Schlagwort: Life Abroad

Tips on How to Make the Most of your Berlin Study Abroad Experience

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Put in real effort to learn German

40 basic German phrases and sentences you should knowWith our intensive language classes you will naturally make quick progress, but don’t hesitate to put in some extra work outside the classroom. Force yourself to speak German when you are out and about in a restaurant, at the cashier in a grocery store, or at your favorite coffee shop. Obviously, this will not work right away, but you don’t have to form complete sentences on the spot, you can also just throw in some individual German words that you’ve learnt. Trying to communicate in German in the „real“ world will make you comfortable with the language vernacular and intricacies. Unfortunately, Berlin will make this extra difficult for you. Being an international hub, you’ll find people fluent in English on every corner of the city. Still, don’t give up. Learning a language always takes time and your efforts will be appreciated by the people you are talking to.

Stay on top of your course work

Do not forget that your classes are an important part of your studying abroad experience. There is obviously value in the act of living abroad by itself, but in the best case your classes allow you to grow in your believes, opinions and knowledge. Studying abroad can put a whole new perspective on familiar issues. Some tips on how to stay motivated for your course work can be found on our blog here. 

Don’t travel too much

It might be tempting to spend every weekend in a different city, especially if you have never been to Europe before. Understandably, you want to make the most of your four months in Europe (so little time), but don’t let this take over your Berlin/Germany experience. You made Germany your home base, so go out and explore the country that you are calling your home for the next foreseeable time.

This issue is exactly what one of our former FU-BESTers experienced and here is what she had to say about it:

What makes Germans so orderly? - BBC Travel

I wish that I had explored Germany more! I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to spend most weekends in Berlin. To truly live abroad for a semester, you need to learn your city and discover what it is like to be a true Berliner! I do feel like I spent a good deal of time in Berlin, but not enough throughout the rest of Germany. While I traveled to places like Paris and Rome, I missed Schloss Neuschwanstein and Hamburg. There are so many wonders located right in Germany a mere train ride away, and I wish I had been able to see them all during my time in Berlin; however, I have decided that I simply must go back and see everything that I missed.

Travel enough

Having said this, Berlin’s central location makes it perfect for a quick getaway to France, Italy or Spain and you should definitely take advantage of this. Just pick the destinations you are most desperate to see. This way you can still spend quality time in Berlin and will also keep your budget in check.

Go grocery shopping and buy what you usually would not buy at home

Maybe you are the adventurous shopper when it comes to food anyway, but if not, try to get out of your comfort zone. Can you spot food that you usually never buy at home? Now is the time to try stuff. Look for new German inspired recipes that are worth trying. Pinning down a traditional German food is hard, but we would confirm that Germans do like their potatoes. So we suggest trying this recipe.

Go cold turkey on Starbucks & Co

This goes along with our previous point about trying new things. You get accustomed best if you shop and eat locally. And although you will definitely find a Starbucks or McDonald’s easily, it is so much more fun to test local coffee shops (for example Five Elephant in Kreuzberg, which is also famous for the best cheese cake in town!) and local burger joints (for instance Kreuzburger in Kreuzberg and other locations).

Berlin: Inside Five Elephant's New Mitte Cafe

Do not get sucked into the international bubble

This is an easy trap to fall in to. Since you are constantly surrounded by fellow international students, it can be easy to get lost in your international bubble. However, this might prevent you from having a true living abroad experience. You can find our attempt to give you a little ‚how to‘ (get out of the international bubble) on our blog here.

Get to know the Berlin way of life

Or better: get to know and be open to the new way of life that you’ll be living abroad that might sometimes be less comfortable than what you are used to. This sounds like an obvious given, but some students are still surprised by how much they need to adjust to their new environment.  For instance, a common complaint is the „commute issue“: most students in Berlin have a pretty long commute. One hour from door to door is nothing out of the ordinary. It is not ideal, but accepted by everyone. Living close to campus is not the reality for most students, since the vast majority prefer to live in more central districts. In Germany, and Berlin specifically, life does not happen on campus, but in the city itself. This might be different from how things are at home, but don’t stress about your daily commute. Take it as an opportunity to ease in and out of your day, read, listen to podcasts, observe Berliners, … .

