₦airaland Forum

mic01:
I beg someone in the house here in the name of God to please say something on whatever they know about Bayreuth and Bielefeld. Abeg na borrowed money I won use block account. Please help me with any info you may have heard about these places. So that I can know what to plan and expect.

mic01:
not at all. Except for bayreuth, Siegen and Bielefeld

Hadampson:
Odimbannamdi

Ravensburg, Baden Württemberg


As per the city, I don't really know much about it but this is the little I read about it. It is a city with about 50,000 population, it is in western part of Germany in the state of Baden-wuttermberg . "Ravensburg is a thriving shopping town in the wealthy region of Upper Swabia. Unemployment is relatively low. The nearest large cities are Munich, Stuttgart and Zurich, approximately a two-hour drive away each. Ulm, Konstanz and Bregenz are each less than a one hour drive away. Shalom

Hadampson:
Odimbannamdi

Tübingen, Baden Württemberg

Education: Studies here has been really nice and very tough. I'm currently studying MSc in Management and Economics. There are only one University in Tübingen which is the famous/prestigious University of Tübingen. The University spread across the length and breath of the entire city. There is no where you will go in Tübingen that you will not feel the presence of the University. Our professors here are very brilliant and smart. Educational system in Germany is highly intensive. If you are going for any Economics or Finance related courses you have to be very good in calculations. In fact very good is just an understatement you have to be extremely good in Maths. Be prepared to see some Mathematical symbols you have never came across in your entire life. And also try as much as possible to learn/improve on your computer skills. Be also prepared for presentations. I have 3 individual presentations to carry out this semester. I did two last semester they were fantastic. I never knew that I will be able to get it right because I was not used in making public speech. Exams are really tough here and grading system here is different from what we have in Nigeria. Professors don't award marks easily you have to work very hard to earn your grades. The marking scheme here is absolutely strict. To score a 1.0 here you need 95% and above. In general anything from 2.5 and below is considered good especially if an institute is doing high quality research like lmuhopeful rightly said.

Housing/Accommodation: Living in student dormitory is cheap you can get an accommodation shared/flat for 208, 217 Euros etc in old buildings. There are a lot of ancient buildings here dated back to the time of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Martin Luther the reformer. If you want to live in the same building Goethe lived when he was writing his poetry it is possible grin grin grin and also from 245Euros for accommodation in skyscrapers. Private accommodation are a little bit expensive but not as in big cities.

Transportation: Tübingen semester ticket is not encouraging at all. Stuttgart is just 30km which is less than one hour drive by bus or train yet our semester ticket does not even cover Esslingen let alone Stuttgart. In fact Barden Wuttemberg semester tickets are like that. You can only enjoy semester ticket in this state if you are studying in a big city like Stuttgart and semi-big cities like Mannhiem, Kalshure, Freiburg etc. If you want to get a VVS semester ticket that covers Stuttgart you will be spending close to 400Euros which is not worth it.

Student Jobs: If you are coming to Tübingen with the hope of getting a student job you better have a rethink. There are no companies here. Tübingen can be best described as a rural area. Getting a job in few restaurants around is extremely difficult. Tübingen is a university village where 2 out of every 3 people you see on the streets are students. Tübingen is such a boring town. Loneliness want kill me here ooo!. You can hardly find Nigerians here except for few Nigerian refugees. There are very few Nigerians here. There are also not too many blacks in this school. From time to time you can only come across 1 or 2 Nigerians studying here. But if you are coming to Tübingen with the sole aim of studying, I can assure you that you will get the very best of education here because Tübingen is a world-class university. Some of the best professors in Europe are here. An ex-president of Germany (Horst Köhler) is also here as one of my professors.

People: What I have seen here is not encouraging. Tübingen is not a friendly town. People here are not friendly I don't know if it's because Tübingen is relatively a small town. I have been to Stuttgart and Frankfurt people are more friendly there than in Tübingen. Sometimes they will be looking at you as if you are an Alien from another planet. A friend of mine who is in Engineering faculty often complained of racism in his faculty. No one wants to sit with him in the class. No one wants him in their assignment group. I was lucky to have few German friends in my department that are liberal minded. They are more than nice to me. I happened to be the only black in my faculty but was lucky to have those great German guys as friends.

