All you need to know about studying in Germany

This blog post is aimed at students who want to apply to study in Germany, generally from North Macedonia, but the steps here are applicable to other non-EU European countries. First, I will discuss whether Germany is right for you, and then I will talk about the steps you need to take to get there. I recommend you read the entire post if you consider going to Germany, since you will need to keep many things in mind. If you decide to apply to Germany after reading all of it, then make sure to write information down and put it on your calendar. On the bottom right of this website you can see a button which will open a sidebar with all the sections of this post, which you can click to jump to. The sections have been divided up based on where in the process of applying you are, so if you’re further ahead then also freely skip.

This will be a very long post with a lot of information, so if you plan to read all of it, get a cup of coffee or something similar.

Why should you study in Germany?

In this article I’ll focus on public German universities, which presents the first good reason for why you should study in Germany – public universities are not only generally very cheap, but also offer many scholarships and job opportunities. In our present reality of runaway inflation and rising wealth inequality, this is a significant benefit. In terms of academics, Germany is also relatively powerful. Nevertheless, both in terms of academic ranking (which is a flawed, albeit relevant metric) and actual volume of scientific discoveries, Germany (like the rest of the world) lags behind the USA. Regardless, in the context of Europe it is an excellent choice in terms of academic quality.

Another good reason is the fact that a disproportionate amount of industrial and services companies are in Germany, making for good job opportunities. Combined with the recently passed law which gives citizenship to those who have resided for three years, Germany is a safe option for post-university work.

If diversity matters to you, Germany is also a very diverse country, and the major cities constantly have new events and concerts going on. There’s a lot of culture and history to see. In terms of organization, things in Germany (like healthcare and public services) generally just work, which can’t be said about the countries most foreigners in Germany come from.

Is Germany right for you?

From my relatively limited interactions with Germans and the way they work and organize, Germany seems to be right for people who like going slow, steady, and securely. The bureaucracy is slow and archaic, but it works. Academic education relies on the same methods it has for the past few centuries, but those methods (mostly) work. If you like things to work and are prepared to make sacrifices to get security in those aspects of life, Germany is right. 

However, from my personal interactions I can also say that Germans don’t like spontaneity or rule breaking. There are endless rules and regulations that give you security, while also giving you the feeling that everything just goes too slow. For example, most banks won’t let you do much online or by phone – they prefer going there physically, with proof of identity, and full knowledge of what you are about to do. They still use fax machines, for heaven’s sake!

The issue of cost and housing

One very important aspect of applying to Germany – before you even begin to look at universities – is the cost of living and housing. Having lived here for a few weeks now, I can say that it’s complicated to assess. In the big cities, housing prices are very high. Expect 300-800 euros monthly to go towards housing. On the other hand, the cost of living for other things is surprisingly very low. If you’re a North Macedonian student, you might be surprised to find that basic necessities (food, drink, hygiene products) and technology are either identically priced or cheaper, especially if they’re on sale – which many things here often are. Clothes, too, are cheaper if you don’t buy from brands, and outlet stores will sell you tons of last-week’s-fashion for dirt cheap prices.

However, the housing market is terrible in whatever city you go. The best way to find housing is through the website Immobilienscout24. There is a much higher demand than there is supply, so you’ll probably have to apply to many apartments. The issue is further exacerbated by the fact that foreigners do not have a SCHUFA-check, which is like a credit score for people with accounts in German banks. Since it’s risky to take on people without a SCHUFA, most landlords will ignore you. Student homes can have a waiting list of a year or more, so make sure to apply on time. Generally, you should start your apartment search early – earlier than your university application. For housing, you can either choose to live alone, with a roommate or in a Wohngemeinschaft (WG), which is multiple shared housings. Living alone is obviously more expensive, but you also have peace of mind and less people to annoy you. On the other hand, collective/shared housing can give you the “college experience” and you can also delegate tasks to your roommate(s) to make life easier. It’s up to you and your means. Still, make sure to have your housing situation sorted out, and if you must, change your plans to fit your housing – not the other way around.

