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My move to Germany

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
I've got an offer that's proving extremely difficult to refuse - an all expense paid move to Germany for the next 3-5 yrs.

I've never met anyone who's lived there that says anything but great things about it.

Any of you Monkeys there now, or there recently?
 
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Yeti

Monkey
May 17, 2005
877
0
yeti cave@the beach
German trains are always late :D ...they are decent, but compared to Switzerland they are late a lot.

Where are you going? There is a huge difference between the Bundesländer. I spend a couple weeks a year visiting friends in Germany but live in Zürich.


Edit: Let me guess, EADS Friedrichshafen?
 
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N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
German trains are always late :D ...they are decent, but compared to Switzerland they are late a lot.

Where are you going? There is a huge difference between the Bundesländer. I spend a couple weeks a year visiting friends in Germany but live in Zürich.

Edit: Let me guess, EADS Friedrichshafen?
Stuttgart.
 

Yeti

Monkey
May 17, 2005
877
0
yeti cave@the beach
going to DLR?

Stuttgart is in a cool part of Germany, generally the south is pretty cool and the riding is cool. The city itself is a bit boring, but the quality of life is good. You're also not too far away from the alps for some epic riding :thumb:
 
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N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
going to DLR?

Stuttgart is in a cool part of Germany, generally the south is pretty cool and the riding is cool. The city itself is a bit boring, but the quality of life is good. You're also not too far away from the alps for some epic riding :thumb:
Negative - USAG


I'd go for it, N8. That should be epic. Will your pay reflect the higher cost of living? 'Cause it's gonna be pricey over there...
I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, looks like I'll be paid a living allowance of approx $4k/mo. The opportunity for travel is off the hook tho!
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,520
7,069
Colorado
Going for the motherland? You might explode because they have high taxes, socialized medicine, and only work a 40hr week. You should stick to being a Jackass in the US. We won't look as bad that way.

But in all seriousness, do it.
 

the law

Monkey
Jun 25, 2002
267
0
where its at
Going for the motherland? You might explode because they have high taxes, socialized medicine, and only work a 40hr week. You should stick to being a Jackass in the US. We won't look as bad that way.

But in all seriousness, do it.
Maybe some of it will rub off. :D Kidding aside, Germany is a pretty fun place to be and mountain biking is popular. Besides, you have nothing to loose. 3-5 years in a different country is going to be awesome pretty much anywhere.
 

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
Highly recommended.
I lived in NL for 4 years.
Don't miss living day to day in EU but miss the ability to travel within the EU on a daily basis.
It's not that expensive, either.
 

ICEBALL585

Bacontard
Sep 8, 2009
6,803
2,041
.:585:.
Don't know about living in Germany but southern Germany is definitely a fun place to visit. Spent some time skiing in Bavaria and also in Austria. Soooooo much good beer :D
 

yesimaddicted

Monkey
Apr 28, 2007
824
0
centeral Euroland via CA
I just moved to freiburg( south of stuttgart, almost to basel) for a year of studying abroad. So far love the euro part of it!

but bike culture is different, and i heard its even different from city to city. With so much riding in and around my town you have a lot riders. However, with so many riders and not as much need to gang up and fight/build trails the community is pretty broken up.

Been having some trouble finding solid riding buds over here, even with conversation level german.

or and bring all the bike stuff you want over with you. it costs way more here.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
You might explode because they have
high taxes
True.
socialized medicine
True (but for the price of it you could have your own personal house doctor in the US).
and only work a 40hr week
hahaha. My first 6 months I averaged 10 hours per work day without accumulating a single vacation day. Now I get 2 per month.

Stuttgart is in a cool part of Germany, generally the south is pretty cool and the riding is cool. The city itself is a bit boring, but the quality of life is good.
On the contrary, I find the city exciting and that there are a lot of things to do here, but the quality of life compared to the US is quite low. I base this mostly on it being difficult to make the same amount of money as I could in the USA, and that everything is at least 50% more expensive. There are also a lot of day to day things that get frustrating after a while. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Stores open after you go to work and close before you leave work... and sometimes during lunch. Forget about anything (that doesn't serve beer) being open after 8pm, ever. Customer service calls cost 42 Euro cents per minute. You actually have to pay 10% of your income to the Church by way of taxes (I was warned of this beforehand and opted out, so now I can't join in any church activities). Expect the guy packing bearings to make more money, receive more benefits, and work fewer hours than the engineer that's designing the equipment for the bearings to go into. GEMA. The beer selection is actually a lot greater at most grocery stores in the US, but here you can drink a beer while walking downtown or driving 200km/h on the Autobahn.


For me, it's not a place that I would ever want to live for the rest of my life, but at the same time, I've extended my work contract once already and am wanting to extend it again when this one expires in May. I like the people, the public transit, proximity to other cool places, bar/club scene, the women are amazing, the Wilhelma zoo and botanical gardens is really nice, Rosenstein park is great, the museums are good, and in general I find it a really nice and fun place to be with always something to do on the weekend or after work.
 

valve bouncer

Master Dildoist
Feb 11, 2002
7,843
114
Japan
I just moved to freiburg( south of stuttgart, almost to basel) for a year of studying abroad. So far love the euro part of it!

but bike culture is different, and i heard its even different from city to city. With so much riding in and around my town you have a lot riders. However, with so many riders and not as much need to gang up and fight/build trails the community is pretty broken up.

