Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#171

Post by fefe23 » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 1:59 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #71

fefe23 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany does not have extraterritorial prison colonies. I think this is a combination of hyperbole and choosing the wrong word. Germany does have housing for refugees and asylum seekers while they wait for asylum to be granted or denied, and the conditions there might be construed as prison-like depending on your political point of view. Technically it's not a prison. Asylum seekers are not permitted to do paid work,…

Your first point is extremely ignorant. The mess in the Middle East was mainly created by the Ottoman Empire consolidating disparate ethnicities and religions into one empire, and then Europe’s dissection of it after WWI (dividing it between Britain and France). The US inherited the mess afterward. Syria, for example, is ruled by an Alawite minority. The Ottomans oppressed them and tried to convert them to Sunni Isla…

Note that I blamed the mass migration towards Europe on the Americans, not the mess in the region.

For the mess in the region I would have blamed the Brits first and then the Ottoman empire and the French a distant second and third. But that was not the question here.

We have had that mess for a hundred years now without millions of refugees trying to flee to Europe.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#172

Post by mtberatwork » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

kfk wrote: post #128

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.

I think the issue is that here in Germany there is a lot of unspoken peer pressure in regards to where you should be in life at your age. That pressure makes it hard to keep things in a flow and basically people (German and expats) tend to put a structure around everything. Social interactions? Needs to happen at the appropriate time and scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance. Fancy restaurant dinner with girlfriend?…

> You must have work life balance and you must go out on sunny days, which is great until it feels again like pressure to be something you don't want to be. Hiking? You will find another zillion people on that mountain because again you are supposed to go out on sunny days.

Eh, that's mostly because wandern/hiking is basically a national past time. There is no pressure though. You'll find lots of people doing other things outside too. The only pressure is to be respectful of "Ruhetag" (often Sundays) and avoid work, especially loud work outside. In the US, this isn't respected and can be quite jarring.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#173

Post by HorstG » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:12 PM UTC

_Microft wrote: post #18

doopfoopdoop wrote: post #7

Edit: removed. (My post was too negative and was just me venting.)

> I get slightly sick every single time I eat at my university's cafeteria. A different idea regarding this: are you maybe eating a different cuisine normally? A change in cuisine can lead to digestive problems because your gut bacteria will be adapted to one but not the other and that needs time to change.

Another possibly related factor in univerity cafeterias: The kitchen personell are public employees, underpaid but unfireable. As our cafeterias head chef told me, this causes them to not caring one tiny shred about anything. The chef can't discipline or fire them, first because of the protections as public employees and second because he can't find replacements. Therefore, even simple stuff like properly cooking noodles, checking if the chicken is done or basic hygiene is a challenge...

With the obvious consequences. My suggestion for cafeteria food is: Avoid anything that could be harmful if prepared improperly, because it will be.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#174

Post by rlander » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

marcus_holmes wrote: post #124

I moved from Perth to Berlin. The biggest thing that hit me was the alcohol. I can buy a (good!) beer at anytime (even 3am) for about 2 euros from a spati ("late shop"- like a deli but mostly selling beer), and then walk around in the open air drinking it. All the supermarkets sell alcohol all day(and so cheap). People gather by the canals in summer, just drinking and talking. No-one seems to get drunk, there's no vi…

I think a lot of responses in this thread are taking the author’s words literally. In my experience, it’s not about being more or less angry. Germans are more restrained with regards to showing strangers their true feelings, while Australians are more comfortable sharing their emotions. It goes both ways: if an Australian is feeling happy, he/she will smile at you but if he/she is feeling frustrated, it’ll also show.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#175

Post by ericmay » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #151

zizee wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if it is a thing unique to Australia, but there are seem to be a lot of Australian's that have a chip on their shoulder and will tell anyone that will listen to them about how badly Australian's do things/behave. I suspect they have not traveled very much, or just feel better doing something similar to self-flagellation. Like anywhere Australia has it's issues, but in general things are pretty good compa…

Great Barrier Reef. Concentration camps. Awful pollution stats. Heinous censorship laws. Rotten politics. Racism. There are many things to change about Australia. Sunny dispositions are one thing; true grit to make the effort to change things, something else ..

This is the first I’m hearing about concentration camps in Australia. Could you elaborate? When I think concentration camps I’m thinking about what’s going on in China - what is going on in Australia?

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#176

Post by fit2rule » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:27 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #175

fit2rule wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great Barrier Reef. Concentration camps. Awful pollution stats. Heinous censorship laws. Rotten politics. Racism. There are many things to change about Australia. Sunny dispositions are one thing; true grit to make the effort to change things, something else ..

This is the first I’m hearing about concentration camps in Australia. Could you elaborate? When I think concentration camps I’m thinking about what’s going on in China - what is going on in Australia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_immigration_detenti...

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#177

Post by fl0under » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:43 PM UTC

chillfox wrote: post #63

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…

I don't know about trains, but where I live in Australia buses can be up to one hour late.

Here in Adelaide (South Australia) I've found the buses have improved a lot over the last decade, usually right on time, only with the occasional delay (like 5-10 mins).

There are real time data available for our transport system which I find to be super useful so I can leave to get to a stop at the right time.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#178

Post by Accacin » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:45 PM UTC

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…

Yeah British trains can be terrible, depends on the area. Saying that I've never noticed they were much worse than any other country I've been too, except maybe Japan.

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#179

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:54 PM UTC

joshschreuder wrote: post #66

ajdlinux wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The long-distance ones only arrive within 5 minutes 75% of the time The author is an Australian, and is therefore almost certainly most impressed by the fact that long-distance trains exist in any meaningful way at all. Our long distance trains certainly don't have a reputation for punctuality.

Our short distance ones definitely don't either (in Melbourne, at least)

[deleted]

Re: Moving to Germany as an Australian (2016)

#180

Post by cyphar » Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

cylinder wrote: post #150

chillfox wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about trains, but where I live in Australia buses can be up to one hour late.

I live in Sydney and my train is literally never late, always to the minute. I'm just slightly out of peak (just after 9am).

This might depend what line you're on. If you were on the massive T1 loop before they split it, a few late trains were almost a certainty during peak hours. If you live at Bondi it's unlikely your trains will be late because the line is so short.

Don't get me wrong, I do think we complain a little too much about public transport in Sydney (when in reality, it's actually fine most of the time). But it definitely does have some pretty serious flaws (too many single points of failure is the most obvious one -- especially the Strathfield-Paramatta stretch of track which is core to the running of 7 [out of 9] different lines without any way to route around it).