Food: Since I came here I have never bought cooked food outside. I have always prepared my own food at home by myself. It helps you to minimize cost if you can be able to be cooking/preparing your own meal. Their own foods self no dey hungry me. This people wey dey chop bread like say tomorrow no dey. They have different verities of Bread. More than 50 or more different kind of breads. There are African shops here where you can get food items like Yams, Plantain, Beans, Fish, Meat, Egwusi, Ogbono, Okra, palm oil etc, but they are not cheap oooo!

Babes: Hmmmmn! Like I said before this is not a friendly town. This people discriminate a lot. They even discriminate against other whites let alone blacks. But it may be a different experience in bigger/International German cities. So if na babe you want come here come find be ready to work extra hard for it. And also be prepared to face so many rejections you maybe lucky at last sha! As some people were lucky to find one in the long-run. If you are a lady, I don't really know because I haven't seen whites guys going out with the few black girls that are here.

African People: There are few Africans here are they are really nice. Some people will tell you not to get close to Nigerian refugees that are here. Well experience differs, Almost all the Nigerian refugees I met here are very nice people they see me as their brother and have always been willing to help they don't even discriminate on basis of tribe. They have been really helpful even more than the 2-3 Nigerians studying here. I know of a Nigerian student that did not drop his tribalism behind in Nigeria. He brought his tribalism here with him. Aduro is the popular name given to those refugees. But this Aduro people are very very nice to me I don't know about other Nigerian students experience ooo!.

German language: The language is as important as the degree you are coming here to acquire. You need the language to be able to interact effectively with people here even if it's broken/basic German. I will also advise anyone coming to Germany to get at least a B1 language proficiency before boarding that plan. Life can be extremely difficult here without the language

Hadampson:
Odimbannamdi

Freiburg, Baden Württemberg

Freiburg would have been nice, but it's veeeeerreyyy expensive for students (cost of housing) and as always being in Baden W, the semester ticket is comparatively shitty.

Freiburg is in the south no doubt. Its capital is stuggart a gud place to hustle but freiburg as a village on its own aint got much hustle.

frankie2K:
Please,elaborate more on this cos I kind of confuse right now.Willy2000 gave some hint that a city that is not up to 100k in population should be avoided somehow.Yet on this platform,it is advised that eastern Germany should be avoided somehow. Now a city like Dresden which is in the eastern part has a population of over 500k and a city like Bayreuth which is the south has a population of about 70k. Where would u advise that person to go?.Please elders in the house,your advise is very very important.

Hycent007:
Someone should talk about cologne please.

folarin1990:
Hello House I am an intending Applicant for Msc in a German university. 2020 Winter Hopeful. I have been making a couple of researches on German study for international students and I believe this will be helpful to someone.

A students packing list for Germany

Primary List

1. Valid passport with your student visa
2. Air ticket
3. Admission letter from the university
4. All financial documentation you will require to submit to the university or immigration
authorities.
5. All original certificates and other important documents
6. Traveler’s cheques and sufficient cash
7. Photos – 20 Copies in different sizes
8. Detailed directions to your university or accommodations
9. Details of contacts (Family friends, Seniors, Personal Friends)

My opinion

Make sure your date of travel is later than your visa goes into effect. I have a friend who got stuck at
immigration of a foreign country because she travelled before her day her visa went into effect. Check and cross
check your visa.
You might already know that students get extra baggage allowance the first time they travel. If you do not know this yet, contact the airline and ask how you can enable this offer. The baggage allowance might vary from 40- 56 Kg depending on the airline you are travelling with. Remember the baggage gets misplaced and lost quite a lot. Make sure you have your address and contact details on your
baggage. Also buying a lightweight suitcase will help you carry a few kilos extra. So buy some good bags. You can check out Amazon for affordable suitcases.
If you are renting an apartment outside the university, ask the house master if he can pick you up from the railway station. Most of them would oblige and drive you to the apartment. If you are living in studentenwohnheim (Student hostel) contact someone already there and ask if they can help you get to the hostel. If that does not work out, contact the international office of your
university and ask them if they can help. Universities have some kind off buddy program under which recurrent students help new
students settle down..