One other important thing you need to know is that it’s mandatory to have a “blocked account” with 11208 euros when you apply. This is simply a bank account in which you (or your parents) put the legally mandated minimum amount of money that the German government has calculated that you need to survive for a year in Germany. The most used service for this is the website Fintiba. You must have the money sent to Fintiba before you do your Visa interview. Once you have a Visa and a bank account in Germany, you can withdraw the money from your blocked account up to 934 euros monthly – or 11208 euros in a year. If you go with Fintiba, also consider that they take 100 for their service. You’ll also have to do a bank transfer to Fintiba, so make sure to account for whatever cut the bank takes. Since bank transfers are somewhat slow (they can take up to a few working days, generally one) and Fintiba has a verification process, make sure to do this as early as possible to have peace of mind. More about this connected to the Visa process will be discussed later.

Applying to study in Germany

To apply, first you need to know what you’re looking for. Luckily, Germany is big enough to accommodate whatever strange desires for studying you have. Gender studies? Sure! Aramaic studies? It’s out there, and it’s probably going to be free or almost free. Because most universities here are public, and most public universities are free or almost free – regardless of academic standing. On the other hand, there are also private universities, which are still very affordable when compared to their US counterparts. However, recently prices for international students – like in most of the world – have been rising. In Bavaria, for example, just this year they added a price of 2-3000 euros per semester for undergraduate students outside the EU. You can either get an EU passport to avoid this, or just pay it. Yearly, the costs for studying in Germany will still come out much lower than other foreign countries – particularly ones in the Anglosphere. These price increases matter if you come from a country outside of the EU and have no EU passport. However, if you’re from the EU, you get treated like a German citizen.

To find universities, just look them up. As I stated previously, most universities have similar programs, so you should take academic ranking (like the Shanghai Ranking) as only a vague guidance for choosing a university. Also, like with every university, try to talk to people who studied what you want to study specifically. Many German universities are extremely large, with tens of thousands of students, so experiences with one course of study may not apply at all to another. The course materials should generally stay constant throughout the years. For example, my course of study has some books written in the 19^th century. Since the laws of nature have not changed much since then, this shouldn’t be a problem for most courses of study. However, if you want to learn through more modern methods then you should look for something yourself.

Once you have found your university and made peace with learning from textbooks written when Prussia was still a country, you should look at the requirements. Generally, most German universities have very low academic requirements. Most just want you to have a high-school diploma, and some will give you a minimum grade requirement. Most will not ask you to write essays (like US universities), however they generally do ask for a C1 or C2 level of German. This is the hardest part of applying to Germany and I advise you to start learning German as soon as possible and as intensely as possible. Grades do not matter nearly as much as this. The good thing about Germany is that if you meet all the requirements and apply on time, you will be admitted. There is no opaque process of subjective judging – you either meet the requirements or you don’t. One exception to this is some private universities which offer programs in English. Those are alright too.

Most universities have separate admissions periods for EU and non-EU students. Most admissions periods for non-EU students start on May 15 and end on July 15. However, you need to have all or almost all documents ready by July 15. For EU students, this date is extended to August 31. More about this will be discussed later.

From now on, this blog post will discuss about students coming from North Macedonia and the specific steps they need to take; however, the same process should apply to most non-EU applicants.

For Macedonian students I just advise you to take the State Matura and do good at it. It’s basically a joke, I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Make sure that most of your time spent studying is studying the language. The rest is irrelevant, some universities won’t even ask you for a full transcript. However, make sure to take the State Matura with math, one science, and English. Check with your university, as they will likely have mandatory subjects you should have taken. With most, however, you will have the requirement of math, science, and English, even if you’re in an unrelated field. You can fulfil this requirement with either an IB Diploma or State Matura, however if your course has grading criteria, IB students must meet much higher goals than State Matura students. If you are sure that you want to study in Germany, I would even recommend reconsidering taking the IB, unless you really want to study your subjects. Regardless, because I had a very good IB score, despite my course’s high grade requirements, I got in. But I wouldn’t recommend it – since I needed three 7s and three 6s – which I had exactly. Now, assuming you’ve finished with your exams, it’s time to start gathering documents.

