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dooshy posted:I'm from Texas, haven't been to Germany yet but studied the language in high school and made a lot of german friends while traveling in South America. I never figured out why, but it seems that about half of tourists in Ecuador are German. Just odd considering how far away it is and how few Americans or other europeans there are there in proportion to germans. And I hardly ever see Germans traveling in the U.S. outside of new york, why not? It's cheaper for you these days, and who doesn't want to see Texas? That said, I loved a lot of the german girls I met and still talk to several of them. I joke some about the stereotypes, particularly acting like most Americans who know so little of Germany apart from nazis and oktoberfest, and they don't seem to get it though. I told a girl in Berlin that I would wear lederhosen the whole time I was there so I could fit in, and she knows that I know Berlin is not at all like Bavaria, but she still seems to think I was serious. My take on this: -Ecuador: Germans like to travel and lots of people have that vision of going to south america and experiencing different culture etc., and Ecuador has Galapagos which is a big attraction. Also, many Germans don't really want to meet other Germans while travelling, so going to far away places is pretty common. So the US is basically too easy to get to and people have seen it all on TV anyway. -jokes: I noticed on the internet, that quite a lot of Germans aren't very good at picking up on jokes or sarcasm. Combined with the general assumption that US-americans don't know poo poo about Europe, that reaction doesn't surprise me much. So if you make some sarcastic comment half the Germans would tell you how "that is actually not correct and it really is like this ... " (I catch myself doing this sometimes, probably there is some German instinct to correct people on their misconceptions or mistakes, that overrides sense of humour), one quarter will not get it and the other quarter would laugh.
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Dec 15, 2009 21:39
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dooshy posted:Why do germans giggle every time I and other americans say "schnitzel?" Hope you're not pronouncing it "Schniedel".
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Dec 28, 2009 19:27
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Yestermoment posted:Is there any German-based music that is popular in Germany? Be it a certain group/artist or a certain genre? A friend of mine recently introduced me to a group by the name Wir Sind Helden. And as a german student, I especially admire them. I'm curious if there are any other hidden musical gems in Germany. Well "German-based" music from most genres is popular in Germany, Indie, Rock, some Hip Hop has been mentioned by the other guys. Then there's of course electronic stuff e.g. Digitalism as well lots of techno and trance stuff (this was big in the 90s). Another Hip Hop group I'd recommend are K.I.Z., a bit strange humour, but great punchlines+music. Schlager is really popular radio & party music, e.g. Roland Kaiser. Most of the classics of this are from the 70s and 80s and 3 in 4 people can sing along. It is kind of uncool though, so outside of the focus of MTV & co or the general media and I have no idea if good new stuff comes out any more. In metal, hardcore, jazz, r'n'b, pop, blues the most popular bands are probably from other countries, but there's good local stuff also, just ask for specifics. Folk music is popular with old people, but I guess sort of blending together with Schlager atm.
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Jan 22, 2010 20:22
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Depends on how crazy you look while whistling. It's not common for people to whistle out on the street, but people won't really think anything of it.
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Jan 22, 2010 20:45
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At my university Chinese are the biggest group of foreign students, but many of them are either not willing to or not able to find a job in Germany. At universities or other research institutes there is a rather large number of foreign staff, so this is probably your best bet. If you are actually decent at your profession and have made at least some connections, I think it should be possible to find a job at lots of other companies, too (talking mostly about engineering/IT here). Speaking German is a big plus.
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Mar 2, 2010 00:15
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What's ESL? English as second language? If you want to go into teaching, you could study that and become a regular teacher. They are not low-paid at all (though heavily taxed is a given) and being miserable or a dead-end job has more to do with your atttitude, I guess?
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Mar 2, 2010 19:13
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Yah, with 700 Euro per month you'll be OK in most places for a student lifestyle (shared flat/dorm, not too much expensive food, etc). For expensive places like Munich you might need a bit more to live comfortably. And I'm not really clear anymore about what you actually want to do. You just want to study? Great, come on over and try it! Or you want to find a decent job? That's harder without any contacts.
