

[olive summit]

ita difficult to get a residence permit solely off an internship since they're typically unpaid and dont last very long

[tight kelp]

they're not typically unpaid, there are paid and unpaid ones

[olive summit]

there are but the fact that its paid doesn't really help your case. The duration does, they dont give out residence permits for a month or two.

and in some provinces like NRW you cannot be paid for internships in the "public service"

[wise obsidian]

internships are way longer than 1-2 months

in CS at least

i've not seen anything under 3 months

more common seems to be 4-6

[olive summit]

I'm sure it varies by industry, The Ausländerbehörde just told me most cases they get for an "internship residence permit" aren't long enough.

[wise obsidian]

interesting

[olive summit]

In any case I don't think its a good idea to come here just for an internship, its quite risky if you're non-EU

[wise obsidian]

(as an aside, i'm so glad i don't have to deal with the Ausländerbehörde given the storeis i've heard about them 😆 )

[olive summit]

at least not without a backup plan, the internship could end abruptly or you aren't offered the position and then you're out of luck

honestly they don't allow the short-term residence permits for a few months probably because their processing can take 2+ months lol

half of the period would've already elapsed by then

[bold onyx]

oh

[olive summit]

now keep in mind this is when i went to extend my visa while already living here for quite some time, could be different depending on how/when/where you apply.

[minor pivot]

Hello all! Any good tax accountant recommendations? I have a really complicated tax situation, due to multiple international freelance contracts, both before and after moving to Germany in the middle of the Tax Year!!!

I am looking for some kind of Expat service that will handle both my US and my German taxes (and give me peace of mind I don't owe any other tax obligation to any other counry!)

I was looking at Greenback Expat Tax Service. Any other reccomendations?

I am based in Baden Wurtenburg. I would like to speak English with my accountant.

[hallow oyster]

These two are great start for all things immigration and they're official ones

https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/living-in-germany/discover-germany/immigration/

https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/EN/publikationen/Willkommen_in_Deutschland_en.html

[hallow oyster]

Last time I've checked we needed to have ffp2 masks, and n95 is just another name for them (ffp2 being european, n95 chinese, and so on)
And I didn't see the update
Are you sure about ffp3 masks?

[wise obsidian]

yeah i've not heard anything about ffp3 either

[shadow ibex]

I see, I might've misread on a news website

in any case, thank you for the explanation!

[hallow oyster]

https://www.eckhardt-steuerberater.de/de/leistungen.html

Can't decipher if they cover your case, but send email and you'll find out

I use them for a few years, and I'm quite satisfied, however, you need to ask them to clarify whatever you need, don't expect they'll lead you by hand
But we didn't have USA case, I'm from EU country which has deal against double taxation

I'd suggest sending same email to few and by answers you'll find out with whom you'd like to work with and leave your money

Judging from the fact that those expat put USA issues on the front page, if you're from USA, you're probably best off with some service like that

Even though these mine do international stuff, someone who advertise 'we know IRS' got a few points in advance 😂

But in any case, send email and check the response

You will leave percentage of your total bruto income there, so, you have every right to ask many questions and look around, keep that in mind :)

[minor pivot]

Thank you 👍

[unreal monolith]

If I am in Germany, how do I address police officers? Am I allowed to use Herr oder Frau offizer?

[exotic barn]

You just say "sie" to them

addressing them with sie is basically the only way if you want to be polite

also there's nothing like a "Polizei offizier" in Germany we have "Polizeibeamte" but you don't address them as "Herr/Frau Beamter"

[terse delta]

When you’re applying for a job in Germany and the listings say to send Zeugnisse, what do you usually send? Graduation certificates, academic transcripts, others?

[tight kelp]

anything you have that may certify or prove things you claim in your cv or motivation letter

there's no such thing as too much stuff when it comes to applications in germany. In the english and especially north american world there's apparently a very restrictive, if not always well defined, limit to how long or bulky your application documents should be. That's not the case in germany: they just want to get to know you and as long as the information is relevant it's welcome

[terse delta]

Thank you!