The Studienkolleg – an alternative

Germany offers an alternative to starting your studies for students who don’t meet the criteria called the Studienkolleg. I have a few friends here who went to those programs and found them very helpful, given that their previous education didn’t prepare them well enough, they didn’t have all the required subjects, or their grades were not high enough to get in their desired university. You still have to find your own housing, though. Since I didn’t partake in any of these programs, I let my favorite co-writer Microsoft Bing tell you all about this:

The Studienkolleg is an educational institution in Germany that helps foreign school graduates who are interested in studying in Germany. It serves as a bridge between school graduation and university, and offers courses specifically tailored to international university applicants. The teachers at the Studienkollegs are highly qualified and specialized experts who work together with students to help them adjust from the academic culture in their home country to the academic culture in Germany.

The purpose of the Studienkolleg is to prepare students to take a final exam called the Feststellungsprüfung (FSP), which grants them permission to attend a degree program in a German university. The Studienkolleg offers preparatory courses in German universities to make up for the differences in secondary education between Germany and other countries. Most Studienkollegs offer courses in the German language and teach language skills up to level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Normally, courses take place during the week (Monday through Friday), but many Studienkollegs started to offer virtual courses at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The duration of the Studienkolleg program varies depending on the type of course and the student’s level of proficiency in German. The program can last from one to two semesters, with each semester lasting around 5 months.

As for the cost, attending a state-run Studienkolleg is free of tuition fees, except for a semester fee that ranges from 100 to 400 euros depending on the Studienkolleg. However, private Studienkollegs may charge fees ranging from 4,000 to 28,000 euros (including accommodation). In addition, students will need to pay for health insurance and purchase books and other class materials.

I hope this information helps! (note from the editor: it does)

A note about technical universities

Most public technical universities in Germany require you to have an internship done in the field you plan to study or something related. If they have this requirement, they will always have the guidelines posted on their website, including whether jobs count towards fulfilling this criterion. Since all universities have slightly different requirements, which generally differ per region, I will list what I needed to do:

• Work for at least four weeks (full-time, eight hours per day) in two of the following three aspects of an internship (eight weeks total):
  • Development
  • Service
  • Operations
• Write a report indicating what I did for each week that is at least four pages long.
• Obtain a separate report from my company indicating the roles I was assigned, my performance, and the start and end dates of my internship.
• Download a form from my university’s website which someone from my company was supposed to fill out and sign containing my personal information and similar information to the previous document.

The difficulty of the internship is irrelevant, so don’t worry if you can’t work at some fancy company. All that matters is that you fulfill the content and duration criteria. My internship was in the field of network engineering, but not related very much to aerospace, yet I still fulfilled the criteria. Generally, if you’ll be doing this, try to do a paid internship.

The proof of the internship generally has to be submitted by the time of enrolment (not application), but this is something that you must check with your university. It’s highly recommended that you do it over the summer, even though some universities let you submit it later. You won’t have time and you won’t have the will to do this during your studies. Just get it over with as soon as possible, it’s better to sacrifice a bit of your final summer than to sacrifice eight weeks of sleep while you try and manage a full-time internship and full-time studies in a country you’ve just moved in.

Required documents and timeline

While you’re still waiting for your results, it’s time to act in all other ways. You must allocate time to do all the major tasks in May or June. First, look at everything your university requires from you in terms of documents. Generally, they will want a high school transcript, a diploma, a proof of language knowledge certificate and a German Visa. Some will also require a confirmation from the uni-assist service. In Germany, public agencies (and universities) accept documents in both German and English, however if your document isn’t in either language, you’ll also have to get your documents translated and notarized. Usually, they will accept documents scanned and sent online, however some may require you to physically mail your documents (generally notarized copies). For this, please use DHL or FedEx, or even go physically to the university. It’s just not worth the trouble to risk it with a public postal service and their extremely variable delivery times and unreliability. The money’s not worth as much as peace of mind.

