What life in Germany is like for a foreign student?

Have you ever wondered how your life would have been if you were born in another country? A lot of us probably have and a lot of us still want to live in foreign countries. At the same time, everyone who has had this thought has backtracked a bit from fear as well. Thankfully, we can take a trial version of it in modern times. All you need to do is be a foreign student and you will get to know what your life would look like in a foreign country. Since Germany is such a popular destination for education, it has become one of the most prominent places where foreign student has their first abroad experience. 

But what is life in Germany like for a foreign student? How does it feel to live in Germany as a foreign student and what are the things you should be aware of? We are here to answer this very question. Here we will be covering a basic gist of what your life in Germany would be like as a foreign Student.

People

Humans are social creatures. Regardless of how anti-social a person claims to be, they need to live in a society to have an easy life. You need to interact with people even if you don't want to. This is why you should know how the people of a certain place are before you move in, especially if it is a foreign country. Contrary to popular belief, Germans are not anti-social at all. They are very friendly people who love to socialize and party. There is just a small catch to this.

While they do indeed enjoy parties and socializing, Germans are very professional people. They value time, professionalism, perfection, and structure very highly. So if you want to envision your life in Germany, you can expect your life to be broken down into two parts - party mode and professional mode. This is now German's function and this is how you should function as well if you want to get along with Germans as well. Of course, not everybody follows this stereotype and there are lazy and disorganized people everywhere. But these people are in minority and are severely frowned upon. 

Punctuality and Organization are how people grow up in this land of beers.

Lifestyle

After people, when you envision a life in Germany for foreign students, the next thing you should consider is the general lifestyle of Germany. As we mentioned, for most people their life is divided into two parts - professional and party. During the professional part of their life, Germans are dedicated to their task be it education, exploration, or earning. They focus on their job, barely talk and look all serious. But once they clock out of their tasks, Germans will always be in the mood to party. Be it a casual talk over tea and coffee or boozing with beer, people rarely think about work unless they must once they switch to their private life. 

Along with this, Nightlife is quite vibrant out there as well. But unlike the bustling city of Las Vegas, Geman's nightlife is rather calm and peaceful. You can go to a bar to drink and dance, or just find a nice and quiet pub to socialize with your friend's group or find new connections. Just be clear that if you are found drunk in public things can get a bit messy. Germany has lax laws against public drinking but it's not the German you should worry about but your behavior. 

Language

You should learn a foreign language before going there to study - it's not rocket science. But while you can make do with just English in a lot of countries, you must learn German well before you go to Germany. If not, your life in Germany as a foreign student will be like watching and living in a 4 year-long German movie without a subtitle. Don't get us wrong- people do speak English there. However similar to a lot of other countries, English is a secondary language for the Germans. 

Germany is one of those few countries that can do well without speaking much English at all. The people of Germany are proof of this since 95% of the people use German as their primary language. It is believed that only around 56% of the total German understand and speak English. This means that if you don't know the German Language, you won't be able to communicate with half of the people in Germany. 

So life in Germany for a foreign student will be mostly in the German language with rare English in between. 

Weather

Germany is a lot like Nepal in terms of Overall weather. While it can get as hot as 38 degrees in summer and below freezing in winter, for the most part, the weather is rather mild. As a Nepali, your life in Germany won't be all that different, at least in the context of Weather and seasons. You still do need to be careful of the rain, heat, and snow however as long as you pack good warm clothes for the winter, you can enjoy the rest of the season in causal non-weather specific clothes.

The good news about this, especially for Nepalese is that it will be rather easy for you to adjust your lifestyle there. You won't need to spend extra energy worrying about adjusting to the weather and face sudden sickness due to this. 

Expense

As a Nepali or any foreign student for that matter, the cost of living becomes one of the biggest hurdles for our life in Germany. It is estimated that excluding the average cost of tuition, you will still need around 850 Euros per month to have an averagely fulfilling life. This price when converted into NPR will roughly amount to 1,14,325. Now once you add in an average of 300 euros per semester, the cost of living in Germany just increases. 

This is why you need proof of financial stability before you can become a student in Germany - the cost of living in Germany is rather high and you will need to compromise a lot with your lifestyle. Thankfully, depending on the university you are enlisted in, you will be allowed to have a job out there. However, there are limitations to this as well.

