Exchange Germany mental health Travel

Berlin: Life Changing

Mercedes – Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany

Semester 2, 2022

Bachelor of Business and Law (Honours)

Hi, I’m Mercedes! In this blog post, I’m going to take you through my exchange journey as well as some general tips for living in Berlin and advice for your own exchange.

I had the best time. Living in Berlin and going on exchange was life changing for me. It was challenging and rewarding, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and was a once in a lifetime experience.

My Journey

My first day in Berlin was rough.

After three flights from Brisbane via Singapore and Munich, my suitcase came along the conveyor belt… broken. Following an expensive taxi to my student accommodation, I made sure nothing was missing from my suitcase, then set off to buy an Aldi sim card. Tip – you’ll need an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) to set one up (I personally used an n26 account which was free).

RIP suitcase

 

I arrived during the Summer and fell in love with Berlin – watching sunsets over Tempelhof (the old airport), visiting Mauerpark on Sundays and experiencing the nightlife. When Winter arrived, I was very excited for the Christmas markets and to watch the fresh snow fall from my balcony.

Top three things I love about Berlin

  1. Their transport system. Many locals complain about it, however, compared to Brisbane’s train system, the U-bahn and S-Bahn trains are like a dream come true. I found it very easy to get around the city.
  1. Späti (pronounced shpeh-tee) – the convenience stores that rule Berlin. They sell cheap snacks and drinks. Most stay open till late and are open on Sundays which is unusual for Germany.
  1. There is always something happening. The city ‘stays awake’ until late. I often found myself comparing Berlin to Brisbane, thinking “Wow, I can believe on a weeknight there are so many people out and about”.

 

The University

I applied for the Study-Plus program which included a 3-month semester exchange starting in August followed by a 3-month internship. I was therefore based at the Lichtenberg campus rather than the Schoenberg campus which has a 6-month study period. This meant that I had smaller classes and there were fewer exchange students. However, I managed to finish my studies in November and had a lot more free time to travel since my internship ended up falling through (discussed below). I used all my non-law electives to study subjects taught in English. I found that there were many more contact hours on campus than I was used at QUT.

 

General Tips

Research the place you will be living and events on in Europe

  • You never know if your favourite artist or sports team is playing in a nearby city. I tend to suffer from FOMO so this was a major requirement for me!
  • Finding an apartment in Berlin is difficult so definitely have this organised before you leave Brisbane. I stayed at Neon Wood Frankfurter Tor which was a student accommodation. I would recommend them as they are very central however they are €€€.

Put yourself ‘out there’, get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself

  • Join Erasmus groups and meetup.com to meet new people. This was my first time living in a city where I knew practically no one. To me, it was very important I made friends, so I didn’t feel so far away from home. From celebrating my 25th birthday, graduation from university, NYE, I had my own little community of Berlin friends to celebrate milestone events with.

Expect people to be nice

  • I made some genuine long-lasting friendships through my university, student accommodation and an Erasmus meetup. Of course, like any place, not everyone will be friendly, but that’s okay.

Tick off your bucket-list, make the most out of your free time and plan your travels.

  • I wrote down a list of countries I wanted to visit before I arrived in Europe and when I received my timetable, I planned out when I could travel in between classes (i.e long weekends) and after exams.
  • I love Skyscanner. If you’re unsure where you want to go, just put ‘anywhere’ in the destination section and you can see where the cheap flights are from your location. I travelled for a month after my 3-month semester finished and often just followed the cheap 20 € budget airline flights with just my backpack staying in hostels. I was lucky enough to visit Croatia, Greece, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Norway, England and unexpectedly, the United States.

Advice

Expect to have ‘bad’ days or days when you miss home

  • The time zone difference between Europe and Australia is not great. When you wake up, you have a limited amount of time before everyone in Brisbane goes to sleep. When you are out with friends in the evening or getting ready for bed, your family and friends are waking up and are ready to chat.
  • I found out some sad family news while I was travelling. My Grandmother had passed away. This was hard for me to process while being so far away from family. My advice for dealing with days you miss home, is to set time in your day to call family and friends to reconnect. I would also recommend rest days where you catch up on sleep and Netflix.

Expect a culture shock

There is a huge difference between Australian and German culture. I noticed that Germans tend to be more direct in their communication and that it is especially important to be punctual and respectful of rules. Noise on public transport should be kept to a minimum.  Whilst I never carry cash in Brisbane, in Berlin so many bars and restaurants would only accept cash payment. Berlin is truly a cash city.

Expect the unexpected

No holiday is perfect. Managing my expectations made me less likely to be disappointed when plans fell through. Speaking of things going wrong…

  • My internship fell through unexpectedly. This was particularly frustrating because I was supposed to receive credit for this subject. I had to quickly add more subjects to my study plan which was very difficult as the semester had already started.
  • I bought the wrong Berlin transport ticket for a month and couldn’t get a refund.
  • The cold weather affects your mood and everyone else’s. When you don’t see the sun for days you end up sleeping a lot too.

The bureaucracy of living in Germany

Expect to be frustrated and confused. Make sure to look up the requirements for entering Berlin (visa) and living in Berlin (resident permit) so you can prepare all the necessary documents. There are hardly any online forms, and you usually must attend in-person appointments.

Expect to spend a lot of money

This was my first time living out of home so there was lots of expenses like rent, groceries, and social/travel expenses. The AUD to Euro conversion rate is not great either. To manage this, I used an excel spreadsheet and would keep track of my spending. Sounds tiresome but it helped me especially when I was planning my multiple trips around Europe and making sure I had enough money.

Everything shuts in Germany on a Sunday

Don’t leave your grocery shopping till then!

To end, I wish you the best of luck with your exchange! Berlin was a life changing experience for me and I hope it is for you as well. Thank you to QUT for all your support.

Find out more on how you can apply: Student Exchange

 

 

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