Been having some trouble finding solid riding buds over here, even with conversation level german.

or and bring all the bike stuff you want over with you. it costs way more here.
Tell me you've been to Todtnau!
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
I just moved to freiburg( south of stuttgart, almost to basel) for a year of studying abroad. So far love the euro part of it!

but bike culture is different, and i heard its even different from city to city. With so much riding in and around my town you have a lot riders. However, with so many riders and not as much need to gang up and fight/build trails the community is pretty broken up.

Been having some trouble finding solid riding buds over here, even with conversation level german.

or and bring all the bike stuff you want over with you. it costs way more here.
My flatmate's boyfriend lives in Freiburg. I haven't had a chance to ride with him yet, but he rides a Santa Cruz Nomad and seems to ride quite a bit.
 

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
True.
True (but for the price of it you could have your own personal house doctor in the US).
hahaha. My first 6 months I averaged 10 hours per work day without accumulating a single vacation day. Now I get 2 per month.


On the contrary, I find the city exciting and that there are a lot of things to do here, but the quality of life compared to the US is quite low. I base this mostly on it being difficult to make the same amount of money as I could in the USA, and that everything is at least 50% more expensive. There are also a lot of day to day things that get frustrating after a while. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Stores open after you go to work and close before you leave work... and sometimes during lunch. Forget about anything (that doesn't serve beer) being open after 8pm, ever. Customer service calls cost 42 Euro cents per minute. You actually have to pay 10% of your income to the Church by way of taxes (I was warned of this beforehand and opted out, so now I can't join in any church activities). Expect the guy packing bearings to make more money, receive more benefits, and work fewer hours than the engineer that's designing the equipment for the bearings to go into. GEMA. The beer selection is actually a lot greater at most grocery stores in the US, but here you can drink a beer while walking downtown or driving 200km/h on the Autobahn.


For me, it's not a place that I would ever want to live for the rest of my life, but at the same time, I've extended my work contract once already and am wanting to extend it again when this one expires in May. I like the people, the public transit, proximity to other cool places, bar/club scene, the women are amazing, the Wilhelma zoo and botanical gardens is really nice, Rosenstein park is great, the museums are good, and in general I find it a really nice and fun place to be with always something to do on the weekend or after work.
Awesome info, thx!

I'm not worried about German taxes - I'll paying more than enough back to the US (although living & cost of living allowances are non-taxed).

No change to my health care - same ol' Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

I'll work a 40 hr week and enjoy my 26 paid vaca days immensely - think sightseeing, drinking beer & mountain biking.

Can't wait to enjoy Europe again - was last there in '86.
 
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norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
True.
True (but for the price of it you could have your own personal house doctor in the US).
hahaha. .
Lol'd. Surgery and other expensive stuff in US is stupid expensive compared to Germany. I paid out of my own pocket there.

On the contrary, I find the city exciting and that there are a lot of things to do here, but the quality of life compared to the US is quite low. I base this mostly on it being difficult to make the same amount of money as I could in the USA, and that everything is at least 50% more expensive. There are also a lot of day to day things that get frustrating after a while. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Stores open after you go to work and close before you leave work... and sometimes during lunch. Forget about anything (that doesn't serve beer) being open after 8pm, ever. Customer service calls cost 42 Euro cents per minute. You actually have to pay 10% of your income to the Church by way of taxes (I was warned of this beforehand and opted out, so now I can't join in any church activities). Expect the guy packing bearings to make more money, receive more benefits, and work fewer hours than the engineer that's designing the equipment for the bearings to go into. GEMA. The beer selection is actually a lot greater at most grocery stores in the US, but here you can drink a beer while walking downtown or driving 200km/h on the Autobahn.
You mistake quality of life with the ability to buy gadgets. If that's important move to a tax heaven.

The church thing makes sense - Instead of the country donating to church via tax cuts if you want to support it you do it.

Also you must work in a really really crappy company if as an Engineer you make less than a technician. My mother married a german engineer, 6-7 years ago. He's a halfwit and I'm quite sure he earns more than a bearing guy.

As for beer - the bigger shops have a wide array of great beers. At least in bavaria. Local small shops yes but after a few brief encounters with the US as long as it's souther germany i prefer it to us all the way.

Also Stuttgart is closer to Morzine than Warsaw is to any real mountains.



As for your workweek - average german workweek is 35.6h/week. In Symantec or Siemmens you work 8+8+8+8+5h. Big corpo.
 
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yesimaddicted

Monkey
Apr 28, 2007
824
0
centeral Euroland via CA
Tell me you've been to Todtnau!
I was there for the last IxS race and hope to get out there at least once this summer, but only 2 trails? kinda weak in my opinion.