Don’t stress yourself and have fun

We think it is a good idea to be aware of all of these points and also maybe implement one thing or another into your daily life in Berlin. That being said, stressing about any of these issues would have quite the opposite effect. You have decided to study abroad, because you want to have an experience. This experience will most likely consist of both ups and downs, which is part of studying abroad. This lets us believe that the best tip of all is not to stress yourself out too much and go with the flow of living abroad.

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lgbtq+ Neighborhoods in Berlin

Datei:LGBTQ+ rainbow flag Quasar "Progress" variant.svg – Wikipedia

As Berlin is unofficially known as Europe’s gay capital, we would like to take the opportunity and give you a little overview of Berlin’s most gay friendly districts (obviously in no way is this a complete list). The neighborhoods featured have a rich density of queer bars and clubs and convey a general feeling of inclusiveness.

S c h ö n e b e r g

When the city was divided into East and West Berlin, the Schöneberg district slowly began to develop a vibrant gay and lesbian community. As the wall came down in 1989, Schöneberg’s queer community continued to grow. Today it is known for being Berlin’s most gay-friendly district and is considered the traditional center for gay culture in Berlin. Along Fuggerstrasse, there are dozens of clubs, pubs, restaurants and all manner of other businesses catering to the queer community. A hot spot for gay culture is also Schöneberg’s Motzstraße. For a more extensive list on queer pubs and clubs in Schöneberg see a map here.

Schöneberg’s queer set up also makes it a very fitting location for Berlin’s Schwules Museum* (Gay Museum), which moved from Kreuzberg to Schöneberg’s Lützowstraße a couple of years ago.  The museum presents a number of regularly changing exhibitions on everything queer. It also organizes talks, lectures and get-togethers evolving around gay culture. And! If you like to get a little bit of reading in on the topic of gay culture, their library consists of more than 20,000 volumes covering all areas of scientific inquiry from humanities, social science, sexology, fine arts and popular science. In this context it is also worth mentioning that in the last couple of years they have made a bigger effort to collect literature on female homosexuality, queer feminist theory and trans and inter experiences.

Where? Lützowstraße 73, 10785 Berlin
Opening Hours: Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri 2pm - 6 pm, Thu 2 pm - 8 pm,
Sat 2 pm - 7 pm, closed on Tuesdays
Approx. 15 minutes from the subway station Nollendorfplatz

K r e u z b e r g

The queer scene in Kreuzberg started as an alternative to the scene in Mitte. Although Kreuzberg’s queer culture has changed over the years, there are still a few staples to be found. One of them is Möbel Olfe, which is always incredibly crowded, but a real institution. It’s an old furniture store that has been remodeled into a bar with changing events and DJs. No chance for boredom.

Close to Kottbuser Tor at Mariannenstraße you find the women’s café Oya, which mostly caters to women, lesbians, trans, inter and queer individuals. This being said, all identities are welcome (except on Thursdays, which is reserved for wltiq). They offer vegan and vegetarian dishes for lunch, reasonably priced coffee for 1,80€ and drinks in the evening hours. Events at the café revolve around queer-feminist and anti-racist topics.

No chance for understatement provides Roses in Kreuzberg, where chairs and walls consist of fur fabric. The interior is a mixture of trashy and cheesy and definitely worth a visit.

At Mehringdamm you find the queer bar Rauschgold, which is also a good location for karaoke. What you’ll get at Rauschgold is a mixture of relaxing bar venue and alternative party location. Besides karaoke, they organize regular events, with a focus on drag shows (some shows are fee-based). Stay up to date with their event calendar or visit their Facebook page.

S c h w u Z  and  S i l v e r F u t u r e   i n  N e u k ö l l n

Neukölln is not necessarily known as a particularly gay district. This being said, a couple of years ago SchwuZ, one of Berlin’s favorite gay clubs, moved from its old location in Kreuzberg to its new and bigger one in Neukölln (close to the subway station Rathaus Neukölln). Besides having a bigger venue at hand, the decision to move was also a political one. The club’s move to the culturally very distinct Neukölln represents SchwuZ’s aim to combine different lifestyles and, as the owners state, „Neukölln’s exciting Kiez is an important catalyst for this.“

The bar SilverFuture located in Neukölln’s Reuterkiez could have easily been named PinkFuture, stemming from its interior. So get prepared for some serious pink and silver vibes.  The cosy queer bar is fully packed at peak times and features concerts, DJ sets and vernissages.