One important fact you need to know is that as of approximately a year ago, when dealing with public authorities, documents signed digitally are as valid as physically signed documents. You can use any mobile device with a digital pen/pencil or buy a cheap graphing tablet from an electronics store. Some places, however, haven’t yet adapted to this, so be ready to print and submit documents physically. Let’s go through all the documents now:

• High school transcript of grades
  • The simplest document, make sure it’s in German or English – preferably German since this will shorten your application time.
• Diploma
  • Either a State Matura or IB Diploma containing the subjects required by the university that you’re applying to.
  • You don’t need a physical IB Diploma to apply. If you don’t have your physical diploma by the application period, you need to pay for the IB to send a digital (or physical, as required by the university) version of your diploma to the university specifically, or the uni-assist service. You also need to notify the university (or uni-assist) that the IB has sent the diploma in your name. You will need the physical diploma to enroll, however, so make sure to not lose it.
  • The IB Diploma generally won’t need to be translated, but the State Matura diploma will.
• Proof of language
  • This is probably the most important – and difficult – document to get. Most German universities will want a Goethe Institut or TestDaF certificate, at a level of C1 or C2. Generally, Goethe Institut is the best for this since they both offer good courses and give you the whole package. Still, know that C1/C2 is a very high level and will take at least a year of daily effort to learn the required vocabulary and grammar. The tests for the certificate are comprehensive and include reading, writing, talking, and listening, so make sure to study all of that.
  • If you don’t have a certificate yet, make sure to schedule it well in advance. Generally, there are only a couple of testing dates in a month, and you need to apply a few weeks in advance for them. You will need to pay around 100 euros for your test – and make sure to give yourself room to fail if you’re unsure. Since test results usually come out after a couple of weeks, I recommend you finish this process in May or June at the latest, since you will need this proof of language, even if you’re applying to English programs (depending on the university).
  • If you’re studying German as a subject in school and have it for the State Matura/IB Diploma, check if your university will let you use that as sufficient language proof. This will save you time, stress, and money.
• German Visa
  • You need to schedule your Visa interview generally one month in advance, and you need to wait for a month or two once you finish your interview to receive it.
  • The Visa also has required documents which you can find on the related website. Generally, these will be:
    • Proof that you have health insurance,
    • A new passport,
      • The German Visa website should have guidelines on how recent your passport should be. If you need a replacement, make sure to schedule the process for a new passport in May, so that you have it by early July at the latest.
      • Generally, it takes about a month to get a new passport, though this may vary very significantly – try to get one as soon as possible.
    • A high school diploma,
    • Proof that you have enough money to support yourself during your stay (the Fintiba service mentioned above).
  • You can schedule your Visa interview without all the required documents, but you need to have them at the interview. However, if you’re only missing one document, you are allowed to submit it later. This is important since the Visa interview requires you to have an admission letter to a German university, which you probably won’t have by then. Most universities can give you a letter that you have submitted all your documents on time, and that is good enough for the Visa interview. You should get an email by the embassy and send your application letter as soon as you have it. This should count for other documents too, however, don’t risk it. The interview is a subjective thing and missing too many documents can make it so that you don’t get your Visa. If you do everything on time, you won’t have a problem with this.
  • The Visa interview date is very important, and you can’t reschedule it easily, so make sure that you can be there at the exact time mentioned.
  • The Visa interview is scheduled to last one hour, however as long as you act normally, don’t argue, and haven’t done any crimes, you should finish in 5-10 minutes. They will ask basic questions (in Macedonian, Albanian or German, you get to choose) about the kind of person you are and your motivations and plans for studying. If you’ve read this far, you’re probably not a criminal and shouldn’t worry about your Visa interview.
• Proof of health insurance
  • If you’re a Macedonian citizen, you probably have health insurance. Luckily for you, Macedonian health insurance is valid in Germany! Unluckily for you, you need to let the Germans know that it is. This is a very convoluted process:
    • Go to your family doctor and get a health check – tell them that it’s for a German Visa, they should know the required process.
      • If you’re female, you’ll also need to go to the gynecologist.
    • Go to your local public hospital and get the health check confirmed – tell them that it’s for a German Visa, they should know the required process.
    • Go to the Macedonian Red Cross and tell them that you need the form for German Health Insurance. To obtain this document you’ll need to have an enrolment letter from a German university. To obtain an enrolment letter from a German university, you generally need to have this document. If you think that’s stupid – that’s because it is.
    • What you must do to convince the people there to give you the document is to tell them this and ask them to give you health insurance valid for one month.
    • Take this document to Germany and get health insurance there.
    • Take that German health insurance to your university.
    • The university will give you an enrolment letter which you should take back to the Macedonian Red Cross, which will then give you health insurance valid for one year.
    • Take this insurance back to your German health provider and use to extend your health insurance in Germany. It’s ridiculous, but this is the process.
• Uni-assist
  • Many universities, particularly ones with stricter admissions require uni-assist to verify your high school documents.
  • This is a paid service (85 euros as of 2023).
  • Generally, you will need to send your diploma to them, but you must verify with your university. Some will require you to send everything (including proof of language), while others will only need a diploma.
  • As of 2023, uni-assist takes 8 weeks to verify your documents after received payment. As such, you will need to pay in late May or early July by the latest. You want your uni-assist to be ready soon after you receive your high school diploma, but you may also need to have it translated, so check with your university!
  • At the end of uni-assist’s check you will receive a document that your documents have been verified and you meet the requirements for your respective university.
  • Uni-assist can issue you a provisional document which states that you have submitted all the documents on time if you require it for your university. Don’t worry if you don’t have a uni-assist confirmation by the deadline – most universities allow this.
  • If you’re applying to multiple universities, you will only need to pay for one uni-assist, but you will need to select that you’re applying to multiple universities when you pay for your uni-assist. As such, it’s good to know exactly where you’re applying to and whether you’ll need to pay for uni-assist.

