BBC News Special – My Germany: Spanish expatriate
In this BBC News special about how Spanish expatriates are trying to make their way through to being productive members of German society I found some interesting parallels to my experience here as an American expat.
The main protagonist of this video clip is Ms. Helena Barcos, this young lady from Spain was lucky enough to have gotten herself set up with an internship before arriving to Germany then turned it into a full time position allowing her to remain in the country without the major financial and personal headaches that most other expats experience. In this video she talks about how she’s been able to cope with the move and gives some sound advice.
As for me I’d like to humbly volunteer a few tidbits of advice that echo some of Helena’s points and might give a little more incite to Americans that might be interested in moving to Germany.
My first and most simplest suggestion is to start learning German way before you’re going to make the move. From personal experience I can tell you that the language takes years to learn and the going can be very slow for native English speakers even when you’re in the country since most Germans that even know a little English would take the opportunity to practice English with you rather than to listen to you struggle through speaking with them in Deutsch.
Since I’m an online tutor for English I would tell you that if you have very little time to join a German class in your area definitely force yourself to get a tutor online or some kind of tandem/language exchange partner as soon as you’re certain that you’ll be making the long term move to Germany.
Another key point that was a challenge for me is to do your best to have a job lined up before you arrive. For students its a much tougher challenge as you’ll have restrictions on how many hours you can legally work for a German company. The key is to make finding a job that can cover your basic expenses with in the first couple of months in the country your number 1 priority. Don’t forget that expenses may include loans and bills you may have back home too so putting together a preliminary budget before your move will help you to see if you have the savings to cover all your current debts and predicted expenses during the first couple of months in your new home.
One important thing that I don’t want to take for granted and I know will be very tough for some folks to get a handle on right away is how important it is to make connections in the community you’ll be living in as soon as possible. I was lucky in a way as I had my German girlfriend to bridge the gap for me during my first few months in the country.
Without her I would have most likely been very homesick and possibly unwilling to stay for the long term. I eventually made my own friends through my university and later on through my Salsa dancing class. So any social activities you enjoyed in your homeland you can use as an avenue to finding a group that you might fit in with regardless of the language barrier so make sure to prioritize finding these connections.
I have a few more tips but I’ll post them another time, for now leave me a note if you have any questions about life in Deutschland!