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Mar 3, 2010 00:37
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Gail Wynand posted:Pretty much wear the same things you would in the US. There are some differences, but nothing major. For example, cargo pants are a much more acceptable fashion option in Germany. A few notes: -Please don't show up to lectures in pyjamas or sweat pants, cheers. -Most stores accept German debit cards (maybe not credit cards, or only with fee), so if you want to play with plastic a lot, get one of those. -If you're in University, finding people to hang out with shouldn't be a problem. Just don't expect people to start talking to you without a reason, that's not the way we do things.  I hope you're here in June already, so you can experience the world cup feeling. Otherwise do as Gail Wynand said and go to lots of other places, eg Hamburg, Dresden, München, Prague.
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Mar 4, 2010 20:41
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Fasheem posted:You have successfully scared me away from Munich, not that I was ever really considering it in the first place. If you want cheap, you can go to East Germany, you should be able to find a dorm room in most cities for ~200 Euro (except for Berlin, they are pretty booked out, I hear). Or a room in a WG for similar or even lower price. Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Potsdam, Ilmenau, Chemnitz, Magdeburg have good to OK universities IMO. The €500 charge doesn't say much, it's just dependent on the federal state.
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Mar 14, 2010 17:58
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Ziir posted:I just got accepted into RWTH Aachen for a masters program so I'm pretty excited for that. No word on funding, but assuming that I'm not funded, what kind of job could I get as an American to pay some bills? For work, I would look at student jobs in your department first, they are usually not very hard and a good way to make some contacts. Master students mostly do classes, labs, etc for the first couple of semesters and usually some big research project a.k.a. master thesis at the end, but that depends a lot on what you study. As for the city: It is a not very big and not very exciting city with poo poo weather (always cloudy and lots of rain). The whole Rhein-Ruhr area is mostly known for the heavy industry and coalmining. Historically, Aachen was significant in the times of Holy Roman Empire and before, but wiki is probably better at explaining this. The RWTH is a top University though, great that you got in there.And you don't need to be concerned about not speaking much German, lots of people speak English and you will probably build up on your base knowledge very fast, too.
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Mar 28, 2010 19:46
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Haha, I didn't mean to say it is super boring or something, just not a place with tons of options for every subculture like the big cities. There's students, so there's bound to be parties. And yeah, getting to other towns is easy, so you can get around, too.
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Mar 29, 2010 19:40
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Tricolor posted:As far as East Germany goes, what sort of things one can engage in around May-June? I'm talking about something apart from the typical tourist attractions. (If it makes any difference, I'm interested in Leipzig) Well you can start things of with some nice 1st of May riots then celebrate Himmelfahrt on 13th (a day where all the men go out to get drunk), join the dark folks at the Wave-Gothic-Treffen in Leipzig on Pentecost and experience the world cup feeling throughout june! I don't really know what you're looking for, but summer is usually the time for all kinds of street festivals, music festivals etc. If you're going to Leipzig, I would also suggest visiting Dresden sometimes. There's stuff like Dixieland Jazz festival, Bunte Republik Neustadt (cool street festival) or just chilling out and having a BBQ on the Elbe banks with this kind of view: 
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Apr 3, 2010 00:25
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What do you mean with technical institute? Fachhochschule?
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Apr 11, 2010 16:25
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Ziir posted:I'm not that poster but from what I understand, there are "universities" (University of X), "technical universities" (TUM), and "universities of applied sciences" or Fachhochschulen. Yeah, unis focus a bit more on research and theory in the teaching, while FHs take an approach more focused on applying skills. They have stricter curriculums and exam plans (even though this has become more common in Unis, too, with the introduction of the master and bachelor programs for engineering). Usually, the FH programs are also shorter (e.g. 4 vs 5 years). All of the top engineering schools are universities, so if you are looking for top research you wont find that at FHs normally. If you want to go into industry later, the difference is not so big, I would say. If you apply for a job at a german company, a university degree might get preferred to FH degree somewhat (even make a difference in terms of pay), but that distinction will probably disappear later in your career. Outside of Germany I don't think anyone will notice the difference.
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Apr 11, 2010 20:07
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Ziir posted:I'd also like to know where THs fit in, especially with RWTH Aachen since I'm going there, if anyone knows It is just another name for university, like TU. Aachen even is one of the "excellence" unis. I would advise against betting all your savings on Euro. You can't really predict where prices will be going, so it really is betting. If you have tons of money lying around, I would rather invest in other stuff.