As a student, you are allowed to work a maximum of 120 days as a full-time employee and 240 days as a part-time employee. Given that a student's average earnings range from 5 to 15 euros per hour, you can up to 3600 euros per month. This earning is the money you can earn in the best case scenario given that you are paid 15 euros per hour. While doing this will indeed improve your life and take a load off your tight financial budget, you will be splitting your precious time between education and work. 

So, the expensive cost can make life in Germany a bit troublesome. If you are curious about the Cost of living in Germany, we have a separate article where we cover this topic in greater detail linked below. 

German Healthcare

The food thing about life in Germany for foreign students is that as long as you are enrolled in a bachelor's degree program and haven't crossed 30 years of age, you will receive a free healthcare service. Although this healthcare only covers the most basic of services like in/out-patient hospital services, ambulance services, and basic dental care services, it is still a huge load off your soldiers. 

Health insurance is not just a service but a mandatory requirement if you want to live in Germany for any period. This doesn't just apply to foreign students and German nationals either. Even refugees have some form of basic free health care services available to them. So your life in Germany will be quite safe and happy in the context of health - as long as you know how to take care of yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, even if the country offers free full health care services, your life will still be bad.

The essence is that you can expect a generally healthy life in Germany surrounded by mostly healthy people. People still get sick there - just that they get cured easily. 

Festivals and Entertaiment

By now, you should know that Germans are serious about everything, they are serious about work and they are serious about fun as well. And when they get into the fun mode, they party and enjoy like never before. Germany has tons of festivals just waiting for your participation, among which Oktoberfest is one of the most popular ones. 

This festival that originated as a celebration of the Royal Wedding is now a festival of beers. This festival which lasts around 2 weeks starting from late September to early October, is all about having fun. People gather around in parks and carnivals, drunk beer, eat, dance and party all around. 

Asparagusfest and Onionfest (Schwetzingen & Weimar) is another widely celebrated festival that in Germany. Unlike Oktoberfest, this one is dedicated to food. This festival is meant to celebrate the harvest of these two staple crops. You can binge around the carnivals tasting tasty dishes or participate in their harvest as well. 

Besides the festivals, there are plenty of places to visit as well. You can take a tour of Medieval castles, old factories, breathtaking mountain ranges, peaceful parks, and calm beaches as well. Just be careful to not end up on nude beaches unless you are fully prepared as it can be quite embarrassing and traumatizing for foreigners who grew up in a conservative culture like ours to suddenly get exposed.

The Best part about Germany

The best part about life in Germany is easily the growth of your network. Although your primary focus as a foreign student should always be education, some of us just cannot make it to the top of the list. Despite this, as long as you socialize a bit and have decent skills, you can network pretty well. With the passing of age, we easily know how important global networking is. It can not only help you in your career later on but also lead you to meet some life-changing people be it as a friend, love, or business partner.

Besides this, education is also one of the best parts of life in Germany. You are going there to get an education and Germany has some of the best education systems out there in the world. Quite a lot of German Educational institutes are constantly ranked within the top 100 from all over the world. However, there is one thing that surpasses even Networking and education. It is the experience. Regardless of what you do and where you go, the best part about living in Germany for a foreign student is without a shred of doubt experience. You get to experience a different lifestyle and culture and live there for a few years at a relatively cheap price. What can be better than this?

The worst part about life in Germany

There are no perfect things in the world. So naturally, there will be some bad aspects in Germany as well. One of the most common complaints about Germany is that people there are too serious. However, this cannot be called a bad aspect of Germany as a serious temperament is necessary to excel in life. When we take an overall look, unless you get used to your life in Germany, every day will feel like a struggle and a battle. You will not only be in a country that you know nothing about, but also amongst people with unfamiliar customs and traditions. 

However, once you get used to this, there will barely be anything that will bother you. The only exception to this is the cost of living there will still burn a hole through your wallet. 

The Conclusion,

Life in Germany for foreign students will be filled with experience, gains, and times of losses as well. Since most foreign students will live an independent life, it can be a bit hard to adjust to this sudden change in lifestyle at first. You will be a student far from home, with no way to return home - unless you get deported or cancel your education program. There will be times of loneliness but once this phase passes, your life will be filled with the joy of living in Germany - as long as you learn to manage your budget well. 

Hope this was helpful for you. And if it was, why not follow this with some of our other articles below?

• The Secrets to Cost of living in Germany: The Ultimate Guide!

• Health Insurance in Germany for Students - A mandatory requirement

• German Culture, People, Traditions, Customs, and Facts