Utensils
1. Pressure cooker
2. Spare gaskets & safety valves
3. Utensils
4. Grinder (Not a must)
5. Frying pan
6. Good knife


Toiletries and Medicines

1. First aid box
2. Prescribed Medicines
3. General Medicines
4. Toothpaste
5. Toothbrush
6. Bathing soap
7. Shampoo
8. Cold cream
9. Nail clipper
10. Shaving kit

Clothes and Accessories
1. Few pairs of jeans
2. A very good jacket for winter
3. Thermal wear – men – women

My opinion

How many clothes you wish to carry is upon you. However, if you are arriving in winter term pack a good number
of warm clothes. German winters are harsh. The temperature is mostly in single digit or sub-zero. Thermal wear
will help you beat the cold more effectively.

Electronics
1. A laptop without a bit-torrent client
2. Universal plug adapter
3. Scientific Calculator
4. Headphone

Cash

The most important of all, EUROS. Carry good amount of cash. A few things to take into consideration. You will
need cash to pay a deposit for your apartment and pay semester fee at the university. Blocked account
sometimes take about a month or so to get unblocked. So carry enough cash to survive a couple of months.
Important: Do not transfer any deposit money for the apartment before arriving here. Many people have been
ripped by frauds. Also, read the contract terms of apartment renting very carefully, or any contract that you sign
for that matter. Ask for English translations if you do not know German.

Phone Contract

If you are going for a post-paid phone contract in Germany, you should know that you are signing a contract for
two years (in most cases), the customer representative will tell you all about it. What (s)he might skip is that the
contract is auto-renewed if you do not cancel the contract three months prior to its expiry. You will be most
likely to be moved to a high expense plan and the contract extends for further two years. There is no way to get
out of contract. A prepaid contract is a safer bet but you get less for more money.

More to come

Regards

Hadampson:
Like i said, Siegen and Bielefeld are the best cities because they are located in North Rhine Westphalia. Bayreuth is a city in Bavaria state.

North Rhine Westphalia state remain the best state for international students, especially international students from Nigeria.

The semester ticket can take you to other cities and towns in the state.

According to Britannica and go mapper, the major cities close to Bielefeld are Münster, Osnabrück, Kassel, Hanover, Dortmund, Hildesheim, Bochum, Bremen, Essen etc while the major cities close to Siegen are Bonn, Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Essen, Bochum, Frankfurt etc.

If i were you, i would choose Siegen due to the fact that it's close to big cities like Dusseldorf.

Hycent007:
Someone should talk about cologne please.

information about Hamm-lippstadt from computaholicGoc

It's not a big city. But the state which Lippstadt lives in is one of the best state to study in. the semester ticket can take you round the whole state plus upto cities like kassel and hannover.

In general cost of living is usually same except for rent and semester ticket. NRW isn't that affordable when it comes to accommodation and semester ticket. The good news is what you loose in accommodation you gain from touring the entire state.

You can't compare NRW to places like Schleswig-Holstein (kiel to be precise). the semester ticket in kiel is 115( for FH-kiel) and u can get a 2 person WG for 170euros pro monate (last i paid in kiel was 194euros ). be guided there are more expensive ones. u can switch if u re on a low budget after some months.

There are little or no professional jobs in lippstadt/Paderborn and most require good german skills. NRW is the biggest state in Germany. Most people speak good german in the west. there is a local airport there too.

You will be fine, there are student jobs to pull you through during the course of studying.

Living in paderborn in terms of living standards and work opportunities from computaholicGoc

Great school. living standards is normal. To be honest the work opportunities are limited as its a very small city. No tram. No ubahn. No s-bahn ..lol.. i don't mean to scare you or give you a fright. Grace differs and can stand you out, But in our field of Technology it doesn't matter where we see ourselves, what matters is where we see ourselves in the future. I am living testimony. I didnt study in a big city but i ended up in big cities. My advice to all:

1. concentrate on ur studies first as soon as u land. If possible finish your core courses before u start working your ass-off. I did same it paid off.I finished all my core courses in zwei semester. third semester i moved to bayern for my internship and also finished my research project there. fourth semester i switched to DHL hqtrs in bonn from Adidas Hqtrs in Bayern and there i wrote my thesis.
Fifth semester ! there was no fifth semester..lol.. By fifth semester i am already working professionally.

This is just to inspire someone that it doesn't cost'a thing to look at the brighter side of life. SmartWork will always pay off at the end.

The city you study in should not deter you from achieving your goals. I hope i have inspired someone this morning

Other trivial ones include:
2. Learn how to cook before coming here. You shall get tired of Pizza and Fries..lol.. If you can't cook. Youtube is your friend.

