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Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

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Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#101

Post by cjslep »

lumberjack wrote: post #93

If you want to move to Germany don't underestimate how hard it is to have a social life around here, especially if moving alone. It is the one thing that seems a constant, whenever I talk with other foreigners. Even Germans seem to find it hard to have friends when they relocate away from their previous social lives.

As someone who moved to Switzerland from America, Germans and Germany seems easier to integrate with than integrating in Switzerland.

To be fair, I'm learning High German and not my local Schwiizertüütsch.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#102

Post by devdas »

chki wrote: post #14
onreact wrote: post #2

Some fun albeit superficial information. You forgot to mention that Australians are not simply allowed to move here. Having a job or at least money to support yourself is a prerequisite. A friend of my wife is from Australia and she had a hard time to prove she's not a burden to Germany even though she basically lives off renting her house in Australia and selling her art so that she is quite well off. Also Germany l…

>People from Africa or Asia routinely get held at extraterritorial prisons indefinitely. In case you have mixed ancestry and look like "people of color" be cautious. Not regarding anything else you are claiming this is quite an outrageous claim and I have no recollection of such things going on in Germany for the last few years. It would also be a severe violation of the German constitution if this would be happening…

Refugees get sent to Libyan prisons in an attempt to prevent them from entering the EU at all.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/10/libya-migrants-un-iom-r...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/03/libya-migrants...

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#103

Post by izolate »

quelltext wrote: post #8

> It’s also more difficult for me as a I have a US layout keyboard at home and a German layout at work. I'd hate tp be forced to use a specific layout governed by my employer and I'm glad it's not been a problem so far to get a replacement keyboard with US layout. It's pretty common nowadays for developers to simply prefer the US layout if their country's is not great, like the German one that makes typing braces etc…

A good company will honour your request for a specific keyboard layout. I've spent the majority of my working life in Europe and have always requested (and fortunately received) a US-layout keyboard at work.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#104

Post by distances »

fit2rule wrote: post #92
looki wrote: post #9

Regarding the trains, >They are usually on time and cover basically everywhere worth visiting in Europe. He has a very ungerman definition of usually on time :) There's probably not a bigger laughing stock in Germany than our trains (Okay, there is BER). The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time [1]. If you have tight transfers to make, that can get very annoying. I also thought the ICE and…

As an Australian who also moved to Germany and Austria, I can say that the trains are very impressive in this part of the world - until you go to Berlin. Berlin trains will drive you absolutely mad. I was fine with German trains - impressed, even - until I tried to get around Berlin for a few weeks by way of the local train systems. The only thing I can compare it to, is British trains, which are absolutely terrible…

> Berlin trains will drive you absolutely mad.

Can you expand a bit, punctuality or what? In Berlin trains are sometimes a bit clunky, sometimes a bit late, but I absolutely love the Berlin public transport system.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#105

Post by distances »

wander_homer wrote: post #86
coldtea wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He has a very ungerman definition of usually on time :) There's probably not a bigger laughing stock in Germany than our trains (Okay, there is BER). The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time [1]. If you have tight transfers to make, that can get very annoying. Then don't arrange for "tight transfers"? If "within 5 minutes" (or close, I'm guessing the rest of the time would be some "unbear…

Their official route planer uses those "tight transfers" by default and calls them "Normal transfer duration".

What happens in Germany if you lose your connection due to the train being late? In Finland the train company is responsible for ensuring you get to your destination (with taxi if needed) if the train rides were bought as a single trip.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#106

Post by phreeza »

rurban wrote: post #90
netsharc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And he praises the food in the ICE trains... It shows he's Australian and earned a lot at BMW, the food on ICE trains are severely overpriced.

Could be that he used a czech ICE train operating the Prague-Berlin line over Dresden. This is mostly on time and serves good czech food. I wouldn't recommend eating on German trains as foreigner. Germans have similar food standards as British, the lowest end of the food chain. EDIT: Bavaria is different though. They actually have a different food tradition, more towards the more civilised countries Austria, Czech, I…

That is a EC, not an ICE, I think. Often full with drunk tourists sadly.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#107

Post by shakermakr »

FabHK wrote: post #33
lucb1e wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What (kind(s) of) countries would you say have bad food?

My point was more that if German food was the worst among the seven, then they must have all been reasonably decent, at least.

The problem is often cultural food (ie non German) quickly changes to the German palate. There was an incredible Indian restaurant opening here recently. We visited a few months later and it was half as good. Asked the owner: “yeah well, Germans like it not hot, salty, and fatty”. Same with Italian: it’s quantity over quality.

And the supermarkets are woeful. It’s hard even to get an “exotic” herb like cilantro often.

After living years in Germany I’d say, the Germans don’t love food for foods sake, unlike say the French, where it’s a passion.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#108

Post by croisillon »

looki wrote: post #9

Regarding the trains, >They are usually on time and cover basically everywhere worth visiting in Europe. He has a very ungerman definition of usually on time :) There's probably not a bigger laughing stock in Germany than our trains (Okay, there is BER). The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time [1]. If you have tight transfers to make, that can get very annoying. I also thought the ICE and…

that reminds of an amusing time i went to buy a train ticket at dresden main railway station, back in 2003:

- i'd like a ticket for the next train to prag

- ok, 17:25 or 19:25?

- but it's 17:30 already?

- so what? the train is still on station

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#109

Post by johnchristopher »

cosmodisk wrote: post #48
looki wrote: post #9

Regarding the trains, >They are usually on time and cover basically everywhere worth visiting in Europe. He has a very ungerman definition of usually on time :) There's probably not a bigger laughing stock in Germany than our trains (Okay, there is BER). The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time [1]. If you have tight transfers to make, that can get very annoying. I also thought the ICE and…

Well...The local operators,here in London,solved the stats issue this way: if a train is late, it skips many stations and still arrive to the end station on time. Guess what,all the stats are produced on first- last ststion basis...

Eh. Same thing in Belgium. Only time of arrival in the last station is taken into account to classify a journey as being late or on time.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#110

Post by realityking »

distances wrote: post #105
wander_homer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their official route planer uses those "tight transfers" by default and calls them "Normal transfer duration".

What happens in Germany if you lose your connection due to the train being late? In Finland the train company is responsible for ensuring you get to your destination (with taxi if needed) if the train rides were bought as a single trip.

Same here if the entire journey is booked on one ticket. I’ve taken a Taxi from Cologne to Aachen (~75km) on Deutsche Bahn’s dime.

Unfortunately Deutsche Bahn is not very up-front about these option (e.g. with vouchers) and you have to expense that taxi ride or hotel after the fact. A lot of people are scared of that as they’re not sure if they’ll get the money back.

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