Germany

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Camilla Snell studied LLB Law (European) at Universität des Saarlandes

"Practical Advice:

Admin: It is important to make sure you're prepared for all the paperwork and file every piece of paper you are given. Try to attend the university organised admin session at the beginning of term, it makes registering with the authorities much easier! Also bear in mind that it takes about a week after registration for you internet account to be set up, so you might want to quickly make friends with some of the students who have been there longer and cheekily ask to borrow their password.

Banks: I found Sparkasse to be the most convenient, especially if you are in the Eichendorffring Halls, since there is a branch right by the bus stop.

Travel: Ryanair may be ridiculously cheap, but bear in mind that Frankfurt Hahn is a 16 Euro, 2 hour coach ride away from Frankfurt itself. Frankfurt airport is only 10-minutes on the U-Bahn tube, so is much more convenient.

The town and area:

Giessen itself was bombed flat during the war and all rebuilt during the 60s, so the town itself isn't stunning. It does have a very lovely river which is wonderful to relax at in the summer months, and a huge outdone swimming pool. It has a wide variety of pubs (nightlife is covered later), several botanical gardens, an old castle, fantastic ice cream shops, and is only a short train journey from Frankfurt with its huge nightclubs, fantastic shopping and city atmosphere. There are several local breweries in the area.

By far the best thing about Giessen is its location. With the free train and bus travel, you can go anywhere in Hessen. There are some fantastically pretty old German villages very close to Giessen, the closest and most popular is the town of Marburg. Once you get out of the station, head up the hill to the castle and the 'old town', it has some really beautiful squares and old German houses with beams, and the view from the castle is amazing.

In terms of the wider location, Giessen is great because it is fairly central in Germany. It is feasible to hire a car between 5 friends and drive to Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Prague, Amsterdam, Paris, Salzberg, or Zurich for a relatively cheap weekend away. Alternatively, you could use www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de, a nation wide scheme set up to help fill spaces in cars on long journeys. You search for the journey you want to make, and it returns the contact details of other people driving there with spare spaces in their car. It is very useful if you want a budget journey as it is often cheaper than trains. Also, overnight coaches with www.eurolines.de are also often real bargains!

Accommodation:

I would recommend living in the halls, the 'Wohngemeinschaften', since they are very cheap at around 220 Euros per month and have a great student atmosphere. This is about half what we pay for halls in Exeter! However, don't expect much for the money you are paying, the halls are generally not as clean or well facilitated as the ones we are used to in Exeter. They are also full of international students, since the German students tend to rent our houses instead. There are three main halls, Unterhof, Eichendorffring and Grünberger Straße. All the halls are very much like Lafrowda in terms of corridor sizes (about 10-16), and each corridor has a kitchen and showers/toilets.

Eichendorffing is in the best location, especially as it has a brilliant bus service which runs from the halls, past the business campus, to town, and then on to the station. It has a local pub and a great atmosphere. It is also where most of the parties are at.

Grünberger Straße is a little further out than Eichendorffring, but only a 5 minute walk. It also has a convenient bus service into town, which goes on to the station. It has a massive lawn which is great for BBQs in the summer.

Unterhof is on the other side of Giessen, and doesn't enjoy such a good bus service. It is very social though, and each block has a ping pong room in the basement. The night bus which runs on Friday and Saturday nights goes between town and all three halls.

It is possible to rent private accommodation, but I would only recommend this if you know some other people going, since they often don't specify whether your flatmates will be students, or older workers. You seem to get better facilities and room sizes for your money though, so it is worth looking if you know other people you want to rent with.

The course:

The different types of modules are very different to each other. One the one hand, you have the modules especially put on for Erasmus students. The German is easier, and they have fun excursions (we even had on to the Lich brewery). The exams are also generally much easier.

Then there are modules for the German students. These are much harder, as you learn in the same lectures as the native speakers, and sit the same exams as the native speakers. I found it beneficial to take subjects that I had already studied at Exeter, because the content was more understandable and it was mainly just the language barrier that made it difficult.

I would recommend taking a mix of the two, since then you can get some good grades and spend time with other Erasmus students in the Erasmus classes, and challenge yourself with the language in the proper German modules.

Nightlife:

Giessen has a number of nice bars around, including the Newscafe, Cup and Cino and the Irish Pub. It has two of three good clubs.

Haarlem is a little 'musik keller' (music cellar) which has stayed the same for 60 years so any of the locals will know it well and smile when you mention it. It also has a lovely beer garden for the summer months. If you catch it on a good night it has a great atmosphere, and on Sundays they have 20l of free beer and sekt.