[peak hollow]

thanks, i cant review them right this second but i definitely will later today

[rotund trellis]

the Deutsche Normalschrift is learned by every German kid going through school, right?

[tight kelp]

yes

[dull cradle]

I want to work in Germany so im having similar issues

[median haven]

Hello

I wanted some advice on whether the german universities expect some specific format resume

resume or CV

[wise obsidian]

starting to plan moving out of germany - does a (DHL) Postfiliale sell packing materials?

[hallow oyster]

@wise obsidian uf, even if they do, that's the most expensive way for it
I mean, they have boxes, but I think not the usual size that's for move (around 80x50x50), and that bubble wrap, I think I saw it there, but didn't look up the price
My advice, order at some bauhaus or similar for pickup
Or amazon

Unless you need like one-two boxes 30x30x30

[wise obsidian]

i need to send the boxes by DHL/similar anyway, it's not like i'm going through a moving company or anything

essentially just some extra stuff that i can't pack in my suitcase but i want to keep, you dig - one box, probably

[hallow oyster]

You can probably see on deutche post site what they offer?
I remember seeing their S, M, L packages but they didn't look that sturdy to me, I mean, chances are that you want to pack that one box fully with bunch if items, so it will be heavy. And not just one-two items plus bunch of cushion stuff as it would be some usual shipment.

I know that bunch of folks need only 10 or so boxes for the whole move (I'd need roughly 250-300 probably, not counting the furniture 😂 ), but even those 10 would cost significantly more if bought at the post office

If you’re in Berlin, I have bunch of boxes from cat food delivery, they're really sturdy ones :)

Maybe check some pet store or grocery store for suitable box?

It's gonna be free, bigger and sturdier :)
Just check size limit on dhl site, and prices are determined by weight anyway

[wise obsidian]

the M/L boxes look ok to me

i'm really not sending much

like, some clothes, a few books, and bedsheets lol

i've only been here 6 months so i've not had time to acquire much 😉

[olive summit]

do you need to have worked for a full year to take your pay stubs to the Finanzamt and receive some money in taxes back?

[bold stump]

@olive summit no

[agile needle]

Hallo

[shadow ibex]

how does renewing a prepaid plan in germany work?

do you have to revisit the seller each time you want to renew?

[tight kelp]

usually they just suck money while you have it and when you don't they pester you with sms, no renewal

as far as i've experienced at least

[shadow ibex]

huh I see

not sure whether I should get prepaid or just a contract tbh

[bold onyx]

when applying for a job or internship, the career websites asks a ton of information, which is already present in the resume (but doesn't usually get filled properly)

Do we really need to fill of it?

or we can just skip it? (I mean how important it is to fill it? or do they just look at the documents?)

[wise obsidian]

yes, you do actually need to fill it out 😅

[polar charm]

as of my introduction in #introductions im going to uni soon, and i have some questions about the WG in Germany
as of some germany sites for searching for houses, they sometimes state that a "2er" WG costs 600 monthly
would that mean that 600 will be splitted between 2, so 300 each or would that be 600 per person

[hidden briar]

likely 2x300

[exotic barn]

https://www.kfw.de/inlandsfoerderung/Privatpersonen/Studieren-Qualifizieren/Finanzierungsangebote/KfW-Studienkredit-(174)/
does anyone have any experience with the student loans from KfW and could tell me a bit about it? is it reliable? are there better student loan institutes out there? EU student in Germany

[high lodge]

hello, does someone here live in a flat that has like combi thing for heating on a gas?

[tight kelp]

what do you mean by combi thing

[high lodge]

some kind of mix of boiler and chimney?

for heating

[high lodge]

or maybe its burner

[grave urchin]

Hello, What is the best network carrier which are suitable for international students who don’t use data much often as wifi is mostly available in university. Call rates should be good. Can anyone suggest me?

[olive summit]

ALDI Talk, easily most affordable. I have the year package which was only 60 euros, 12gb of data, unlimited calling/text within Germany.

carriers like Vodafone can be expensive

[grave urchin]

Are cross network carriers call also free of charge? How is roaming charges around EU?