This is the (likely full) timeline that I recommend for applying to Germany. It’s probably missing a few steps, so expect a brutal summer of running from one agency to another and yelling at people on the phone or by email.

• Before May
  • Finish your language certificate exams. If you must, do as many as you can until you get your desired result. Failure in these exams is normal, don’t worry.
  • Start your housing search.
• May
  • Do your school leaving exams (IB/State Matura),
  • Schedule a new passport (if needed),
  • Pay for uni-assist (if needed).
• Early June
  • Apply for a German Visa and schedule your interview for late July/early August,
  • Get and submit your high school transcript to your university,
  • Start with the process for obtaining health insurance.
• Late June/Early July
  • Finish submitting all the required documents to your university, including your diploma,
  • Set up a blocked account in Germany (preferably through Fintiba),
  • Submit all required documents to uni-assist (if needed).

By now, if you’ve finished all the required steps and all additional steps your university may require, you should have your acceptance and a Visa. You now begin the process of enrolment! For this, you will generally need German health insurance, a German phone number, a German bank account and a German address. There are multiple ways to obtain these, so don’t worry. In order of discussion:

• German health insurance
  • Look up German health providers around the university you’ll be studying in. You need to have everything sorted out with the health insurance provider of the country you’re coming from (as mentioned above). The German health insurance provider only needs to verify the validity of your home country’s health insurance and give you the appropriate documentation to use it in Germany. In Bavaria, for example, AOK is the most popular health insurance provider. Everything here is free.
  • For the AOK, for example, you must fill out and submit a couple of forms online, then email them back to an address, including a customer number you should receive by them either by mail or by phone. Once all the necessary documents are submitted and verified, they will physically mail you a health insurance card at your desired address. This card is valid throughout the entire EU, and you get free healthcare everywhere.
    • The address on the forms may need to be a German address. You can use someone else’s, as long as you remember to change it immediately after you get your own.
  • You might need to go to the health insurance provider physically. For this, know that they generally have strange working hours, and you will have to wait at least an hour since they’re overcrowded everywhere. You’re not the first foreigner to want health insurance.
  • Check how your university wants you to know that you’re insured. Some will require you to show them your card or your number, however others only need a digital notification. You need to ask your German health insurance provider for this service (it’s free), and they will do it. Since it’s digital, it should be less than a day before the university is notified.
• German phone number
  • For this I recommend getting a pre-paid phone number first. At almost every supermarket you can buy a pre-paid SIM card. It’s only important that you can send/receive messages and calls. You will need a phone number for almost everything, so make sure it works.
  • Most supermarket SIM cards need to get activated. For this you will need to go through an identification process. This depends on which SIM card you choose, but I will illustrate the process for Lidl’s SIM cards:
    • First, you need to buy the SIM card with a pre-paid amount. Since you’ll likely not be calling much from this phone number, paying ~10 euros should be enough for most things.
    • Second, you need to sign up to their website and tell them all about yourself and your address. Sometimes using a foreign address is okay, but sometimes it isn’t. If you have relatives in Germany, ask them if you can use theirs.
    • Third, you need to get your personal identification verified. For this, you need to either schedule a video call with a worker at the post office, or physically visit a post office. I first scheduled a video call, but the worker at the post office told me that the North Macedonian government hasn’t sent any information on how the new passport looks, so they couldn’t verify if it was mine. However, I went physically in a German post office where they verified my (pre-North Macedonia) ID.