Thursday nights at Alpenmax are great fun, it is themed like a ski chalet and they play very cheesey music.

The university also puts on parties in the 'Audimax' lecture building. These are great fun, it is a weird experience partying in your lecture theatre. Twice a year there is a party at the Schiffenberg castle, which is outstanding. Keep your eye out for when that's on!"

Lynne Medlock studied Business Studies at Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

"Without a doubt administration has been the biggest challenge of my year abroad. On arrival in Germany it isn't always obvious which documents are important and which aren't so keep hold of everything! Use the opportunity of registering yourself at the Rathaus to acquaint yourself with your new city, and stop off for some 'Kaffee und Kuchen' on the way. Don't let yourself be pigeonholed in the 'foreigner/Erasmus' category. Things like having 7.30am lectures and eating 'dinner' at lunchtime will seem strange, but compliment Deutsche Currywurst or Radeberger and you're well on your way to making local friends who can show you the ropes.

Make sure you go to the relevant Erasmus coordinator(s) in your home university early, and start asking questions about where it might be possible for you to spend your year abroad and what you will have the opportunity to study. As a combined honours student at my home institution, it took me some time to ascertain which university links I could use to spend time abroad and what I would be able to study. In my case I had to choose between my two subjects of study; I was only able to study Law in Germany and not Literature as well. I would say to students not to be put off by such potential 'obstacles' but to push through and focus on the chance to live overseas and spend time in another culture/language. I would say that even if you end up studying things that don't seem to bear too much relation to your course back home, the other skills that you will learn from the experience far outweigh any short-lived anxiety about how you'll cope.

The administrative staff who have to deal with the paperwork relating to Erasmus students are also very well-versed in how everything runs so when you're not sure, simply taking forms to the relevant staff members and asking how things work more often than not solves any little problems you may have."

Sarah Dewhurst studied Law at Technische Universitat (TU) Dresden

"My school did not help me with accommodation, but I found a WG with all German students quite easily on www.wg-gesucht.de. This is a really good website where you can write a small advert about yourself, what your price range is etc, and can also search for WGs yourself within your town. I found and secured my flat within a couple of weeks. I paid 283 euros a month for my room, which was fully furnished, was massive and included all bills. I found that rent was very decently priced (especially compared to Exeter!!), but then this would obviously vary throughout Germany.

As everyone else says definitely get involved in as much as possible. I did not have too many people at school that I could meet socially as they were mostly married with kids, so I joined the sports department at the local university. As a result I joined aerobics classes and also 'Bodyforming' classes. I also joined the equivalent of the Erasmus society in my town. Just because you're a teaching assistant doesn't mean you have to miss out on this if you have a university in your town! I simply emailed them and they added me to their mailing list and let me know of events going on.

Make sure you travel, and I would advice the BahnCard 50 if you are planning to travel. When you only work 12 hours a week there's definitely enough opportunities for travelling. Most importantly try to enjoy it to the full. There will be challenges, but try to not let them get you down and appreciate the good times!"

Vicki Moore completed a British Council teaching assistantship placement in Landau in der Pfalz

"I was very lucky finding accommodation, since my Betreuungslehrer (mentor teacher) asked me whether I would like the school to find me a place to stay. I ended up living with the ex-wife of one of the other teachers, 10 minutes walk away from the school and 5 minutes walk to the station.

I did consider moving out, thinking that it would be good to live with German students, but I didn't find anywhere which was cheap and/or furnished, or close enough. If you want to live in a WG, make sure you find out about it fast. Some of the other assistants stayed with their Betreuungslehrer for the first couple of weeks until they could find a WG. There are lots of websites for this - www.wg-gesucht.de for example.

Travel is expensive in Germany, particularly by train if you don't book in advance. It is definitely worth signing up at the local university as a language assistant and getting the Semester Ticket, which gives you 6 months free travel in the entire region. The administration costs are about 200 euros, which seems a lot, and initially I wasn't going to bother, but it is definitely worth doing. You can also take someone with you after 7pm until 3am, and all weekend.

The BahnCard is a total waste of money unless you are going to be doing a lot of travelling all around Germany, but even with a BahnCard it is expensive unless you book months in advance. There are lots of cheap group tickets such as the Schoenes Wochenende Ticket, and the Schoenes Land Ticket however, which can be used on regional trains.

Banks can be a bit of a nightmare, particularly Sparkasse, which charges you lots of money if you make a transaction at a branch which isn't the branch you registered at. It also charges 5 euros when you want to withdraw too. The ATMs for Deutsche Bank are less frequent, but there is a 'Cash Group' scheme with various other banks incl. Postbank, Spardabank and a few others, which means that you can get money out without extra expense there too.

