My name is Ian and this is my first post of many on my travels in and around Germany! I hope that some of the things I talk about can help people who want to travel. I'll try to share all the little tips and resources I find during my 5 month stay that might save people time, money, or effort.
This first post won't be very long, I just want to talk about a few things with regards to preparing for an extended stay overseas.
Passport
Obviously, you're going to need a passport if you want to travel abroad. If you don't already have one, it's not difficult. You can apply for a passport at most (all?) USPS Post Offices. You can find a list of the things you need here. It's all pretty easy stuff.
It costs a bit of money, but for that $135 or so you get 10 years before the expiration. Well worth it if you are even considering travelling abroad.
The photo you can do several ways. You can take the picture yourself, but remember that there are strict requirements for the photo. If you don't mind spending a few bucks, the way I did it was to go to a local CVS or Walgreens, go to the photo department, and ask to get a Passport photo taken. For about $8 they give you several copies of the photo that fit the US's requirements, cut to the right size. You only need one for the Passport, but keep the extra's; you'll need one to get your ISIC (International Student Identification Card) card, and there are some other situations where I've needed one.
Flight
These can get expensive. You can check out all of the sites you want (Kayak, Priceline, Expedia, etc.), but UC's international department recommends you check out Student Universe. This site is awesome. I'm ballparking here, but the flights I was looking at on the other sites were running around $1100 (roundtrip) at the cheapest. What did I pay on Student Universe? $830. That's ridiculous savings. Plus the site is great because it gives you a 'calendar' kind of view where you can see all of the different prices on different days (whether you leave on a Friday or Tuesday makes a huge difference).
A few tips on flights:
- Buy your flight as in-advance as possible (this goes without saying)
- Try to fly out on a Tuesday or Wednesday, they are almost always the cheapest
- Pay attention to the arrival and departure times. Do you really want to fly into a new country and land at 4 AM? Try to keep it during the day. My flight lands at 9 AM so I can try to sleep on the plane and get into the swing of the new timezone as much as possible.
- Bring something to do, like a book, or plan on sleeping. Trans-Atlantic flights can be very long and you might have some layovers.
- Look at the tickets out of several airports. I'm flying out of Columbus, but I could have just as easily flown out of Cincinnati or Dayton if they were significantly cheaper.
Finding A Place To Live
This is the one that easily has given people the most trouble that I have seen. Some people get lucky and their employer (or University for those studying abroad) finds them a place to live. Others are not so lucky. Honestly, my only advice is to not be picky, and look just like you would in America. There are plenty of websites with people trying to find short-term roommates and sublets.
The website I found to be the best for Germany is WG Gesucht. It seemed to get the most frequent postings and I got the most replies from here. I basically messaged everyone posting in Freising and just played the numbers game.
If you want more options, Texas Instruments actually gave me a pretty extensive list of websites to help find a place to live.
Those are just some of the basics. I will post again soon about my experience travelling and being in a new country for the first time.
Auf wiedersehen!
Those are just some of the basics. I will post again soon about my experience travelling and being in a new country for the first time.
Auf wiedersehen!
