Applying for a Visa in Germany

This is (unfortunately) going to be another boring post for most of you following this at home (if any of you actually are *stare*), but there is good news. If you were told about this blog, found it yourself, or are simply      completing some sort of sadistic bet, there is going to be some great information for your time abroad. I will specifically be discussing the process of getting a Visa in Germany. If you are a citizen of the USA then you gain a few privileges with your passport that are not available to everyone. Do not be confused, this does not mean that you have the rights you normally would in America, because you do not so do not get in to much trouble. Your passport does permit you to enter the country without first having a Visa, and you can stay for a total of 90 days in (I believe, please correct me if I am wrong) a 3 year period. Students from many other countries must have this taken care of before the can set foot outside of the airport. That being said, a semester is longer than 90 days and you do not want to wait to long to get started.

As always, the International Office and your Peer Student (if you do not have one, I highly recommend it) are your best friends. There are two major forms that must be completed and turned in at the Emigration Office. On your first visit, make sure that you have enough time as there can be a lengthy wait involved, and bring someone fluent in German if you are not. While the people at the office were very friendly and helpful, they do not speak fluent English, especially in a situation such as this. That being said, I did not have any problems getting everything worked out. It is also worth noting that, while the office does not open until 9:00, the main doors are open earlier. You want to get their before the crowd. As soon as the doors open, you need to rush up the stairs imediatly in front of you and to the terminal at the far wall (I am not responsible for an future construction or process changes). This is relatively easy to manage, simply run through in English, say you have not made an appointment, and that you are a student. Once your ticket number is called you will meet someone and take the first real step of the process. They will take one of the forms that you have completed (this one is to register specifically with the city of Braunschweig) and check your Passport. Well they may not check your passport, but you should always have it with you anyway. They will then set another appointment with you and tell you what you will need to bring.

The first thing that you will need is the second completed packet that you were given by the IO. There is also an additional form that you will need to get from the IO. This is more important if you are staying longer than I am and are participating in an internship. If (like me) you are only there for one semester of just studies, then the document simply needs to state your reason for study, your field, and length of stay. You will also need proof of Health Insurance during your stay in Germany. I simply showed them the acceptance packed that I received from DAK via email and that was enough. I do not think it was necessary, but they also made a copy of my health insurance card that I received in the mail. They also require you to have some proof of finances, just making sure you wren't planning on living in a box, and a simple bank statement is enough for this requirement. As a note to the security conscious, there is no need for any of your account details to be visible, simply white out your account number and copy they paper. They have no problem as long as it is a real bank with real money. They are quite picky about that last part. That is all of the actual paperwork, but there are some additional things that you will need to have with you.

So I fibbed, you will also need your sheet with all of your matriculation (don't panic! words that big have sight based on movement) information. This is something that you will receive in the mail once you have registered as a student at TU-Braunschweig and it contains, among many other things, your student ID. At some point (maybe tomorrow) I will also tell you the wonders of that little slip of paper. Your ID is not what they need but the large sheet of paper it was attached too. Lastly (almost), you will need a photo for the to take. They paint a clear picture of what they want here. The size should be roughly 3.5cm wide by 4.5cm tall and you want your face to be the vast majority of the photo. Also, you cannot be showing your teeth, smiling, looking way, have anything in your eyes (hair or glasses), no hats (unless for religious reasons), with your head held straight, and your hands cannot be in the picture. They also prefer to have your eyes in the center line of the picture. I know this sounds crazy but I am not making this up. You can try and get all of this worked out at home, or simply use the conveniently located photo booths that walk you through the whole process and only cost 6 Euros. Small note, the will only take 5 Euro Bills or 1 or 2 Euro coins. Take a deep breath and stay calm. I am now going to reveal a secret that I sincerely wish I had known. 