Integrating with local people was one thing I found really difficult as a language assistant, particularly since the Ruhr area is so densely populated, and there were a lot of other English assistants. Luckily there were a lot of trainee teachers at my school, who aren't a lot older than we are, and would often invite me to go and have a drink with them etc. You will hear this a lot but jump at every social opportunity open to you."

Lucinda Gilchrist studied German and completed a British Council teaching assistantship in Duesseldorf

"Frankfurt University has really bizarre office hours, often just two or three hours a week. This makes getting everything signed and sorted at the start fairly stressful. It helps to arrive in the country a few days before the start of term, so you can adjust and work out where you're going in advance, so you're not getting flustered and lost on the day you have a tight schedule for.

Student dorms often have odd internet policies; the LuLa dorms I stayed in had an unreliable connection and a download/upload limit of 3GB each way per month (if you went over even slightly, your internet was shut down completely until the first of the next month), which made it difficult to Skype or even download anything important. If you think it would be worth the investment, a dongle or similar wireless device could be a better option than relying on the internet provided by dorms. There are also computer clusters in the libraries, and a wireless network covering both campuses, which you can access from your laptop if you have your student login and password. If you're planning on calling somebody online, or downloading anything larger than a .doc file, I'd recommend taking your laptop into campus and finding somewhere quiet.

You can buy a mobile phone for about ten or fifteen euros in large stores, such as Saturn, but you need your passport and your German address with you. Don't bother getting anything fancy or expensive, there's a good chance you won't be using it after the year is up. It also helps to remember when giving out your number that it needs a 00 49 or +49 in front of it if the person is calling from another country.

The student ID card acts as a prepaid travel card across the entire Frankfurt area, which also extends to the nearby towns, so once you've received your card you won't have to pay for public transport at all unless you're travelling to other parts of Germany. This is why registration costs you about 200 euros a semester despite the university not requiring tuition fees - you're essentially just buying a half-year travelcard.

Eleanor Savell studied Combined Honours English and German at Frankfurt University

"I study German and completed an internship at AREVA NP GmbH, a nuclear power company in Erlangen, Bavaria.

My company offered to help me with accommodation which was great, as it took some of the pressure off. I lived in an international Wohnheim, so it wasn't the best place for improving my German as there were lots of different nationalities living there, including some English people who I became good friends with. I did consider moving out and finding a flat with Germans, but felt really settled there, it was close to work and very cheap. I made the most of speaking German at work though, where my colleagues were really friendly and willing to speak German with me despite most of them having very good knowledge of English. I also joined the local gym and met Germans through friends, so there are always opportunities to get to know natives and practice speaking with them - you just have to make the most of these opportunities!

I bought a BahnCard 50 at the beginning of my year in Germany, and would disagree that it is a waste of money. I had planned to do a lot of travelling around the country and the BahnCard was definitely worth me buying as it saved me endless amounts of money, cutting the original price in half each time. Despite having a 40-hour a week job, I managed to travel somewhere most weekends. I would like to point out that if you get a BahnCard each journey will be a fixed price no matter when you book it - it is only if you don't have one that you will find a difference in price depending on how early you book. Of course if you don't think you'll do much travelling there is no point in getting one but I would definitely recommend seeing as much of the country as you can as you get a real insight into the culture with each place you go to. Alternatively there is the Bayern ticket (obviously only in Bavaria), which you can get for journeys where you are travelling with up to five people. These can be used on regional trains and work out quite cheap.

One experience I think everyone who goes to live in Germany should experience is a typical German beer festival. I went to Oktoberfest which had a great atmosphere but I would recommend booking a table in advance if you would like to go, as we didn't and it took us lots of time and queuing to find somewhere to sit! There is also a beer festival in the town I lived in, Erlangen every year. This is a lot smaller than Oktoberfest but equally fun, with litres of beer, live bands and plenty of dancing on the tables! A true insight into the country's culture not to be missed!

During my year at AREVA I mainly did translations, proof-reading documents and teaching English to members of the staff who wanted to improve their English knowledge, along with general admin tasks. One of the main problems I found with doing a work placement was that there wasn't always a lot of work to do. I think this is the case with a lot of internships - I was working 40 hours a week which is a lot when you don't have many tasks. However, when I did get jobs to do I found them interesting and diverse, and on the whole I found the year there very rewarding. It enabled me to improve my translation, communication and most importantly, language skills."