[grave urchin]

@olive summit

[olive summit]

if they're in Germany it should be free of charge. I'm not sure about roaming since I'm too stingy to even attempt those lol

WhatsApp is really popular here and it's free to call practically anywhere as long as you're connected to wifi

[tight kelp]

there is no roaming in the eu

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/internet-telecoms/mobile-roaming-costs/index_en.htm

[grave urchin]

Thanks never knew about this thing

[terse delta]

I have a bit of a dilemma you guys. I’m apply for jobs and my German is really bad. I had my official cover letter translated to be more professional but on one of my applications there is a small section to write a little bit about yourself that is separate from the cover letter.
I want to write this myself so as not to be misleading about my level of understanding (I also state that I’m B1 in my Lebenslauf and cover letter). But I’m also aware that this is going to be the first thing they see before anything else and it will look like 4th grader wrote it.
I’m not sure what to do here.

[wise obsidian]

what kind of jobs are you applying for?

[terse delta]

I’m applying for an Ausbildung in technical drawing

[exotic barn]

12GB per month?

is this prepaid?

[olive summit]

per year

There are other packages with monthly data, but I dont use much and the yearly package is the most affordable

You get a starter packet at an ALDI, usually near the register, has a sim card and registration instructions

[grave urchin]

@olive summit are the calls really unlimited??

[exotic barn]

within Germany yes. quite a few providers have this option

[olive summit]

It's super helpful since I call for everything whether it be Stadtwerke, Ausländerbehörde, my Job, etc. obv way quicker than email

[shadow ibex]

how is aldi talk's signal quality?

I asked a friend to get me a SIM card and he got me aldi talk, but I'm a bit skeptical of the signal quality and was thinking of switching to O2 instead

[hallow oyster]

Afaik, that's the same network

My experience in Berlin in 2017 with aldi was that I had a signal when outside, in ubahn, but at home I had one spot only - old building, in the backyard, first floor, completely surrounded by buildings

Also, when going around the city by car for daily trips in villages around, Internet was gone and useless, like I had 2g/gprs and nothing was loading
Train trip to Hamburg, had a signal only at stations

When travelling abroad, in car, took a lot of km to switch to another network
In Croatia, my destination, it didn't switch for like 4 days or so

Went to telekom, never looked back, cost is insane, but only downtime I had when travelling by car to Croatia was in one big tunnel in Austria
Only where it doesn't work is in moving ubahn underground, In some stations you can get it
Speed in my home, measured this week 118/20 Mbps
My cable was 49/26 at the same time (video call and ps game running, and evening so many people watching TV, now is 400/18, I think my phone has 400 as a max, we pay for 1Gbps but only one device can come even close 😂 - another option was 100Mbps so yeah, no)

Yeah, price is insane, like 40-50 eur (I'm in family package and there was a phone once, so no clue about number for single person)
And I think I have just 4 GB a month 😂 or 6,something pathetic

But, when I need it, it's fast and reliable

Oh and aldi was completely useless when I was at meetup/conference where there was a few hundred people around
Telekom had zero issues on conference with several thousand people around (both in Berlin)

If I'd go prepaid, I'd check callya from Vodafone or congstar from telekom, if you want something not just for first few months

They're owned by big guys, not some random reseller
Priority on BTE stations go to people from that network, then child company, then everyone else

However, I'm not sure if they go to 4g, or any of the resellers
Telekom is 5g, if you have the phone for it

For signal, you can find maps per region for all 3 networks and see with which type of signal is covered

https://www.finanztip.de/handynetze/

Or you can use this

@shadow ibex

[shadow ibex]

oof, I didn't know they were on the same network

I heard really good things about 1&1 but I'm pretty sure they don't have a prepaid plan

nope, they're also on telefonica

[olive summit]

it's with Medionmobile and I've gotten reception even in rural farmlands

[exotic barn]

<@&305455824174710787>

[wise obsidian]

<@&305455824174710787>

[sick imp]

Oh that's odd.

The guy was banned and his messages in #general were deleted, idk what happened here. Thanks for the heads up!