My flatmate's boyfriend lives in Freiburg. I haven't had a chance to ride with him yet, but he rides a Santa Cruz Nomad and seems to ride quite a bit.
Sending you a PM, always trying to find people to shred with over here. and funny thing is, I also have a nomad
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
Awesome info, thx!

I'm not worried about German taxes - I'll paying more than enough back to the US (although living & cost of living allowances are non-taxed).

No change to my health care - same ol' Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

I'll work a 40 hr week and enjoy my 26 paid vaca days immensely - think sightseeing, drinking beer & mountain biking.

Can't wait to enjoy Europe again - was last there in '86.
This is the way to do it. Is the $4,000/month living allowance in addition to a semi-regular salary? If so, beers are on you my friend.
 

?????

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,678
2
San Francisco
Lol'd. Surgery and other expensive stuff in US is stupid expensive compared to Germany. I paid out of my own pocket there.
If you needed surgery in the USA and Germany and you had no health insurance, then yes, it would likely cost more in the USA. However, you must have health insurance in Germany, and it costs much more than it does in the USA.

My experience with the doctor's office and emergency rooms are limited to a few minutes of the doctor prodding around in my ear and a more severe instance when my g/f crashed her bike, broke out her front teeth, and needed some stitches around her head and face. This happened in July and she still has the temporary repairs done to her teeth, and likely will for another 5 months as her dentist was on pregnancy leave when she went back 2 weeks ago to get the permanent repairs done. The hospital room that she was in had some nasty, porous wall paper with old blood stains streaked along it. When she was moved to the dental specialist that night there was one younger lady working there. After 30 minutes another dentist showed up.

Given the choice, I'd take the comparatively posh treatment one receives at an American hospital.


You mistake quality of life with the ability to buy gadgets. If that's important move to a tax heaven.

The church thing makes sense - Instead of the country donating to church via tax cuts if you want to support it you do it.

Also you must work in a really really crappy company if as an Engineer you make less than a technician. My mother married a german engineer, 6-7 years ago. He's a halfwit and I'm quite sure he earns more than a bearing guy.

As for beer - the bigger shops have a wide array of great beers. At least in bavaria. Local small shops yes but after a few brief encounters with the US as long as it's souther germany i prefer it to us all the way.

Also Stuttgart is closer to Morzine than Warsaw is to any real mountains.



As for your workweek - average german workweek is 35.6h/week. In Symantec or Siemmens you work 8+8+8+8+5h. Big corpo.
It's not so much being able to buy gadgets, but being able to afford to do things.

I'm not an engineer, but an architect. That was just to make an analogy. I know quite a few architects here with 5 years or less work experience, some with masters degrees, and none of them make the $40-45,000 per year that you might expect right after graduating. I also know exactly 0 Germans in their mid 20's that have bought their own house, and off the top of my head, can't think of any that don't have flatmates.

The working conditions may be nice on paper, or if you work for a huge corporation, but they certainly don't pertain to any architects that I know. No one at my office is working less than 40 hrs/week unless they don't plan to be on the payroll next month.

I find the beer selection wider in the US, but it's not a problem as the beer here is good and you can drink wherever and whenever. You can get good beer anywhere, but the culture surrounding it is much more fun and relaxed here.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy it here, it's just not somewhere that I want to live forever. To me, it's nice because of the people, but the opportunities are greater in the US.

None of this really applies to N8 though as he will essentially be working at an American office in Germany. In his situation, especially if you can receive packages from the US without having to pay overseas shipping and VAT then hell yea I'd do it. I wouldn't think twice about spending 3-5 years over here. You'll love it.
 

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,430
1,949
Front Range, dude...
N8 wont have to worry about taxes or hospital as he will be covered by the SOFA...and I am sure you waont have any problems with the bier. Get here in time for Fruehlingsfest...

We may have to start a Euro Monkey fest.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

- Mark Twain
 
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UiUiUiUi

Turbo Monkey
Feb 2, 2003
1,378
0
Berlin, Germany
Stuttgart.

ok stuttgart is a nice little city, rather calm and cozy, not to much of great night life town, but save and cozy, it's got some decent hills around the city so you'll be able to ride your bike a lot if you should feel the desire to do so.
you are within a few hours driving of the better bikeparks or rather lift accessed DH tracks around there.
i think its about 1 hour to Bad Wildbad and 2.5hours to Todtnau

you can have a lot of fun, great standard of living!

my grandparents used to live there :)
cozy palce :D
 

vikingboy

Monkey
Dec 15, 2009
212
2
I lived in Frankfurt for 6months, shout if you want any specifics. Its was ok but tough not speaking much German...obviously.
 

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,430
1,949
Front Range, dude...
Biggest thing about the language is simply trying...it is amazing how far a simple "Sprechen sie English?" will get you. Even here in Stuttgart where you need to penetrate the Schwabisch mentality (Which is very aloof, not rude...) trying to speak helps. Besides, there are so many AmericanBritishAussieKiwiCanadianIrish ex-pats anyway, its not really a problem. Now the dialect is another story in itself...


N8 wont have to speak any if he doesnt want to, he will be surrounded by Yanks a work all day.