There is a fee that comes with the processing of your Visa. 100 Euros. Now the secret, you can get around this fee! If you bring in proof of Scholarships, they worker has the right to wave the fee. I do not know why, and I do not know if this is true for all of Germany, but here in Braunschweig it is a very real and useful thing to know. I am currently trying to find any proof I can in order to circumvent this charge. Never saw anything like this in all my searching about German Visas, so I hope that people with questions about getting a Visa in Germany will be able to find this blog, even if it requires that I use the words Visa, Germany, and other combinations (such as German Visa, Visa in Germany, or Residence Visa in Germany) more often that would otherwise be natural. Hopefully, anyone searching for information on the process for a German Visa will be sent here. Now after all of that, I was told that the process would take approximately three weeks. I was given a sheet of paper that states I have applied and that the application is being processed so that I will not be deported before it arrives. Fortunately, because I was unaware of the potential benefits of my scholarships, I was told I did not have to pay until I picked up my Visa in three weeks. I hope I can find what I need. Oh, and German Visa Application Process.

For those of you who love checklists, here is a bullet list (almost the same thing) of what you will need.

• City registration paper work
• received from BS IO
• Visa application packet
• also received from BS IO
• Reason and Duration of stay
• Upon request from BS IO (I think there is a pattern, just not sure what)
• Proof of Health Insurance
• Proof of Finances
• Bank Statement
• Photo
• 3.5*4.5 cm
• No hat, no smile, nothing in front of eyes, and centered in frame
• 100 Euros
• Bring proof of Scholarships to circumvent this charge!!!

Well, I hope that someone out there finds all of this usefull. Das is Alles, Gute Nacht.

First World Problems

 I know, I have not written a post in over a week now.Things were busy yes, but mostly, I didn't have anything that I was burning to report about. It was a relatively standard week. Now that I am beginning to settle into a rhythm, I think that the time will start passing much more quickly. That being said, you will probably have some rough days every week. For me, that is going to be every Wednesday and Thursday. Both days are just packed full with classes and activities and by the end my brain is whimpering in the corner of my head twitching at every Germanic word. At least the weather is nice. I am so glad that I came during the season that I did, if I had come during the winter I would have been a great deal more miserable. Spring and Summer weather help lift my spirits and let me take walks in the park to help center myself. For example, yesterday I rented a canoe with one of my roommates and his girlfriend and spent about an hour on a small river near the shop. Actually it was a mini golf course that rented boats. Extremely relaxing and I forgot my camera so I will just have to go again. Darn.

Speaking of roommates, just because you are in Germany does not mean that the people are radically different. I am still having some of the same problems with my roommates here that I had back in the states. Nobody wants to take out the trash, dirty pots that are left overnight, and who knows what else will come to pass. My point is, do not be surprised and just deal with it the way you always should. Talk to people and try and get a system worked out. It won't always work, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.

There is something else that caught me a little off guard. I came here knowing it would be different and that I would miss my home, but I was a bit surprised at some of the other things I miss. Naturally, I miss my family and my girlfriend, but I never thought that I would miss Taco Bell. A few days past, I had a real craving for tacos and they are nowhere to be found. There are dozens of Turkish and Chinese restaurants in the area but  absolutely no texmex. Shouldn't be to surprising but it sneaks up on you. Here is a little bit of warning for those of you coming from the states. Not all of the soda is the same. If you like Orange Fanta or Mountain Dew, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT try it here. They are radically different and the Mountain Dew jut tasted terrible. Anyway, short post this week. Be sure to post any questions you have in the comments of the blog and I will see you later. Guten Tag.

Facing the Inevitable

So the unavoidable has finally come to pass. I am sick. In all honesty, I am surprised that this did not happen soon but there it is. I am am currently feeling much better than the past few days but I want to be well recovered before reemerging in the world of the living. I was originally going to break this post into two shorter posts but that just did not happen. As I really don't feel like waiting for another week to explain all of this, this will be  a long, dry, and picture less (maybe) post about classes here in Germany.