[wise obsidian]

these trolls are always so unoriginal

[muted tangle]

Hey, can anyone who lives in germany help me about the restrictions regarding the travelling abroad

[zenith fog]

Nazi shit again? I'm disappointed

[abstract beacon]

Guten Tag

[dry arch]

I thought if you wrote that word it got deleted though

[silent pier]

hi

[zenith fog]

Judging by the 2 358 results I think you're wrong

[dry arch]

Oh

[zenith fog]

It would be kind of worrying if mentioning the word alone resulted in a deletion

would be a bit like deleting a sad part of history

it only gets deleted if used in a hateful way

[dry arch]

Yeah but by the mods

I meant I thought the bot would do it

Because mods can see deleted messages anyway

[polar charm]

I'm currently a 12th grader Ausländer learning in Germany and I have some trouble looking for an appropriate uni
As far as I've researched I found these unis

TUM
LMU
Frankfurt UAS
Goethe Uni Frankfurt
which all offers the bachelor of science program in informatics, in which I am interested
My mother although wants me to learn in Munich because after the Studium i can easily get a job with their diploma. On the other side I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to graduate cause Munich offers higher education quality and thus higher expectations.
So I need some suggestions/judgement from some native speakers who is learning/had learnt at one of those 4 unis above - which one should I choose? (I know that I can apply for all of them)

[dry ravine]

just wondering do you meet the language requirements?

[polar charm]

yes I've been learning in Germany for 4yrs

[dry arch]

I‘ve never studied in Munich but Munich is a really amazing city imo

[dusky oracle]

Would people in Schweiz understand me if I spoke regular German?

[solemn bay]

Yes.

If the person speaks German.

[crude thicket]

i live in zürich, you can speak hochdeutsch and be understood completely fine
when they reply in swiss german you might have trouble understanding tho 😅

[bold stump]

I did my phd in bioinformatics at Goethe Uni. Nice city, good uni.

[dusky oracle]

I was thinking of German-speaking Schweiz.

[exotic barn]

What the fuck does leben unterm dach mean?

@exotic barn you fear being deported back in your country?

hmm

I don't think failing an exam can cause that

[tight kelp]

also kind of a rude way to pose a question but ok

[exotic barn]

Im sorry im pissed

what county are you even from?

why do you fear going back there

Because my professor threatening to kick me outta germany

[tight kelp]

??? he can't do that

[exotic barn]

your professor has no authority

[tight kelp]

also what the fuck kinda professor says shit like that

report him

[exotic barn]

I just wanted to say that

he's probably a racist ngl

Im from iran

than he's a racist

probably someone who likes the afd n stuff

report him if possible

btw you cannot be deported for not passing a test

as long as you have a residency permit or asylum you're free to stay here

He calls me idiot everytime in class prolly hates me

what

As a true german would now say: erstatte ne Anzeige wegen Beleidigung

What dows that mean

ohhh are you a complete beginner?

Yes

Im in first year

oh I see

just report it to the police, insults like that can already mean that he has to pay a high fine

allthough it can be hard to achieve that with only a little german knowledge

do you have friends that could help you?

[solemn bay]

I don't know for sure, but I believe it's a requirement of the student visa that you complete a certain amount of credits each semester. I'm not sure how failing an exam works into that, but it may cause an issue with that requirement.

[exotic barn]

hmm idk exactly. But he should definitely go to the police because that Prof doesn't seem like he's a nice guy...

[solemn bay]

True.

[fringe summit]

Hey guys! Just a short question for those of you who have taken a C1 exam (testDaF, goethe, telec etc)

Im just wondering about the kind of environment and time period you guys had before sitting the test. How long did you need to prepare for it and did you also have work or uni during that time? Did you take a course beforehand, specific to the exam, or to a C level, or did you self-study?

Feel free to add any other points if youd like to share

This question is applicable to any language exam too, doesnt need to be german specifically

[wise obsidian]

curious about this too, for when i eventually get around to taking it 👀

you may find this fella's overview of how he passed C2 interesting: http://brianjx.altervista.org/GermanC2exam.html

[exotic barn]

theres no mention of that on mine. it just says it's valid as long as im still enrolled at uni. failing a single exam 3 times leads to expulsion though, and with that, the student visa becomes invalid too afaik.

