Was Ist Hier Überhaupt Los? a Study Abroad Survival Guide University of Rhode Island German International Engineering Program
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Was Ist Hier Überhaupt Los? A Study Abroad Survival Guide University of Rhode Island German International Engineering Program 2 Table of Contents Junior Year and Departure Preparation .................................................................................. 4 Feeling Nervous About Your German? .............................................................................................. 4 Apply For Some Scholarships ............................................................................................................ 5 Let’s Talk About Paperwork .............................................................................................................. 6 Setting Up A Research ProJect .......................................................................................................... 8 TU Braunschweig Application ........................................................................................................... 9 Housing Application ....................................................................................................................... 11 How To Register For The International Summer Course at TU Braunschweig .................................. 11 What To Bring ................................................................................................................................ 12 Learn To Cook ................................................................................................................................ 14 The Group Flight ............................................................................................................................. 14 Upon Arrival & Sommerschule .............................................................................................. 15 Things To Do Soon After Arriving .................................................................................................... 16 Getting To The University ............................................................................................................... 18 IO Orientation/TUBS Enrollment .................................................................................................... 19 Research Opportunities/Process .................................................................................................... 20 Sommerschule Classes ................................................................................................................... 20 Basic Tips ....................................................................................................................................... 21 University Semester ............................................................................................................. 22 Costs To Expect .............................................................................................................................. 22 Locations In Braunschweig ............................................................................................................. 22 Shopping ........................................................................................................................................ 23 Transportation In Braunschweig ..................................................................................................... 24 Getting Sick .................................................................................................................................... 25 Sports ............................................................................................................................................ 25 ISN Group/Gauss Freunde .............................................................................................................. 26 General Germany/Cultural Notes ................................................................................................... 26 Postage .......................................................................................................................................... 27 Classes (Registration, What To Take, Etc.) ...................................................................................... 27 Visa Process ................................................................................................................................... 28 Travel ............................................................................................................................................. 29 Leaving Braunschweig .................................................................................................................... 31 Internship Semester ............................................................................................................. 32 Finding A Place To Live In Your Internship City ............................................................................... 32 How To Move To Your New City ..................................................................................................... 32 Registering In New City - Communicate With IO ............................................................................. 33 3 German Workplace Culture ............................................................................................................ 33 GER 497/498 & Registering for Fall Classes ..................................................................................... 33 Preparing To Leave Germany .......................................................................................................... 33 What Papers To Keep ..................................................................................................................... 34 Super-Senior Year ................................................................................................................. 35 Reverse Culture Shock .................................................................................................................... 35 Getting Your Classes Transferred & Intent to Graduate Forms ........................................................ 35 Sharing Your Experiences ............................................................................................................... 35 Appendix A: Sample Budgets ................................................................................................ 37 Appendix B: Common Abbreviations In This Handbook ........................................................ 39 Appendix C: Transportation Glossary .................................................................................... 42 Appendix D: Info For DAAD Scholarship Holders ................................................................... 43 4 Junior Year and Departure Preparation Hello and welcome to the URI German IEP Study Abroad Survival Guide! Congrats for making it this far and take a deep breath - it will all make more sense soon (hopefully). The purpose of this guide is to answer as many questions as possible about Germany, Germans, the IEP, Braunschweig, and lots of other things you might be wondering about. It was made by students who studied abroad and want to help you avoid any big issues with your year abroad. This doesn’t mean everything will always go perfectly, but what’s a year abroad without some stories to tell? So without further ado, lass uns doch mal anfangen! Feeling Nervous About Your German? Mach keinen Stress! If you already spoke perfect German, you wouldn’t need to go anyway. But if you start to get nervous, here are a couple things you can use to practice a bit beforehand. ● There are tons of games and quizzes on www.sporcle.com and some other quiz sites. Here’s one for example: http://www.sporcle.com/games/McFly/essentialgermanverbs. These are a nice easy way to practice some basic vocab. ● And here’s another nice one so you can ask Germans where they are from and not have to awkwardly nod when you have no idea what they are saying: http://online.seterra.net/en/ex/104. ● If you haven’t been introduced to it already, LEO (www.leo.org) is just about the best German-to-English dictionary on the web. Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/) is getting better, and some people like the dict.cc (http://www.dict.cc/) layout, but LEO is the king here, so go ahead and bookmark it now. ● You can also download apps like Duolingo (http://www.duolingo.com/) for free! ● Download the dict.cc app to your smartphone and install the German/English dictionary – this will let you look up vocabulary on your phone on the fly without an internet connection! ● Listen to some German music! This is obviously dependent on your taste, but here are a few artists and some of their best-known songs to get you started. ○ Seeed - Augenbling, Riddim No.1, Aufstehn. Probably the biggest act in Germany right now, they have stuff anywhere from reggae to dance music. Check out the guest verse from CeeLo Green on Aufstehn; it comes out of nowhere. ○ Peter Fox - Alles Neu, Haus am See. The lead man in Seeed, he also has a really well known solo album, Stadtaffe. The whole thing is worth a listen. ○ Kraftklub - Ich will nicht nach Berlin, Eure Mädchen - A rock/punk group who really don’t like the hipsters in Berlin. 5 ○ Cro - Einmal um die Welt, Du. He describes his music as “Raop,” Rap/Hip Hop. Some pretty clever lyrics and relaxing feel. ○ Clueso - Gewinner, Chicago, Barfuss. Acoustic guitar music, a bit of a breather. If this is more your thing, also check out Philipp Poisel or Bosse. ○ Die Ärtzte - Westerland. Some old rockers, kind of like the Green Day of Germany. Not the most new/hip