This was another very big hurdle for me because I was given no information on when or where my classes were or how to find out. In fact, the learning agreement that I had written up previously was made by looking at the courses that had been offered the previous year. Once it was explained to me, it really was not that bad. I am not sure exactly when the information is added, but by simply going to the following link  you can find your classes, when they are meeting, where they are meeting, and who your professors are. Then I hit the second hurdle, the scheduling conflicts. I had been repeatedly informed by people (both in the US and her in Braunschweig) that many of the classes only meet one time a week. When I saw multiple times listed under the class, I just assumed that they were different time slots. You know how it is. CHEM 1060 is offered at two different times three days a week, so this is just their version of the same thing right? Wrong. All of the classes that I have looked up are only offered as specific times and all times listed are the times you should go.

This immediately shot my previous plan to pieces. Here I was, in Germany, partway through the first week of classes with no idea where to go. With help, I was able to find someone to guide me through this mess of planning and come out with a shaky schedule. Now here comes the next thing to take notice of. At home at UW, most classes are just class with the lab being listed separately for timing issues. Here they function in what are called "Modules". Many of these modules consist of several different parts. The main components that I saw were the "Vorlesung", the "Ubung", the "Seminar", and the "Praktikum". The "Vorlesung" is the standard lecture that we all know and love with the teacher at the front and the horde of eager minds (well hopefully at least awake minds) in the seats. As far as I can tell, a "Seminar" is very similar to the lectures except they are with different teachers and in smaller groups. Bear in mind I only had one full week of classes , but these seem to be much more interactive than the lectures. I do not have any of theses, but as far as I can tell, the "Preaktikums" are just like our lab work at UW. I have no experience here, so you are on your own. Now, the "Ubung" is most similar to the "discussions" that we have with some of our classes at UW. During the week, the professor will give out a sheet of problems for the students to work on, and everyone works through the solutions during the Ubungs. There are also rumored to be these things called "Tutorials", but I have yet to experience one.

Here is the warning label. It seems that each Institute at the University handles their classes slightly differently, so be sure to check with someone who will know how it all works.

Now here is a little more information about me, or, more specifically, about my course preparations. I believe I mentioned this earlier, but I only need to get 3 transfer credits in order to complete my International Engineering Concentration and, thus, graduate. Small note here. Here at Braunschweig they use what are called ECTS credits, and, as far as I can tell, are worth about half of the credits at home. This means I need to pass 6 credits here to transfer 3 credits home. Anyway, back to me. As I have already completed all of my course work at the University of Wyoming except for my time abroad, I do not need any of my courses here in Germany to transfer as specific classes. The idea here was too simplify the transfer process. Normally, there is a great big nightmare of you sending them all the information on the class to the IO office in UW so that they can compare with the corresponding department in order to determine if you are learning the same material you would at UW. More than a little confusing, I know. I do not yet know if this will actually simplify things, but I am holding on to hope.

The reason that I mention all of this, is that it has been an incredible help, even in just my first week of classes. Because I have taken all of the classes, there is no new material, it is all just review. Maybe a review of five year old material for me, but a review none the less. While I do not know if this will help me learn the language faster, it has certainly helped me feel more comfortable with what I am attempting to do here. I may not understand everything the teacher says, but just the simple fact that I know what he is trying to explain pushes back the panic. That being said, I had no idea how much we depend upon our language for higher order mathematics. I have attended a couple of classes using more complicated mathematics and while the mathematics was all familiar, I could not follow what I was supposed to be doing. This could just be me though. I always picked up much faster on the Chemistry side of things than on the math side of my degree. I do not know if this will be an option for those of you looking to spend time abroad in the future, but it has been great for me. After getting sick, I cannot tell you how much every little familiar thing helps me feel more comfortable with my situation. I hope that this post will be helpful to students in the future, but I need to rest some more. Guten Tag.