  • Once you finish with signing up for things, I recommend you replace the pre-paid SIM card with a regular post-paid one. Because there are many options, I recommend using the site Check24 to find deals on SIM card plans. Regular prices are generally 1 euro per gigabyte of internet monthly for your plan. There are also special prices for students and young people, so make sure to ask for those. Using Check24 you can also get sign-on bonuses which are usually 50-100 euros when you purchase a plan through the service. These can make it so that your first few months are completely free, which is a big bonus. Just make sure to look at the reviews.
  • Practically all SIM plans have unlimited calls and texts within Germany. There are special prices for calling and texting outside of Germany.
    • Keep in mind that with a German SIM you may also get unlimited calls, texts, and keep your mobile internet identical throughout the whole of the EU.
  • Most plans usually last for 24 months (2 years), but in many cases you can pay slightly extra to make them renewable each month. If you do that, you can cancel and switch over, but it’s up to you and how sure you are that your data needs will be met by your current plan. The same rule applies to getting internet in your apartment, which I will discuss later.
• German bank account
  • This is one of the most difficult things to obtain, since you need your own German address before you can open a bank account. However, generally, you will also need a bank account to open an address. The best way to fix this paradoxical situation is to pay for housing through an international bank transfer from your own country initially, and then continue paying with your German bank account once you have it.
  • Make sure to make an appointment in advance so that you don’t have to wait at a bank. Also, keep in mind that many German businesses (often banks) have a mid-day break during which they’re closed. However, if you have an appointment and come on time, you’ll get guided through the complete process. Just make sure you tell them to activate your mobile banking on the spot. Germany is quite a modern country and with mobile banking you can do absolutely everything money-related with your phone – including paying.
  • Once you have a German tax number, you also need to take it to the bank and notify them what it is. You will get a tax number soon after you get an address and register it with the authorities.
• German address
  • Without a phone number and address, you can’t do anything. At this point I assume that you have your housing situation figured out using the rough guidelines I wrote in the beginning of this post. The only thing you need to do after getting a German address is to register it with the authorities. Just make an appointment and they’ll guide you through all the documentation needed. You just need a notification from your landlord that you are a resident at the location that you claim. Landlords know everything about this, so just ask them to give you the document.
  • Once you have an address and health insurance, you need to apply for a German residence permit. Your university should have guidelines for this since you need a document from them too. This is another lengthy bunch of documents that you need to have scanned and signed and forms you need to fill out, so make a cup of coffee and be patient.

If you’ve reached it this far, then you’re basically done. Yes, there exists an end to all of this. One important thing to keep in mind is that both your Visa and health insurance last for one year and you need to go back to your home country to renew them. However, once you have them, then the process is much easier. Now, let’s go over some more casual information for once you’ve moved into the country.

Transportation, inside and outside the country

For travelling inside the country, I highly recommend using the public transport system. It’s stellar, and the main way people move around cities and the country. If you’re a student, you get access to the reduced-price Deutschlandticket – for 29 euros per month, you get unlimited transport in all German cities, except for some long-distance trains. You need to apply to get one, but you only need a university enrolment letter to get it. It took me around four working days to receive the Deutschlandticket after I applied. Make sure to always have a ticket when travelling with public transport, since the fines for getting caught without a ticket are steep.