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Apr 12, 2010 18:58
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Hummer Driving human being posted:The only conclusion I've come up with is that because the Nazis killed all the undesirables all that's left is super hot women.  For students trying to find work with little German needed: look for student jobs at your university (Studentische Hilfskraft, Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft or similar). The people offering this most likely speak English and you often do not require much specialist knowledge. If you can find one of those in a institute where you want to do your thesis it is also good for networking.
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Apr 25, 2010 20:35
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polyfractal posted:Question about an earlier post in this thread. I'm an American considering a job offer in Germany (Research Technician for a neuroscience lab, located at the Max Planck Institute in Martinsreid). Wikipedia tells me that Martinsreid is like a suburb of Munich? Can I expect similar rent prices as Munich? I think MPI follows the tariff of the public service which means as a college graduate with master's degree you will be put into a salary group that gives you about 3000€/month so at least 1800 or so after tax (unless it is a 75% position or something like that). Bachelors will get a bit less, should still be OK to live and travel on (hope 26 days of leave is enough for that). Edit: You have to get German healthcare, it is included in the taxes that are deducted from your pay.
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May 5, 2010 21:09
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Liface posted:In my experience, English proficiency among the general populations suffers in countries that dub television shows compared to those that don't. So? Maybe people would rather watch movies and TV in German and easily understand all the subtilities instead of becoming a bit more proficient in English. In Russia I have seen some hilarious dubbing, where one or two persons do an entire film. When Jodie Foster speaks in a deep man voice, I suddenly start to like the idea of subtitles, though.
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May 9, 2010 10:51
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Previously on GBS posted:
Zeche Zollverein is pretty cool, it gave me a good idea of how lovely a miner's work must have been. And Default Settings, your schedule is definitely missing some Saxony! I would recommend Dresden, you should stop there on your way to Berlin. Beautiful city with a very nice baroque old town.
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Jul 1, 2010 20:27
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Rums posted:Just browsing the thread and didn't see a few things I was wondering about so here goes: It probably depends on your major, but I guess you could just show up for the classes and try to take the exam at the end? Do you want to transfer credits from this or just take classes out of interest?
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Jul 14, 2010 18:41
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Ziir posted:
Do you have an office or something at Uni? You could use that as a mailing address. Otherwise ask the person responsible for helping international students how this is normally handled, I guess this scenario appears every year for many people: http://www.international.rwth-aache...dieren/?lang=en If you have room in your luggage, I would bring a suit. If nothing else, you can wear it at your thesis defense.
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Aug 8, 2010 22:24
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Others: Northerners are stoic and have really dry humour. Everyone in Köln is gay. People in Berlin are rude (well actually, only half the people are rude, the other half is from some small town in Schwaben). East germans are always nagging. Rhinelanders are not only drunks but also outgoing and friendly. People from the Ruhr area are of a down-to-earth good buddy type.
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Aug 10, 2010 21:40
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VonSwoopington posted:I'm heading to Germany September 23-29 to pick up my BMW M3 (Euro Delivery). What are some good places to see by car? I know it's right in the middle of Oktoberfest but I won't be participating in any of the drinking and just want to enjoy the car and scenic views. There's this little thing called Alpen just south of Munich (1 hour or so). Closest would probably be Tegernsee, looked real nice last winter. Or go to Garmisch. Or Bodensee, Königssee, there is probably lots of other nice stuff, too.
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Sep 3, 2010 17:49
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Little Treasure posted:go to lecture in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Please don't.
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Sep 17, 2010 18:34
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In what kind of old-rear end flats are still toilets with shelfs? Haven't seen one of those in years.
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Sep 23, 2010 19:41
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bronin posted:Hahaha yeah. People associating Lederhosen with Germany as a whole is hilarious Well, from the 30s to ~60s it was pretty common for boys all over Germany to wear shorts made from leather. I guess dudes from Bavaria just refuse to grow up.
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Oct 16, 2010 11:58
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theLamer posted:Anybody have any ideas for places which would hire someone who is hardly proficient in German? Do you have any kind of special skill/knowledge? From your post I am going to assume this is not the case, so the student option is probably much easier. As a student you should be able to find some part-time job that is OK with english speakers.