3. learn how to ride a car and bicycle. convert the license to german version before the end of six months. Don't do the same mistake I did. there are so much benefits when it comes to having one even biz-wise.

From okpala95

Hi Intending Potsdamers,

This is for your orientation.

Potsdam is a capital city. Just about 15 mins to Berlin. Its not a super interesting place to live in;
- It's a major abode of old and aged people who can't keep up with the youthful life style of Berlin. So they migrate to Potsdam cos it's kinda peaceful.

- The houses a quite cheap but very hard to find. Ranging from 270 upwards. Depends on your choice of apartment and what you are looking for.

- No tourist or recreation places to visit. Speaking from personal view, clubs are also hard to find (clubs are the major places to have fun, as far as i know) People mostly go to berlin to have fun. It's not like there's fun there sha.

- if you mingle with the right people, potsdam could be fun for you.

- UniPotsdam student ID covers transportation in Berlin and Brandenburg. (yes, you can move upandan fr free in these places)

- German foods are blank. No spice, no taste, total waste of energy and emotions.

- Nobody cares about you, so mind your business. Even if you fall from a stairs - they wouldn't care, it's not their business especially when your skin is black. But some people could care though.

- No one cares about your dressing as well - but it could pose a sort of attraction when you wear some pretty short dresses (i mean extra short and revealing) cos of your black skin. People literally look at you in disgust and become ashamed on your behalf. Although, right now, alot of people are walking about shirtless and bras alone. Wch is kind of a soothing sight to behold.. Even when they are not endowed undecided undecided

- Education is quite cool. Depends on your program. Mine is okay but very intensive. (you can't select how many courses to take in a semester - means that you spend exactly 2 years.. Except if you fail. And if you try to prolong the program.. People won't take you seriously cos also all the professors can recognise you. Especially during labs cos we're less than 25)
In some program, you can select and even prolong the duration of your program till Jesus Christ comes.

-Different faculties in different campus. E.g. Art and languages are in main campus AM neuen palais.

- Work is very very hard to get.. If you don't know German. Tbvh. Except you go to Berlin. Wch is not so far. But still hard to get in berlin as well. It's good to know German. It's the in-thing now to get a job.

- Afro stores are available as well. Berlin and Potsdam. But bring your food (it can't be overemphasised. Especially when they sell packet of Maggi here for 5€.)

- oh yes.. Resident permit is 1yr. Yes.. 1 yr. .. 1 yr. That means you have to blocked your account again or show some funds in your account for renewal of the permit. I don't know how much exactly. - people move to Berlin cos of this. Berlin gives 2yrs. But housing is freaking expensive there. About 400€ upwards. Then you have to move from Berlin to Potsdam fr classes - close to 30-45 mins depending on where you are.

- Sadly, i know nothing about Brandenburg or cottbus. Even though part of the region in Potsdam.

Cashmanbreeze:
Hello people, so I just got admitted to the university of applied sciences Offenburg. Any information on the city will be appreciated.
Thanks

chimax1:
Really concerned about the feedback am getting from friends in DE about the job situation. A friend has been there since March, no job till now, another since winter 2018, still no job. They have both been vigorously applying. Makes me wonder, is it really all worth it? I know the first aim of going is to study but side hustle is very important too to keep body and soul together.

Goztino:
Chaiii, this just demoralized me. I am given admission in three universities.

1. RWTH Aachen University
2. University of Bremen
2. Karlsruhe University of Applied sciences.
still expecting from 3 schools

The school I love most is RWTH Aachen university.
Please, I fit get the contact of that your guy in Aachen please?
or give him my contact for us to chat on whatsapp.

I am borrowing some of the money to complete my block account and I really wanna pay it back as soon as possible.

Omoawoke:
Bless you for the great work you are doing here, u are impacting people's life without even knowing...

I got admission from technical university chemnitz and Ruhr University bochum, still waiting for Phillip marburg university and Technical university Darmstadt.
Meaning I may be left to make a choice among these options... Please which do you think might be most favourable

chimax1:
Really concerned about the feedback am getting from friends in DE about the job situation. A friend has been there since March, no job till now, another since winter 2018, still no job. They have both been vigorously applying. Makes me wonder, is it really all worth it? I know the first aim of going is to study but side hustle is very important too to keep body and soul together.

Basalt:
They have come again with MY FRIEND, MY FRIEND always discouraging people with hypothetical posts