For travelling outside, Germany has many cheap flights on offer to most of Europe. Flying is recommended if you’re going back home or on a vacation. If you aren’t going very far and want a more comfortable experience, you can also go by FlixBus or train. FlixBus are relatively cheap and offer a massive range of niceties to make your trip nicer. Trains are also very nice, but cross-country trips by train can get messy, since no EU country has a functional inter-country train system, and you must walk and wait a lot.

Buying stuff and other things

German supermarkets love low prices. You can usually expect 10-20% of everything in a supermarket to be on sale. You can absolutely survive on a low budget if you are able to cook and don’t eat out. One night at a restaurant can cost as much as an entire month’s worth of supermarket discounted food. Even when buying at discounted prices, you can get all your required nutrients, as well as eat healthy. Depending on the person and their nutritional habits, I’d estimate 60-100 euros monthly are needed for someone to eat well.

In the cities, supermarkets are densely located, so you can find multiple ones in a 500m radius. I recommend you either get a cashback card or the supermarket’s dedicated shopping app. With these, you can get amazing deals on almost everything. You can also order online through most supermarkets and get your items delivered for a relatively low price (~6 euros in Munich, for example). With this combination you can get almost everything delivered for a low price, quickly, and get all your nutritional needs met. Trust me, you’ll be amazed at how low some of the prices can get.

For hygiene products, DM is generally the best choice. Their in-house brands are insanely cheap and offer almost everything you need, for both men and women. If you really want to save money on hand soap, shampoo, and similar daily essentials, you can also get refill bottles from DM which are usually around half a euro. These will last you a long time, so don’t worry about spending too much on hygiene products here. Due to climate change and other factors, Germany can get very hot in the summer and the months before and after the summer. I’ve been writing this article during the middle of October and the average daily temperature here has been solidly around the 20-25-degree Celsius range – hot enough to sweat. Make sure you get deodorant. I won’t comment further about the clothes you need to bring since I haven’t experienced Germany in winter yet.

If you need to buy technology, you have a lot of choice. Luckily, there exist websites that can give you a detailed price comparison from almost all major tech stores. The most used one is idealo.de, though many others exist. Through these, on occasion, you can also find special deals. Technology in Germany is generally slightly cheaper than in other countries, and you can also get many deals on slightly used or somewhat old items.

With Check24 you can also get an internet subscription for relatively good prices. Just make sure to check with your landlord (if you’re living alone) what kind of internet connection your apartment has. There are three types:

• DSL – goes through phone lines, generally fast enough and cheap,
• Cable – goes through cable TV lines, generally fast enough and cheap,
• Fiber – goes through dedicated fiber optic cables, expensive but extremely fast.

Your apartment may only have one or few allowed internet providers, so ask what they are. In Germany there are country-wide internet providers (which are slightly more expensive on average) and regional internet providers (which are somewhat cheaper and can offer very fast internet). You need a phone number to get an internet connection, so make sure you have that first. You can buy both from the same company, but from my experience getting them separately made it much cheaper.

Sustaining yourself as a student

With a regular student Visa, you’re allowed to work 120 full days or 240 half-days. You’re not allowed to start your own business. Almost every company here is looking for more workers, so you shouldn’t worry about getting a job. However, most high-paying jobs will require good knowledge of German. As a student, you should probably search for part-time or flexible-time jobs. I won’t comment further on jobs for now since I don’t have one myself yet.

You can also get many scholarships here, of which the most common is the Deutschlandstipendium. For most, you need to be a high-scoring student with at least one semester finished. The Deutschlandstipendium gives 300 euros per month, and most other scholarships will give approximately the same amount. These can be a great addition to any other income sources and may even cover the entirety of your rent if you’re living in a shared apartment, WG, or low-cost-of-living area. This makes studying much easier.

Generally, however, you will probably need your parents to sustain you – for the first year, at least.

The end

Once you get in, German society is quite nice to live in. However, the process of getting there is quite convoluted. Hopefully, this blog post can help you make an informed decision about whether Germany is right for you. If you believe that it is, hopefully this blog post can help you get there. I have said all I wanted to say. In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night!