I'm moving to Germany in August and have never been there before. In fact, the last, and only, time I was in Europe was about 11 years ago and I was in London the entire time. Any general advice about living in Germany? Culture, food, transportation, etc?

I was in Germany for a few days last month so I can't tell you much, but I'll tell you what I know. The people that we encountered were all very nice and helpful. The train transportation system is wonderful, very extensive, and pretty good value. As far as the food is concerned, I'm not really a "meat and potatoes" kind of person so I didn't really care for it, but if you like that then you should be fine. Excellent beers though!

I would love to be able to live in a foreign country, even if it was just for a short while. Have fun, enjoy, and take full advantage of it!

Tracy

I've lived in Munich for almost 6 years. yikes! ar ar Do you have any specific questions? Where are you moving to (which city)? I take it you don't speak German? It would be very helpful to start learning now! Stuff like numbers and basic questions will come in very handy.

I'm going to go out on a limb here - from the screen name - I'm guessing this is a military move?

There is an excellent article to get you started at
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap22/living.htm

Also do google.com searches for 'expatriate' 'expatriate europe', and 'expatriate germany'. You'll have plenty of support and information from the sites listed.

I lived there last year, working as a contractor on a military base. Where will you be living???

I loved it. Try to lose 10 pounds now, as the German beer is hard to resist, and I was not even that fond of beer.

I was near Ansbach, about half way between Munich and Frankfort. If you happen to be going to that area, email me!!!

[email protected]

Where are you going? Will you be in touch with any support groups there? Are you moving all your furniture? Are you aware you will need transformers for all your U.S. appliances? Are you aware that most European homes don't have closets -- you will need to buy wardrobes. Are you shipping your car?

If this IS a military, particularly connected to an Active Duty member, a sponsor should have been appointed, and been in contact, with this poster. That, and the usual briefings beforehand, would do much to answer many major questions.

I am a german who lives in germany...so what kind of information do you need? Where will you live? The best..and sometimes the worst thing about my country is that everything is organized. As far as i know there are several groups in bigger towns who help newcomers and even some relocation agencies who help people with all the paperwork, appartment finding and everything that is complicated in a foreign country. I hope you will like it over here!