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Get 10 passport photos made ASAP. You will need:
Find the web site of the nearest German consulate to you in the USA (for instance, mine was in Houston, Texas), and read the visa application information carefully. Don't trust the visa application form on the Web site to be the latest, however, unless you call the consulate first and confirm that it is, indeed, the latest, proper form. Have your employer or the university where you will study in Germany send information about your employment or university registration to the German consulate nearest you at least once month before your departure from the USA. Your German employer or university MUST do this for you to get an extended visa! Have your employer or the university in Germany copy you on any material they send the consulate, and tell the employer or university to send you confirmation that the information has been sent (and, again, if you are looking for a job in Germany, I CAN'T HELP YOU so don't email me and ask for help). Go to the nearest German consulate in person three weeks before you go to Germany and after your employer or university in Germany confirms to you that they have sent your information to the consulate. If you cannot go in-person, call the consulate and get EXACTLY the right information on how to proceed (don't rely on their web site information). You will need to give them two passport photos, a look at your actual passport, and a processing fee (so take cash, in small bills -- they won't take checks or credit cards, and have trouble making change). Make sure your employer or university has given the consulate information about your employment or studies BEFORE you contact the consulate!! Tell every person you know that you are moving to Germany -- co-workers, friends, family, neighbors. You never know where it will lead. I have met many friends-of-friends here because I let so many people know I was moving here (and it's how I found a completely furnished apartment -- the rarest of rare things -- in Bonn, a mile from where I worked, before I even arrived here). Explore on the Internet as much as you can about your new home. I found so many great resources online that helped me know what to do before I came here, and to know what to do once I arrived. PLEASE, before you write me with a question, read through these sites first. Buy a detailed travel book or two about Germany as well; I strongly recommend Lonely Planet Germany. The web is great, and as noted above, you should use it, but even the most reliable and durable and lightweight laptop or PDA just isn't as durable and reliable as a paper BOOK when you are traveling. PLEASE, before you write me with a question, buy and read Lonely Planet Germany (or whatever detailed travel book you go with) FIRST. It will give you information on electrical plug-ins, safety, holidays, customs, and on and on and on. My Lonely Planet Germany has saved my life oh-so-many times. Now, even my German husband uses it when we go somewhere in-country. Buy a "how to speak German" CD set, and start listening to them ASAP. Learning even just five or 10 basic words and phrases before you arrive will help you SO MUCH ("thank you," "please," "excuse me," "where is...," "do you have...", "My German is not good," etc.). Also, buy a small German phrase book that you can carry around with you easily (Berlitz and Lonely Planet have terrific pocket-sized phrase books), AND a German-English/English-German dictionary. Even if you will be on short-term assignment and don't plan on really learning the language, you will need these things (I take my dictionary with me to museums, for instance, to help with descriptions; or to stores if I'm looking for something specific). I did not listen to my "how to speak German" CDs before I came, and I deeply, deeply regret it. People are so much nicer and helpful to you here if you know even just those five aforementioned phrases in German. I could have made my life so much easier if I'd listened to them even 20 minutes a day for the two weeks before I left. Keep a mailing address in the USA, even if you are selling your house. Ask your parents, siblings or a really close friend if they would be willing to be your "permanent" address in the U.S. and periodically receive mail for you. I keep a P.O. Box back in Texas, which a friend maintains for me; she forwards my mail from there, deposits checks for me, let's local officials know that, no, I can't serve on jury duty, etc. Keep a U.S. bank account open. If your current bank doesn't allow online banking, look for another bank and transfer your money to a new account. Online banking is SUCH a blessing for people living abroad... you will need it to pay any bills you have back in the USA (storage, insurance, credit card, etc.). Clothes: take winter clothes (sweaters, thick socks, etc.), and anything that works well in the rain. Take shoes you like to walk in and don't mind getting wet. Leave the t-shirts and sweatshirts with ads and slogans and logos on them at home (well, take a *few*), unless you really, really want to broadcast you are from the USA at all times, or won't have enough clothes to wear otherwise. Plain t-shirts and sweatshirts are a much better idea. Pack one of those all-in-one tools, like a screw driver that comes with six different heads and could fit in your purse. Take a swiss army knife too. These two items will come in very handy as you put together furniture and open boxes. But remember that these must be in your CHECKED luggage (cargo), NOT in your carry-on luggage. Yes, you can buy such here, but you will be so happy to have such right away, without having to go track such down in your first days here. Your priority upon getting to Germany is going to be finding a place to live. If you can make any kind of arrangements beforehand, GO FOR IT -- such as a friend in Germany sending you a list of apartments to look at, and contact information for these apartments, before you arrive. Your best bet: going to Germany a month or even TWO before you actually move there and finding a place to live. Apartment search companies here are very expensive. It's rare to see "for rent" signs in windows in Germany. And apartments usually come completely unfurnished (no kitchen cabinets, no stove, no closets, sometimes no floor). So budget plenty of time and money to deal with this. Money: - you usually CANNOT get American coins exchanged for Euros, except at the airport.