[tight kelp]

wow that's kinda harsh 👀

all the more reason to report the bastard though

[shadow ibex]

I also agree, very unprofessional (and racist!) to do that as well

[exotic barn]

i did the testdaf. i attended courses until the b1+ level but after that it was just self-study. i think around 2-3 months later i did the testdaf, but i also did the telc B2 in between. i prepared for testdaf using Übungstests and a bunch of YT vids on preparation for the exams. Deutsch mit Marija was the most helpful at the time since she makes videos specifically for the tests. i wasnt working at the time so i had a lot of time to spend on preparation

[fringe summit]

Wow thats really intense

The übungstests are definitely a must, Deutsch mit Marija sounds like a good resource too

So would you say you spent about 2 months intensivly preparing for it?

[exotic barn]

yea i think the testdaf was just a matter of knowing the test patterns and remembering a bunch of redemittel to use for the writing and speaking parts

[exotic barn]

yea

[fringe summit]

Offfttitty oft

Thats big

My housemates has been prepping for an english test lately, she did about 2-3 months with a test specific course

(She nailed it btw practically full marks)

Where i live, the closest insitute which runs testDaF has one date available

Which is early June. Im mostly trying to scope out if its possible to pass that, whilst also handling full-time uni

[fringe summit]

That doesnt seem to bad

[exotic barn]

that was 3y ago though so idk if the tests are still run the same way

[shadow ibex]

how was testdaf compared to telc?

were the questions of the same type or?

[exotic barn]

sorry i dont remember much about the content but i think the testdaf is probably the easiest of the C1 level tests. (again, speaking of my experience from 3y ago. things couldve changed by now.)

especially with the amount of prep resources available as well

[tropic edge]

I did TestDaF after B2, with a month of test prep. There are two books I used, Fit für den TestDaF and Prüfungstraining 2015. The Musterprüfungen are definitely worthy of mention. There are a few youtube channels dedicated to the exam/ teachers who prepare students for it/ people who have passed it, sharing their knowledge. As most tests usually are, if you are familiar with the structure and know how the marks are awarded, you could overshoot your level and land a higher level than you actually are.

[fringe summit]

Also a very helpful answer! Thank you 🙏

With after B2 do you mean a b2 test, or after a course, or after you thought you got to that level

[tropic edge]

after a course, i was definitely not B2 level after finishing that course. B1 at best haha

but yeah, by the end of my exam prep I was probably around B2. I scored a total of 18 points on the test

[fringe summit]

Sounds like you put in the hours between then and the test

18/20?

[tropic edge]

yup

[fringe summit]

Hot stuff

Which was the hardest part?

Or required the most effort

[tropic edge]

not really, test prep is by far the easiest part. Its just drills and making sure your skills are honed. I'm a really weak note-taker for instance, needed to work on that a lot more than my reading.

[fringe summit]

Note taking while listening?

Cause thats hard

[tropic edge]

yeah for the 3 part of the listening its basically note taking from longer excerpts that are kind of difficult.

there has been a reform of the test in the past year I think

[fringe summit]

Ill have to have a look into it

[fringe summit]

I hope that got changed, im very bad at that, even in english

[tropic edge]

depending in what is offered in the center near you, there is a digital format and a paper-based format

[tropic edge]

its definitely a lot harder than it seems

[fringe summit]

Information overload

👍 it’s probably manageable with some practice

[tropic edge]

100%, I scored a 5 on the listening part, even tho I thought I absolutely bombed the third part.

my problem was being able to focus on listening and taking down words at the same time.

[exotic barn]

18/20 damn bruh

good stuff

[tropic edge]

thanks, now phase two is actually managing university :(((

[fringe summit]

Ive done a test like this before, i read what i wrote afterwards and it was so grammatically wrong

So great stuff on nailing it!