Tipping etiquette in Germany

A rumor persits under FU-BEST students that we usually don’t tip in Germany. Where this is coming from we don’t know. This being said, surprisingly, if you google ‚tipping etiquette in Germany‘, one of the first things you find is that the tip is included in the bill and that it will be enough to simply round up. This, however, is not the case! Tips are not included in your bill and you should definitely tip at least 10%. This is true for restaurants, cafés and bars alike.

FU-BEST organizes a weekly Stammtisch (regulars table) in different bars all over Berlin. This means there will be lots of opportunities for you to perfect your tipping game. The usual way to tip in Germany is to ask for the bill, check the amount you owe and then work out in your head what you’re going to tip. When you are ready to pay, tell the waiter/waitress out loud the amount in total, including the tip.

lgbtqia+ travel in Europe

Was bedeudet „LGBTQIA+“? | FIETE KielTo get a sense of what the lgbtqia+ culture is like in Europe and to keep up to date with country policies you can make use of different lgbtq+ organizations out there, like the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association. In terms of European lgbtqia+ rights organizations, Rainbow Europe and TGEU: Transgender Europe are worth getting to know as well.

In queer-friendly destination cities like London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Stockholm, Barcelona, and Paris, lgbtqia+ culture isn’t radically different from each other. And will be similar to what you will find here in Berlin (numerous bars, hotels, restaurants and shops specificially catering to the lgbtqia+ community). Usually, these differences vary based on the country’s or region’s cultural nuances.

It is obviously  important to note that Europe has homophobic and transphobic attitudes in all its regions. These are often found in more rural parts of the respective country. At the same time, cities are not immune to hate either. What applies here is the same advice we already gave you for Berlin, which is to be aware of your surroundings and carefully negotiate each setting and „test the waters“ to ensure safety.

Eastern Europe for instance does not have a very great track record for lgbtqia+ rights. Obvisouly it is up to you where you want to travel to, but as a general rule, the further east you travel in Europe, the more careful you need to be about public displays of your sexuality. This is primarily due to the reason that Eastern Europe is more socially conservative.

The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) produces a very helpful “Rainbow Europe” guide to the legal positions of Europe’s states. All in all Europe is becoming more and more lgbtqia+ friendly!

lgbtqia+ at Freie Universität Berlin

What do the letters in LGBTQIA+ stand for? Common terms explained - ABC Everyday
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The official voice for all student affairs at Freie Universität Berlin is the AStA, which stands for Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss (General Student’s Committee). As far as lgbtqia+ rights and issues are concerned, the AStA combines two departments: the Department of Queers and the Department of [LesBiTransInterA]*.

The Department of Queers  represents all gay, bisexual, trans*, inter* and queer students and organizes events such as lectures, pub crawls and movie nights, and also has opening hours, where you can get information about gbtq+ living in Berlin and support should you encounter discrimination.

Where? AStA FU Berlin, Otto-von-Simson-Str. 23, 14195 Berlin
Consulting Hours? Tue 4pm - 5pm, Thurs 2pm - 3pm
Email: queer {at} astafu.de

For lesbian, a-/bi-/poly-/pan-sexual women, trans*, genderqueer and intersex people the AStA offers the Autonome [LesBiTransInterA]*-Referat, which is situated in the attic of the AStA Villa. Casual meet-ups (excluding cis-men) provide a safe space for exchanging views about life, experiences at university and addressing lesbian, gender/queer, trans and intersex issues. The office regularly organizes networking meetings, communal breakfasts and various events relating to queer topics (for instance movie nights). The pink office also has a queer feminist library that you can check out (most books are in German though).

Where? AStA FU Berlin, Otto-von-Simson-Str. 23, 14195 Berlin
Consulting Hours? Tue 4pm - 5pm, Thurs 2pm - 3pm
Email: lesbitransintera (at) astafu.de
FYI: The main reason for the separation of the two offices is to make sure to provide a save space for every one, presuming that each community has different thematic focuses. Although the offices are separated, both clearly speak out against any form of heteronormativity and transphobia/homophobia. They both demand visibility of intersexual and genderqueer people, gay, lesbians and trans people in all areas of life, including life at the university, of course.