Just a Short Post. I Promise

So I think this will actually be a short post. I know I have said that before but today there are just two things to discuss. The first was something I knew but did not quite appreciate until the other day. I was just going about my normal day when I broke a dish that was balance on the edge of the counter in our apartment. For some reason, this made me mad, and not just mad, furious. I mean I wanted to piece the plate together just so I could smash it again, and then set it on fire. After I was finished picking up all of the pieces, my anger suddenly morphed into intense depression and self loathing. All of this over a single cheap plate. Now the point of this little anecdote is very simple. When you are stresses, you become very fragile and spontaneous emotionally  This is something I already knew and have had plenty of experience with in th process of surviving my engineering coursework. This time it really caught me by surprise, and made me realize just how stressed out I was. Now being stressed is not a bad thing; it simply means that adjustments need to be made and you should be aware of it. Now that I am, I can work to make it better. For future travelers, beware of this little gem and take it as the warning it is designed to be. Don't panic, just keep moving forward. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

On to a more logistical problem. Coming from the USA, expecially Wyoming, I have had little to now experience with public transportation. In Munich I was spoiled by the train system under the city. Here in Braunschweig is a network of Trams and Buses. The schedule is not consistant either. The transports are scheduled more frequently during the busiest hours of the day and become less frequent through the night. In fact, most of the buses stop completely around 8 pm. Seeing as many of my extra activities start at around 8, another form of transportation became necessary. Introducing a wonderful invention known as a bicycle.

Braunscheig is small enough that if you are in almost any of the student housing, you can travel to the University in under 30 minutes. Some of the places I wanted to go were even further away and would have been awful to walk, especially at night. There is a great little store called DiDi's Fahrrad located at Cellar Strasse 5, Braunschweig Germany. This store is a little hard to find but well worth the effort if you are only in the country for a few months. I was able to purchase a previously used bike and lock for only 50 euros. Sure the brakes squeak loud enough to drown out the approach of Freddy Kruger, but it functions and gets me where I need to go with ease. Plus, with brakes that loud, all the drivers are sure to hear me even if the cannot see me, so hey, extras safety measure. Best of all, when I am ready to leave the country, I can sell the bike back for another 15 euros. So by the end of my trip, I will have spend less money on my bike than I have on soda! That's all for today. Gute Nacht.

Just a Few Paper Cuts

I know I promised to discus the differences between the classes here and in the USA, but I want to wait a week so that I can attend all of my classes and, hopefully, gain a better understanding of the distinctions. Instead, I would like to talk about another very useful tool available for anyone studying in Braunschweig. I have already thrown my vote towards the Goethe Institute and I would now like to take a moment to support the Peer Student Program. This is an option incoming exchange students can take when coming to Braunschweig. You simply sign up online by providing information about your length of stay, home country, hobbies, major, and a few other things, and they assign you another student to help you. From what I have seen, these students were often exchange students themselves. Their purpose is to help guide you through the maze of paperwork, confusion, and buildings so that you will settle in more smoothly. My Peer Student has been an enormously helpful. She has helped with the paper work, shown me around the city some, told me where to buy a bike, and been a friend in a new place.

Now I must discuss the bad, which actually has nothing to do with my peer student. The application process is far from perfect. I arrived in Braunschweig thinking that I would be given information once I was here. Then I found out that my peer student should have contacted me weeks ago and set up a time to meet me once I was in the city. This information came at the worst possible moment in the day and quickly sent me into a downward spiral of fear and panic as I wondered what else was not as it should be. I was fortunate enough to meat a very nice girl in the International Office who was already a Peer Student for some other exchange students and was willing to be mine as well. We still do not know why I was never contacted. I was on the list and for some reason, I was just never assigned to anyone. The lesson for anyone attempting this is simple. If you do not hear from a peer student shortly, then email them until you get a response. If nothing works, then try asking at the International Office upon your arrival. You might luck out like I did.