[tropic edge]

well, luckily the test isn't too strict about grammar. Unless you've made an error that changes the meaning of the sentence (think switching dativ and akkusative with verbs that take both) you will be fine

[humble bough]

Can you find documentation of such a requirement somewhere? I've never seen it listed as a requirement anywhere, there's no mechanism that I'm aware of for the Ausländerbehörde to even keep track of this, and I've had semesters where I did not complete any credits and have not had something like this brought up. You need to prove that you're enrolled at an appropriate institution to receive a student visa, but someone from iran studying in germany already has that because they need it to get into the country, and I can't find any reference to taking a certain number of credits per semester in at least the English-language official sources.

[tropic edge]

there is definitely something about not graduating within Regelstudienzeit, at my last renewal the guy told me if you don't finish within 4 years, we probably need to have a talk about that. Not sure exactly what he meant, but there is definitely a requirement somewhere.

[humble bough]

graduating within a certain period of time is different from taking a certain number of credits per semester tho

ofc in practice they're very connected, but it makes the professor's threats to kick them out of the country much more detached from reality, unless he's their program head or smth

'cause like, you can absolutely fail a course and not lose your student visa, and a professor threatening a foreign student like that is solely racism that should be reported to p much anyone you can report it to because wtf

[tropic edge]

a prof has very little to do with getting anyone kicked out of uni anyway

[humble bough]

yeah I mean the threat probably doesn't have much teeth but if anything that makes it worse to threaten them with 😬

also lol I'm already well outside my Regelstudienzeit thank god the ausländerbehörde gave me a longer visa when I first applied

even if they did it because they're overwhelmed and just didn't wanna see me back soon

[tropic edge]

besides I think most unis have this system where if push comes to shove and you are about to drop out, they give you the option to sit for a spoken exam with the professor and that is usually magnitudes easier than sitting for the paper.

[olive summit]

The visa and residence permit are not issued simultaneously for everyone. For people from countries that dont have visa-free agreements with DE they are given a visa allowing entrance into the country (after showing proof of admittance to a program) which usually gives them about 3 months to apply for a residence permit and settle in.

[tropic edge]

its been goooood. they haven't been picky about blocked accounts and stuff lately too

[exotic barn]

yikes thats rough

i think it depends on the uni? some have a limit beyond the Regelstudienzeit

[tropic edge]

it definitely depends on the uni and state where you get your paper issued

[olive summit]

do they give student visas for part-time students? I assumed you had to be full-time, could be another minimum requirement with the credits.

[tropic edge]

I think that is the catch, the part-time or full-time has to do with the regelstudienzeit not the number of credits per semester. I could be completely wrong here but that is how i understood it.

[olive summit]

I've only held a student visa during my exchange program and as a Studentischebewerber so I dont think I've ever had to confront that

[tropic edge]

part-time students cannot be international students as far as I know

[humble bough]

I'm not really aware of what makes you count as part-time vs. full-time as a student in Germany -- my paperwork has called me a full-time student regardless of how many credits I'd taken, how many semesters I'd taken (within or past the regelstudienzeit), whether I worked a minijob in addition to my studies. so idk how that even works.

[olive summit]

the "full-time" status is distinguished by the program usually and I guess the ABH simply goes off that

the reason students are only allowed to work part time/minijobs is because being a student is considered a "full time" job

[humble bough]

oh yeah that much I know I just was never sure what counted as a full-time status because in the US it's definitely based on how many credits you take but here it definitely is not

from what I can tell the hard limit is 2x the regelstudienzeit at my university, at least from what I've heard from other students taking longer (p much no one graduates within the regelstudienzeit for my program), so my instinct is that the ausländerbehörde would have a similar perspective

but who knows they gave me 1.5x my regelstudienzeit on my visa to begin with

[olive summit]

friends of mine have definitely pushed beyond the maximum allowed working hours, as well as taking on multiple jobs

one even satisfied the proof of financing by having his part time job have a higher pay on his documents lol

[humble bough]

lmao wow

I know the working hours thing has a lot of weird caveats that aren't super clear (like, working for the university doesn't count? or smth? idk I never understand that stuff)