If you would like to get involved or just stop by for coffee, feel very free to.

lgbtq+ in Germany/Berlin

LGBTQ • Flaggen und Bedeutung

Coming to a foreign country as a member of the lgbtq+ community can be a little daunting at first. At home you might feel seen and safe and cared for by the community around you. So moving to a different country can be stressful, because you don’t really know what to expect. It can also be exciting though and an opportunity to find out more about yourself. To give you a little support along the way, we have created a small lgbtq+ section on this blog to tell you more about the queer scene in Berlin, at Freie Universität, where you can find help should you need it, etc. You find it all under Life Abroad – Queer Berlin.

Generally, Germany is amongst the most lgbtq+ friendly countries in the world in terms of civil rights. „Not only are homosexual relations legal, but same sex partnerships have been recognized on a national level since 2001 (ILGA). In August 2009, second parent adoption rights were granted to homosexual couples […]” (Shalosky, LGBT Student Guide for Education Abroad) and same-sex marriage has finally been legal since October 1, 2017. Berlin itself has become a hub for gay culture  with a thriving lgbtq+ social scene (numerous clubs, organizations and magazines) and you can expect to see open expression of different sexual orientations. This being said, it is always a good idea to carefully negotiate each setting and „test the waters“ to ensure safety, because it is possible to experience mixed messages about the acceptance of lgbtq+ individuals.

Tips on how you might be able to leave your international bubble

Get off social media once in a while

Of course, it is important to stay connected to your family and friends, because they are curious about your life abroad and also want to make sure that you are okay. The good thing about social media is that we are so connected, sometimes we don’t even notice that we are away from our loved ones. This being said, when it takes us away from our life abroad too much, it can also become a problem. So, instead of liking pictures of the family dog every 5 seconds or be on a constant chat with your best friend at home, try to live more in the moment of your abroad experience.

 Join local sports classes

Sports is an excellent way to connect with all different sorts of people. The best way to get to know people fast are team sports, because you have to interact so much. The wide selection of sports classes that Freie Universität offers is a quick and comparatively cheap option to get active and meet fellow students from all different sorts of study fields. You do not have to rely on Freie Universität alone, but can also check out university sports classes at Humboldt Universität or Technische Universität Berlin. Another possibility is to take part in the numerous university sports events that are offered regularly by Freie Universität Berlin.

Go to a bar event

In a bar, it is obviously more likely to get to know people outside your „abroad cluster“, when you and your friends do not close yourselves off and reminisce about the great weekend you just had two weeks ago. To avoid the tendency of being exclusive, what about trying out a bar event, like a pub quiz or bingo night, which are generally more inclusive and you tend to get to know people more quickly. We recommend to check your favorite bar for events.

Or check out:

  • Bar Madame Claude (Kreuzberg), Lübbener Str. 19, 10997 Berlin – every Wednesday – no entry fee – Music Quiz “Guess the Song” (advantage: advanced German skills are not necessarily required). For updated program dates see their bar calendar.
  • Irish Pub Celtic Cottage (Steglitz), Markelstr. 13, 12163 Berlin – every Monday – 1€ entry fee – Irish Pub Quiz.
  • Bar Interface (Moabit), Perleberger Str. 17, 10559 Berlin – changing events.

Use meet up groups

Our modern world fortunately gives us the opportunity to connect with all different sorts of people with minimum effort and time constraints. In order to find likeminded people for all different sorts of activities and interests, you can take advantage of meet up groups that you can find online. What about joining a “Speak German while chilling in Berlin group” for instance?

Join a tandem

An easy way to improve your German and meet Germans at the same time is to join a tandem. The idea of a tandem is to meet with a German native speaker, preferably, at least once or twice a week. In casual conversations you both get the opportunity to practice the respective language. It is also a perfect way to leave the international bubble and maybe make a German lifelong friend.

 Volunteer

Volunteering is a wonderful way to meet new people, practice your German, and provide help to those in need. Obviously it is also a commitment and people will be depending on you so you should make sure that you have at least two hours per week that you can dedicate to volunteer work.

Try couch surfing

Couch surfing has become way more than just a cheap way to travel. The couch surfing community understands itself as an open and vibrant travel community, where everyone is able to learn from each other and dive deep into the culture of their hosts. The idea of couch surfing is that instead of using hotels, hostels, etc. when travelling, coach surfers look for locals who offer their couch/spare bed room for one or two nights and at best, have time to spend some time with their guests to show them around the city or join them for dinner, etc.

Of course, leaving your bubble requires an active part on your side. For sure,  this is not always easy or convinient, but certainly pays off at the end.