THINGS TO DO ONCE YOU REACH GERMANY FOR STUDENT EXCHANGE

Hey guys! :-)

I'm finally in Mannheim, Germany after nearly a month of travel.


Don't know what to do once you reach your hostel? Here are some things you need to do once you get here:

1. UNPACK & make a list of the ESSENTIALS you need

Really, no shit. Just spend the day unpacking and chillin' ; if you are staying in Ulmenweg, and you need to settle your meals, there are discount supermarkets like Lidl, Netto, and Aldi just around the hostel so it's definitely convenient to get some ready made food!


GERMANY SUPERMARKET CHEAT SHEET

• LIDL: Discount Supermarket
• Sells DISCOUNTED groceries, items not 'branded' etc, and items rotate everyday
• $
• ALDI: Less Discounted Supermarket
• Sells more groceries and goods than LIDL, items relatively more 'branded'/international but it is cheap on offers
• $-$$
• NETTO: Discount Supermarket
• Another discounted supermarket to get your groceries, but not as common as Lidl and Aldi
• $-$$
• REWE CITY: Supermarket
• Sells more 'branded'/international groceries/food ; you can get a wide variety of food here
• $-$$$$

2. Register @ K7

Your hall master might have told you this too, but you have to go to K7 (Standesamt Mannheim) to register (probably with the government or something I'm not too sure myself) cause this is NOT the registration/enrolment for the University.


3. Get your living essentials

Since I was staying in Ulmenweg, I had to take the tram into town which took around 15min. Places I would suggest going to buy your essentials: Mömax (similar to Ikea), Woolworth (for random stuff) and dm (drogerie markt) (for your cosmetics, soap shampoo etc ; similar to Singapore's Watsons/Guardian). I'm quite sure there are more shops but those were the few which I bought my stuff from :-)

4. Get your blocked bank account activated as soon as possible

For activation, you need to print the online activation form and mail it to the address stated in the form. I didn't realise it would take a while for the activation so I brought too little cash :-( Another thing is credit/debit card usage here is RELATIVELY rare, so DO BRING ENOUGH cash for the first few weeks of being in Mannheim! (I didn't bring enough so I had to borrow ._.)

5. Attend your orientation week

It's really tempting to skip them but they have vital information for you when you are on exchange, so definitely go for them! (aka how much you need to pass the module etc.)

YEAP so that's about it :-)) Hope this helps you with settling in, since everyone would definitely be overwhelmed by everything. Have fun on exchange cause you're going to have a hell of a time here ;-)

Luv, Tingz