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[olive summit]

nah it definitely does count I had a mini job at a research institute on campus

theres some loopholes if your boss is willing to "embellish" your pay like what my friend was able to do

[humble bough]

nah like it doesn't count towards your yearly limit on days worked as a non-eu student or smth

I don't remember exactly which subcategory of uni jobs count for that though, it never came up for me because I worked wayyy less than that

[olive summit]

it was a weekly limit for me not yearly

[crude thicket]

Have a question to those in Switzerland, Is there a recommended place to look for Hausarzt to register at?
I moved here 4 months ago and I'm trying to figure out a good Hausarzt near me, but not sure whats a recommend source to for this
(i live in zurich for context)

[exotic barn]

Do I need anything else?

@remote ravine

but theres probably an entry restriction these days

But do I have to pay tourist taxes?

i think u can get a tax refund. im not sure how that stuff works though

https://www.germany.info/us-en/service/09-Taxes/vat-refund/906296 heres a link that could help.

Thank you

ah wait i think that might be specifically for the US.

https://canada.diplo.de/ca-en/consular-services/08-OtherConsularServices/vat-return/1117838

here's for canada

Oh so different countries have different contracts or something

Do you guys have amazon there?

yes

amazon prime

yes

awesome

[exotic barn]

https://www.doctorfmh.ch/list-results
i did find this site. its basically a directory of Ärzte in Switzerland and you can see the info of any specific Hausarzt, like their Qualifications and stuff. no ratings however. since i dont live there i cant really help more than this. maybe having a look at the google ratings might help

[crude thicket]

ill give this a shot thank u !

[hallow oyster]

In germany im using doctolib.de and jameda.de maybe there's something similar

System with reviews
Also, google reviews

I found mine that way, checked his website and all reviews and I do that for any doc I need, mostly successful

[crude thicket]

honestly i checked google reviews and i didnt trust ngl

but i found a link off of the first one so i will try that

[dry ravine]

anyone knows the tax brackets in germany?

[humble bough]

jsyk, amazon.de and amazon.com prime memberships don't cross over. they're totally separate. If you're moving you need to cancel your old prime membership and buy a new one in europe.

[olive summit]

if your foreign drivers license is expired can you still convert it to a German one?

[exotic barn]

nope

i was reading about it yesterday ill try and find it again

[olive summit]

well I know it is equivalent but do I actually have to renew it lol

kind of inconvenient

[exotic barn]

https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html

[olive summit]

that's driving on a foreign license, not getting a German one

[exotic barn]

oo my bad

on the same page, but if your license was issued by a EU or EEA state

[olive summit]

well its American and from the state of Maryland, like I said I know I can convert it directly I just need a translation from ADAC

just hoping the fact it expired isn't an issue

[orchid oyster]

MMDD -> DDMM might still work 🤣

Driving in Germany is pure joy. I hope you won't have an issue

[olive summit]

Haha, yeah I hope so too. Been biking to work and it's a bit much 10km each way.

I drove a bit in NL so I'm fairly used to European roads

[orchid oyster]

I'd say that's good exercise. Some of my colleagues in Germany ride about the same distance everyday. I found it significantly different than US where I drive my car for a few hundred meters :/

[olive summit]

My body has gotten used to it by now, might get an electric bike in the meantime to help with hills.

[hallow oyster]

https://www.einkommenssteuertabelle.de/#Einkommensteuer-Grundtabelle

Germany doesn't have simple tax brackets, in terms of like having just 2-3 of them; they have them by percentage, so they have all of them from 0 to 35%
grundtabelle is for single person, splittabelle is for a couple if they're doing taxes as a single unit

[dry ravine]

I figured it out thanks 🙂

[exotic barn]

@fading island hier kannst du deine Frage stellen

[hard delta]

Guys does anyone know is international students pay taxes in Germany

[olive summit]

no

the Rundfunkbeitrag is technically a "tax" but that is charged to every apartment and is usually split up amongst the students living together

[hard delta]

Do you know what is Verpflichtungserklärung and how does it work

[olive summit]

that is the deceleration of financial support, typically from a relative or guardian. It is used to fulfill the financing requirement for your time in Germany as a student.

