American Student Planning to Study/Moving Abroad

Hello,

I am an American university student who has finally been convinced to move to Germany for a couple of years to finish my bachelor's degree. My fiance and best friend are both German citizens who support me (and pushed me) towards this decision, but neither of them can really help in the technical process; both of them know generally what to do, but neither knows specifically.

My questions are:

1. What is the best Uni in NRW for an English (Lit/Writing) major/German language minor, and how do I go about applying for it? What exactly is going on with tuition, since I don't understand that setup at all? Are there English language options available at said Unis? The specific ones I am looking at are Technische Universitaet Dortmund, Uni Aachen, Uni Koeln, Uni Duesseldorf, although I am open to any ideas.

2. What is the average cost of living and job availability in NRW for those who speak passable (but by no means fluent) German and fluent English? What will I be looking at for apartments, internet, phone, etc.?

3. What are the "little" things that catch foreigners by surprise about living in Germany, specifically government and legal issues?

4. If I am in a college here, and have been so for three years, will I have to take the courses to "qualify" for Uni here, or should I be okay?

5. What should I do in the immediate to make this happen by this summer, or is that plan even possible?

I know this is really vague and a lot to ask, but I have no idea where to start and while I am researching, the most valuable information will come from people who have actually experienced moving there and going through the grief of it all. I plan on being in Dortmund this winter for a month with my fiance and his family, during which we'll be tackling some of it, but I am still pretty confused about most of the issues I have to look into.

Thank you for all your help,

Carrie

(Yay, letter format!)

There's an institute for American studies at the University of Bonn as well.

Will you be living alone, or together with one or more of your fiance and/or friend?

EDIT: Job availability? You would be here to study, right? I am not sure that a study visa confers the right to work.

There are umpteen hundred threads on these on the forum. Hard to say anything specific when you don't have a better idea yourself of what is going to happen.

"Will you be living alone, or together with one or more of your fiance and/or friend?"

I will be living with my friend, and since I do not know how tuition works in German universities, I was presuming I would have to work (unless I got some sort of DaaD scholarship, who knows) to keep myself up.

As for the "little things", I'm more thinking of things such as, if I work and earn money in Germany, will I have to pay taxes to MY government as an American citizen? If I were to marry my fiance whilst I was there, how would this affect my visa, etc.? Is there a German equivalent of the TOEFL, and how would I go about taking it?

OP- no offense, but majoring in American Studies and/or English lit is not a good idea if you intend to work as anything other than a ESL teacher in Germany. At least major in a business subject if not a hard science or economics. Majoring in English lit probably won't help you improve your German skills, and you'll need excellent German skills to be competitive for anything other than teaching English (which from all I have heard usually doesn't pay that well). You probably will have to take the Test DaF or the ZOP to get admitted to a German uni.

You almost certainly won't have to pay US taxes, but you do have to file a US tax return.

I actually intend to come back to the states to teach English on the college level (I want to get my master's from University of Tennessee). I hadn't considered long-term in Germany although it could be a possibility with my fiance. I don't think I have the ability to do business or economics, go figure. I'm brilliant with languages and the written word, but nothing else.

OP, you might be interested in the foreign language options offered here (provided you can study independently):

http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/prospective_students/undergraduate/index.php

Once in Dortmund you could make the short journey (60 km) to Münster ... home of Germany´s third largest university and one of the foremost centers of German intellectual life

Homepage WWU ... International Programmes in Münster 2009/2010

As regards your entitlement to take up work please look here:

http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/international/exchprog/studierenleben/arbeitsgenehmigung.html

Just to throw some numbers out there, a small apartment (~300 sqft) in one of the major cities will cost about 400-500€ including utilities, 30€ for phone/internet, 70€ or so for health insurance and 150-250€ for food. Renting a bigger place with another person would be a little cheaper. Tuition is free for exchange students at a lot of universities, in which case you only pay 100-200€ per semester for the student association and public transport ticket, else it's another 500€ for tuition.

Some more info:
http://www3.uni-bonn.de/studying/international-students/exchange-and-study-abroad/jyp/pre-departure/pre-departure-information?set_language=en

If I could go back, I would NOT major in History and minor in English, and later go on to do some preparatory courses to start a Masters in Literary Theory.. Yes, I sat in on many Saturday evenings reading Heidegger, Foucault, and co.. But NO, I don't have a fulfilling career at the mo as a TEFL teacher.., or any prospects for the future..

BECOME AN ENGINEER OR STUDY SCIENCE.. You can read Henry Miller in your free time.. Trust me - I'm 35. Been there done that.. You can read all the lit stuff you want in your free time.. Real life is going to work every day, paying bills, and having a few hobbies on the side to balance things out. Literature can be your hobby. But for god's sake don't look at it as a career... And in the real world we live in, a career is what matters - as a foundation. Your career is the foundation of your house - literature can be the color you choose for the shutters.. But without a foundation you have no house...

Yeah but as a student, does one really need your own place... WG (flat-share) and everything can be brought down to 300 or even less

Carrie, have you checked to see if your current university has an office to help students who want to study abroad? Most American universities have one, sometimes rolled in with the student placement office. They will be able to give you a lot of information.

Normally a student visa prohibits you from working in Germany. Edit: I stand corrected, see westvan, below.

And I'm almost 40 and what I have discovered during my lifetime is that a job is a job is a job. They all suck. Okay, some suck worse than others. I studied science. I worked in IT for 5 years and made a bunch of cash. I found it boring. I decided to learn a trade. Somehow ended back in programming of big woodworking machinery. Now I'm working as a labourer and actually finding it fun. Go figure.

You have a point though in that there is not much of a point to study something that will not get you a job or at least be aware that you are studying something that may not get you a job. Of course nobody thinks about that while they are still at college, full of passion about whatever they love to study and if you'd ask them and I had friends who actually said this, they'd say that they don't care if they get a job or how much they will make. Then they find themselves back in the real world after graduating, juggling a family and student loan payments.

In my opinion, there's also not much point in studying something that will get you a nice job and loads of cash if you don't like it. Better idea, try to study something you like AND will get you a job.

Working 90 full days or 180 half days a year is allowed.

Cinzia- The only problem with a study-abroad program from my local uni (UTK) is that they only provide support for half-years or summer semesters. They don't offer assistance (or even advice, the gits) for anyone wishing to study long-term.

As for the money... I come from solidly lower-middle class. My father worked his entire life in labor jobs and my mother is a substitute at the school I went to. So long as I have a comfortable living wage (I as of yet owe nothing to anyone, loans or otherwise save my monthly phone bill)I will be more than happy. My goal is to spend time there and understand the place my future husband comes from, as well as to simply experience living in another country. I fully expect to return to the states within four or five years unless I marry my fiance, which we had planned to do only when I had my master's completed.

Thanks for all the advice guys!