I mentioned before that the University offers a wide range of extra activities. These vary from rock climbing to yoga and even to archery, but, as always, their system is a little different. Here you must choose the classes you would like to attend in advance and register for them online. Once you register you receive an email with a verification number and bar code that you are supposed to print off and bring with you. This will be more important for some events, *cough* *Yoga* *cough*, but even if the even is full, I was told to attend and see if they have any last minute openings. I cannot recommend these activities enough. Last Thursday I found my way to the Karate group here. It was a great physical outlet, I get to work on my German in a new setting, I met new people, and I can continue to develop my skills. Many of my best friends  in Wyoming were people that I met in the Karate club; I see know reason why the same cannot happen here. If you don't have anything like this, choose something you were always interested in. Most of these classes are free after paying the student fees and the few that do charge are not very expensive. There is nothing to lose and so much to gain.

I would also like to take a very brief moment to discuss the importance of staying connected with home. You don't realize how much you depend upon those around you until they are gone, and it is very helpful to talk to them from time to time. Here is another thing to consider. Yes, you are very busy and yes, you are surviving just fine, but the people have no idea what is going on. They are no busier than normal and have all the time in the world to worry and wonder if you are safe. Find a way to let them know, even if it is just a blog, and I know they will appreciate it. You might be surprised how much it helps you too. I am working on getting more pictures. Been very busy and I don't know if I can keep up. Das ist alles. Gute Nacht.

The Tide of Paperwork

Alright, here we go again. It has now been one complete week at the Technical University of Braunscheig Germany, not that I would really know because most the week was spend running around and doing paper work. Unfortunately, this blog, and probably the next are going to be very boring but filled with good information for anyone planning a semester at Braunschweig. Not that this blog is overflowing with titillating content, space battles, suspense, or daring escapes anyway, but this will still be very dry. Unfortunately  I don't know if anything more could have been done with respect to several of these problems, but being informed is always beneficial.

One important thing for any incoming Braunschweig students to understand is that, just because you have received your letter of acceptance does not mean you are enrolled. There are several other steps that you must first take before you are enrolled as a student. The first thing that you need is to sign your living contract. If you are living in student housing this is a very simple process that is completed at the International-studies Office (IO). This is not directly needed to be enrolled but it is necessary for your health insurance. You must have a local address for your health insurance ans you must have you health insurance before being enrolled. By careening down that chain of logic, you therefor need your housing contract. After that, assuming I am remembering everything, all you need is to pay the student fee for the semester.

 The trick here is that they will not accept this money in cash, it must be a bank transfer, and you must therefor have an International bank account of one form or another. It is not so difficult to set up a bank account once you are here in Braunschweig but (as always) there are some pitfalls to be wary of. Fortunately  student accounts at the Deutsche Bank in Braunschweig are free to open and free to maintain, they do however have a minimum duration of 6 Months. I found this out the first day when I went in saying that I would be returning to America at the end of July. Do not lie, but this is a case where, by recommendation of the bank employees, it is better just not to mention it. After the transfer you are enrolled, you will receive a temporary student ID, and they will mail you the next step. I will let you know when I get there. Point of interest, there are several things that are included with the semester fee. There are a very wide number of activities that are completely covered by your fees and with your student ID (or temporary ID as the case may be) you can ride on any of the public transportation within Braunschweig for free. This makes it very worth while to get this taken care of as soon as you possibly can.

During the first week, you should expect to spend a lot of money. There is the student fee (roughly 200 euros) and the rent for April (roughly 300 euros), both of which must be payed for electronically  There is also the housing deposit that is equal to one month of rent but must be payed in cash on campus. Also, be aware that the office to pay at is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-11:00 am. Never forget that you need to eat and there will inevitably be expenses to make you housing more comfortable. Blankets, bed sheets, dishes, rat poison, office supplies, and whatever else you need. The housing is actually very nice. Seriously, there is no need for rat poison, it was just a joke. Next time (hopefully tomorrow), I will be talking about the difference between the setup of classes in Germany and the USA as well as some of the extra activities.