- banks and money exchange places in Germany are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, and for lunch every weekday.
- many banks will not allow you to exchange money there unless you have an account there
- If you can, get some Euros before you arrive (your bank will have information). If not, get some cash at the airport when you arrive from an ATM.
- Most ATM cards work in Germany! ATMs are everywhere in Germany, and you get a very decent exchange rate when you make a withdrawal! Again, get some cash at the airport when you arrive.
- Travelers checks are best used at banks, to get Euros, NOT for buying things (most places won't take them).
If you are an avid or even occasionally reader, take plenty of reading material in your native language, and make arrangements for English-language books to be sent to you from friends in the U.S. if the local German train station book store doesn't have a good selection of English books (the larger the train station, the better the English book selection). Some bookstores carry English books, and most will order specific titles for you. And you can order books-in-English as well from Amazon.de. Even if you have a TV, the only English-language station you will get is probably CNN International (and BBC International if you are lucky; and MSNBC if you are REALLY lucky, and then you get to watch reruns of Conan on the weekends). Look into cable packages after you arrive, for more English-language selections (especially if NCAA basketball is important to you). And if you bring DVDs, remember that you have to have a special DVD player to play American DVDs (region 1), so take one of your USA DVDS to the store with you here in Germany and test any machine you want to buy BEFORE you buy. More than likely, you are going to end up with a completely unfurnished apartment. In addition to trying to buy a kitchen, I strongly suggest you buy a TV and/or a CD player soon after you arrive. Particularly if you are going to Germany alone, or will be alone for long periods of time while your spouse is at work. It will go a long way at keeping loneliness at bay. Make sure the video player plays US videotapes, and the DVD player plays region 1 DVDs. Get a map of your city as soon as possible. Any hotel should be able to provide this to you. If not, then go to the nearest tourist information center, train station or bookstore. Get one that shows bus and train lines. If you can find one that shows bike paths (usually available in bike shops), all the better. Find a German friend who will call Deutsche Telecom for you to make arrangements for your phone service, or find the nearest Deutsche Telecom office and go for an in-person visit (you will be able to find someone who speaks English this way, and get better service). And don't even think you are going to have a home phone, let alone home ISP connection, anytime in the first two-four weeks you are there. Maybe not even the first month. Deutsche Telecom is slower than molasses in February. You do have other phone and ISP options besides Deutsche Telecom in Germany, but if you don't speak the language, you may have a very hard time with them. Leave your electronics at home. Sell them or give them away or put them in storage. Buy your electronics here (lamps, CD players, cell phone, etc.). It's cheaper and easier -- the electrical currents and plugs are all different here. The only electronic devices I could advise bringing are your laptop computer, your portable hard drive, a new digital camera or an MP3 portable player if you already own such. If you bring a computer to Germany (and I suggest doing this ONLY if you have a laptop -- otherwise, buy one here), you will need (and you can get these in Germany easily, at Woolworth's or Globus, for instance): - an electrical adapter, to allow you to plug your computer in to an electrical outlet (you don't need anything specifically for a computer, as long as you are plugging it all into a surge protector).