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Oct 26, 2010 18:45
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I live in Dresden, so I will give some general info, ask me for more details, if you like. First, the city isn't what it used to be before the war, so it might not live up to the glorification I'm sure your family has build up, but it still is one of the nicer cities in Germany. The historical city centre has been partly rebuilt and there are some really beautiful buildings, most famous probably the Frauenkirche (church of our lady). The city tries to set a focus on culture and art, so there are a bunch of good galleries and museums, then you have the Semperoper, theatres, etc. Mostly "older" stuff though, in terms of the contemporary art scene we can't keep up with Berlin or Leipzig. Nightlife can be so-so during the week, but on weekends there's plenty going on. I'd suggest visiting in the summer, there is often some festival and more stuff goes on outside. Right outside the city you have the Sächsische Schweiz, where the Elbe is winding through some cool rock formations that make a great place to go hiking (or climbing, if you're into that). The old fortress Königsstein is cool, too. In and near the city you can also find some nice old palaces. So yeah, it's definitely worth a visit. And if you get bored, Prague and Berlin are only two hours away with the train. 
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Oct 27, 2010 19:01
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I see we are destroying any associations people might have with Germany and high culture. Nice.
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Nov 4, 2010 23:30
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westborn posted:May depend on your location, I live in a more rural area in the south west of bavaria, and I know of 4 specific 'cantinas' within a 30km radius. The closest one offers a variety of burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas and alambre, as well as some 'mexican inspired' burgers, steaks, pizzas and pastas... In east germany you will find mexican restaurants only in cities >100k. And even then it's probably just some mixture of texmex/spanish/latin american or whatever. Doesn't really surprise me, the only Mexicans I have actually ever met here came for world cup 2006.
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Nov 8, 2010 19:57
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I prefer my pancakes sweet, pancake+sausage sounds horrible. Nutella, peanut butter and banana slices however is really good.
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Nov 12, 2010 19:08
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Ziir posted:How is Berlin in January? My plans to go camping and hiking on the Alps like in those Jack Wolfskin posters isn't going to happen cause my Wow, camping and hiking in the Alps in winter sounds pretty crazy to me. Are there even any camping sites or Hütten that are open? I thought in winter everything there goes into total skiing mode.
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Nov 28, 2010 22:46
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Yah, that's been mostly my experience as well!
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Jan 8, 2011 11:49
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Jedi Knight Luigi posted:Is the Lernbachhaus in Munich really closed till 2012? Maybe Porsche has a museum too!
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Feb 8, 2011 19:22
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Zwille posted:Oh, I thought you was throwing up or something like that. Come on, Kölsch is not that bad.
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Feb 12, 2011 16:56
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HopefullyWild posted:When writing to my German penpals, I use a translator which defaults (I think) to formal. Why are you using a translator? That's pretty much the opposite of what you should do. Better to write really simple stuff, that you thought up on your own. Generally, sticking with informal is okay in most situations, unless talking to police officers or something. People will notice you're a beginner and be OK with that. I'd say always adressing pen pals in a formal way is more awkward then sometimes addressing strangers informally.
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Mar 1, 2011 21:52
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What's the problem with some partly whipped cream (obviously not stuff from a can etc)? One very good bartender I know also makes them like that and it tastes great. Of course it can vary a ton from bar to bar, some places just seem to put Caipirinha or other popular cocktails on the menu without anybody having the slightest idea how to make it.
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Mar 4, 2011 18:56
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westborn posted:Yes, contemporary german rapper is sort of popular Uh, who is still into this dude? Raw Debut Album was great back in the day, but ever since Lackluster Follow-Up I'm not feeling him any more tbh.
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Mar 5, 2011 01:42
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HopefullyWild posted:I forgot to mention I couldn't find his CDs on USA Amazon, but searching for them on the German Amazon brings up immediate results. These dudes are way underground (or local), never heard of them before. I guess with that style of hiphop you have no chance to get into the mainstream right now.
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Mar 6, 2011 01:30
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Uh. The rapper's Herr Von Grau, but don't judge me because I can hardly grasp what he's saying.
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Holy rage, is goons with spoons leaking?
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Mar 7, 2011 20:33
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