[hard delta]

I don't have relatives there and no German friends where i can find someone who does that for me and i will give him money

[olive summit]

if there isnt a direct relative/guardian living in the country i believe the only option is to have the money in a blocked bank account

or if you receive a stipend of some sort

[dry ravine]

hey guys, is it a typical scam when renting, where the landlord says they're out of germany, but they do the renting through an airbnb agent

[olive summit]

yes we were scammed and they used that exact same story

anyone on Immoscout claiming to rent through Airbnb is a scam

[hallow oyster]

Anyone 'out of germany' or asking money before giving keys (especially if they didn't saw you or you didn't see the flat) is a scam
You come, you see (together with dozens of other people), (you wait until you get approved), you pay deposit (part of it) you sign the contract, get keys (and pay the rest of deposit and first month of rent)

Of course, if viewings are online, and student WG (shared flat) it might vary a bit
But unless you're the first one for the empty flat (then proceed as above), you should definitely ask for video call with all other tenants and walk through the flat

In short if it sounds too good to be true, it's probably scam
If it smells fishy, it probably is

Oh and 'you have 5 minutes to decide', skip that
You want someone who won't impose crazy deadlines on you (in case it's not scam, but most probably it is)
Yes, competition is crazy, but normal people still give you time to decide and send you contract and are available for further clarifications

If in doubt, share here and people will share their thoughts

I've rented through some agency (recommended by company my partner got a job with), wunderflats, and only thing we did was exchange paperwork and signing contracts
Money was on site when we saw the flat and got the keys
Airbnb has also long term rents but afaik, money is reserved but not transfered until you either confirm that all is ok or you don't react and is automatically considered ok and then they start transferring the money monthly

So, unless you have airbnb link for the flat and ability to choose the option for long term rent, it's not airbnb :)

Airbnb doesn't have agents

There are people who play agents for other people who don't want to bother with airbnb, but then those listings are in the name of that agent and they clearly state which property is under which owner

And in that case you wouldn't talk to landlord at all, but with agent :)
I did that for a vacation rental, so it's legit, but has to be fully transparent and all is done through airbnb site directly

@dry ravine

[dry ravine]

the sketchiest part of it is the price i feel, since it's comparatively cheap for an apartment that is rather big

alright after reverse searching the images i got it's an airbnb in france

thanks for the tips @hallow oyster

how do i report the scam then

[hallow oyster]

I have no clue on which platform you saw it, but check if platform has report button or support email

But yes, reverse search images is really good way to detect common scammers

[dry ravine]

alright all good 👍

[wise obsidian]

so, i'm seeing in the news that DM and pharmacies and the like will be offering free schnelltests from monday. anyone know if we can get a piece of paper from those confirming that we're negative? i'm trying to figure out what to do about getting tested before i travel.

[humble bough]

I know the person who answered you said no but just to be thorough, if you work at all while you're studying, you absolutely do pay taxes on that income. The no only applies to your blocked bank account money or stipend.

[olive summit]

you only pay income tax if you make over a certain amount, otherwise it's just the usual taxes from your paycheck (insurance, etc.)

[cloud anchor]

Hey, I have a question about education

I moved to Germany from Croatia 2 years ago and I have Schulabschluss and Abi

From Croatia tho, not from Germany

I have b2 zertificat, wanna do c1 soon

How hard would it be for me to go to some kind of a university here in Germany? I have even seen some kind of duales studium

Anyone has some kind of experience with this?

[fleet pelican]

@cloud anchor with the c1/c2 certificate you're fine, just please make sure to check the individual requirements of each uni as in the past few years it has varied widely. Some charge admission fees for EU students, some need B2, some need C2, some need entrance exams etc. etc.

there is no general advice we can give other than you can absolutely qualify for just about everything, but not for every university.

[fringe summit]

I saw one uni that accepts testDaF (4s), telec C1 but Goethe C2

The goethe c1 certificate was not good enough for them.

So they vary a lot