Various advice for newcomers to Braunschweig

Hi,

I moved to braunschweig about two months ago with my husband. He has a job as a researcher with the university and i am still looking into jobs. I recently graduated from cornell with a masters in computer science and am finding it exceedingly hard to find a job here. I spend my days at home, and since i know very little german have not met any one here. Is there any way to meet english speaking people in braunschweig...i find myself feeling very lost and very lonely for the most part of my day. Any help, advice would be oh so appreciated.

Hi

unfortunately I am not an english native speaker but I thought you might be interested in meeting a group of people in Braunschweig learning how to dance irish?
We meet every saturday, sunday and thursday for training & chatting(going to the Wild Geese) and enjoy the jigs and reels. We also have 2 classes for children.
Some of us speak quite good english and we do have some parents coming from UK.
Here is our website, its still in german, but if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me!

www.rince-samhain.de

Maybe its of interest for you!

Greetings

Irish dancer

I have just moved to the Bremen area a couple weeks ago from the States (Ohio). I have enrolled in a German class at the Volkshochschule (Peoples School / Community Education) and have met a lot people. It is nice because we are all in the same situation and work together to help everyone understand the language.

This would probably help you meet people and have some to occupy your time during the day.

Good Luck!!

Adam

I would have to agree with the previous post. I pressed my wife to enroll in a German course as soon as we arrived. I've heard of many an expat that returned home before the "intended" time because the husband/wife didn't adapt well. Mostly, they never made freinds and got stuck at home with nothing to do.
So, to make sure something similar didn't happen to me, I had her enroll ASAP in a local course. It's been great actually. She's made a group of friends (all in the same situation so there is a common denominator) who get together 2 or 3 times a week and go window shopping downtown, go for coffee of come to the house for lunch.
I must also admit that a good portion of the social life she has is because she was bored. So she would call some of her colleagues to go window shopping, or to come over for lunch and so on. From there it kind of became a habit and now she goes out at least 1x a week with her friends. It's been nice for her too because the group is multinational and a few don't speak English, so they all are forced to practice German together.

Also, you could always look for a painting course, photography course or, if you're religious, ask your church what you can help with =)

Well, there's my 2 bits. Hope it works out!

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KT

many thanks to all for the support and replies..i am actually waiting for a german course which is going to be offered at the university. it is hopefully going to be offered in october and so maybe that will help.

Hi there im just about to move to germany with my parents im 20 and im really interested in learning german , does anyone know of any good german courses???

HI , im from mex and hubby from Germany and having the same situation , but im already in waiting list for the german course in WOlfsburg ( 30 min from Braunschweig) , hope that helps to meet people.

I'm in SZ and I took a course at the VHS here and met a lot of people, nobody I kept in touch with though but some of the people had made some good friends there.

A friend of mine here wants to start a group that gets together over a beer every once in a while and speaks English. She's actually German and the people she's inviting are probably mostly German with some sort of background of having lived in an English speaking country and wanting to keep up with their English.

I also know from one of my coworkers that there is a group of English speaking women in Braunschweig that gets together every once in a while. If you are interested, I could get the number from him to get you in touch.

Hello there fellow Braunschweiger!

I've been in Braunschweig a little over 2 years now. I met my husband online in 2007 and decided to stay. I'm originally from way down South Texas. To your comment on the job search, I have also struggled greatly to find any actual job offers, but I did offer English lessons. Now, I am very occupied as a new mommy to a beautiful daughter, but I can't deny that I get home sick now and then. I would also like to meet other people in Braunschweig - it seems so hard, because Germans by nature are very well reserved vs. us loud mouthed Americans. Anyways, when I decided to stay in Germany I took a German course for 6 months from Berlitz - it was ok, but they don't teach you everything you need to know.

If I can be of any more help or you would like to learn more about me, I can offer you my email address upon request.

Take care, good luck, and don't lose hope.

Andrea

Hey there,

If anyone knows of English speakers meeting up in Braunschweig, please let me know! I've been here for 2 years now and have pretty much only made German friends.
Would be nice to meet some other expats as well :-)

I'm fairly new to Braunschweig (working at the University) and wouldn't mind getting to know more people and places nearby.

I intend to get some tickets for the Film Festival next weekend, and I'd be glad to have a meal/drink(s)/ice-cream between or after any of the 5 or so films I'd like to take in between Friday and Sunday.

I am also looking for somewhere to live from February 1st, furnished if possible, uncomplicated (i.e. preferably inclusive of bills), and not necessarily long-term, so lodgings or a flatshare might be suitable. Exact size and location are unimportant, as long as it's not too long a bike ride into the city centre.

Hello!

I'm not sure how old you are, so this suggestion may be completely inappropriate. Please disregard it if that is the case. I'm pretty withdrawn myself, so I haven't gone to this, but it was recommended by both of my English teachers at university.

There is an informal English-speaking night (mostly for students I guess) at the Irish pub near the university (it's in the Bültenweg, if you come from the Altbau and go through the little gap between the Audimax and the Forusmgebäude, just follow the road). There should be info leaflets about this somewhere in the public parts of the university. These are obviously mostly Germans speaking English, but I believe some of the students from abroad attend that gathering as well, so you may meet some native speakers.

I'm not sure if that is at all what any of the previous posters were thinking of, but it just popped into my mind while reading this thread. orz