- an adapter for analog phone lines. You need either a TAE-F or TAE-N. Actually, it's better to get both! They are less than five Euros each. Or you can get an adapter that has both of these inputs, plus "Western" style outlet to plug in your computer as is (so you can plug in more than one thing to your phone line at once). And it's a good idea to take a piece of paper with TAE-F and TAE-N written on it (even if a salesperson understands English, they may not understand what you mean by a phone line adapter).
A note about electrical adapters: while they are very easy to find here, they don't fit "funky" plugs. For instance, my iPod electrical wire does not fit any European electrical adapter; luckily, I can power it up by plugging it into my laptop. Plugs in Germany are often round and sunken, as are their adapters, and that means that, for instance, most cell phone power cords will NOT fit into an adapter. That's yet another reason to leave the electronics behind and just buy new ones here. If you take CDs, put the jewel cases in storage; just go to Target or some other store and buy CD notebooks, that allow you to put CDs in sleeves. OR, convert them all to MPEGs and take them on CDs or your laptop or MP3 player (like an iPod). I came to Germany in the era before iPods, and brought 150 CDs reduced down to two simple notebooks that I brought in my luggage (no jewel cases). I'm so glad I did! Listening to "my" music helped tremendously in adjusting to my new home. Germans listen to a lot of American pop music, so leave the rock classics and dance stuff at home -- you will hear plenty on the radio or be able to buy here. I brought lots of country and western, old time, blues and indy bands, because they are very hard to find here. MAKE FRIENDS. Yes, you've heard again and again that Germans can be polite but distant. But many are quite friendly and social (particularly during Carnival!). Clubs abound in Germany, for every activity and interest, and many welcome English-speakers. Also, befriend all the other expatriates you work with or live with, regardless of where they are from. They are in the same boat as you, and are usually quite happy to welcome you into their circle of friends. If you don't work with expatriates, then frequent stores and restaurants owned by such. Look on the Internet for American movies shown in original form in your area -- that's a great way to meet other English speakers. Walk every day (even if you don't have dogs). Walking is a German custom, and it is the best way to enjoy your new home. Walk around the building you live in, walk around your neighborhood, choose a street to walk down as far as you can and back. Explore, explore, explore! You will find groceries, restaurants, cafes, pet stores, dry cleaners, electronics stores, wine and beer shops, bike shops -- and lots of fun things you weren't even looking for. Sunday is the most important walking day in Germany. If you walk at the same time every Sunday, you will become a fixture, and Germans will be much friendlier to you -- they might even try to have a conversation. Pick a cafe, a pub, or a restaurant to visit regularly. Make it your hang out, particularly if the folks you work with aren't very social. You can sit at a table and read over a cup of coffee or beer all day if you want -- it's quite normal here. Having a regular hang out will help you feel a part of the culture, and may even lead to a friendship. Personally, I find that the best hangouts are the places owned by expatriates, regardless of what country they are from (one of my favorite places is a restaurant owned by a Pakistani family here); they see you as one of "them," and the Germans who go there will probably speak excellent English and be more "open." People are people the world over -- most are very kind and are happy to help a person in need. If you need help, ask. If that person can't or won't help, ask someone else. In Germany, you may end up asking four or five people before you find someone to help. But just keep asking, if you have to. Keep a journal! Send lots of postcards! Take lots of photos! Share this incredible experience with family and friends back home! It will make you feel better about what you are experiencing as well. If you get out every day for a walk, have reading material, have something to watch or listen to after work, and get into some kind of regular rhythm every day, you are going to be FINE. And once you get Internet access, you can listen to American radio shows, read USA news, e-mail all your family and friends regularly, etc. The Internet in particular will make your transition easier (particularly if you are moving alone, or moving because of your spouse's job or studies). |
