Reasons for moving to Germany

Look at it this way, just another experience in life. no one can force you to stay anywhere
atleast you can look back at your life and say you didn't lead a boring life!!! so what if it's in Germany.

Work, I was offered 3 times my annual salary and I felt it would be rude to say no! So I came over for a 2 year stint, that was in 1983!

Yup. Typical American response. You must be in the military if you live here!

We just decided to do a life-changing thing and move to Europe. It helped that hubby works for a multi-national that would transfer him by request, and Munich was the best choice for us of the European offices.

I used to get a funny response from Germans, too, about living here. The attitude was why would you want to live here if you're American? (I haven't heard that much anymore since around 2003, though.)

Not just the Americans, whenever my Mum tells people I live here, they nearly always ask,"Oh is he in the army?"

The above is excrutiatingly accurate

Bavaria is a hidden gem and were happy it stays that way

I must admit lots of people think I m ex forces as soon as I say I live here, and same back home as well. People only think that because of the large number of forces here during the cold war.

After God created the world, he told all the peoples to choose themself a piece of land. Everybody found himself a some bit they liked and settled down, there was only one little part that god preserved for himself, so he could have a nice little chillout place.

A day later God was hangin out in his little paradies, when suddenly a bunch of still drunk Bavarians were standing in front of him. They missed his call to pick some land, since they were down at the heaven's beer hall on a piss, drinking all of god's beer that day.

But what should he do, all the land was split and no place was left for the Bavarians. So since he's the big man and couldn't see those poor fellows crying they had no home (and for sure he wouldn't wan't them drinking all his beer for eternity), he decided to give his very own reserved land, the heaven on earth, to them, which from this day on is known as Bavaria.

What did we learn? Don't drink God's beer, or you'll get kicked out of heaven...

I came to Germany originally with the U.S. Army. Got out of the army and stayed another 4years. I lived in Germany for 8 years total. It was the experience of a lifetime. I think everyone would benefit greatly from living abroad as a foreigner in another country. It expanded my horizons in more ways than I can count.

I fancied living somewhere else for a while. Germany has good Beer and Bratwurst and ze Germans like Footy, and off I was. I ended up staying longer, met my Girlfriend and here I am 5 and a half years later. OK I've a German grandad so it wasn't quite that simple, obviously I wanted to see what Opa's country is like, but it was still quite a daring thing to do. Excellent experience but not easy having to learn a language asap, find work/accommodation etc all in one go. Still after the first year or so it gets/got easier.
You should like Frankfurt it's a decent place. In my first half year in Germany I worked for a couple of months as a Postman in Frankfurt, not a lot of people know that. It was the most stressful couple of months of my life. After just 16 weeks in Deutschland I obviously wasn't fluent, which made it very difficult.
Still get yourselves over here Germany is great!!

I came on a trip to Munich in 1999, during Oktoberfest. Met a German, who was working in the States already, and swapped email addresses. I told him if he ever wanted to check out New England, to send me an email. 4 months later, I got an email, he came for a vist, he fell in love (with me, of course). 1.5 years later, I moved with him to Germany. That was 5 years ago. Now we've bought a house here and I'm not planning on going back to the States, but you never know.

So, my move was not for a job, but for Love...ahhhh.

Yet no doubt have suffered a 25% decrease after German tax...

I came here because I didn't have anything better to do at the time. I still don't have anything better to do so I guess I'll stay until I find a good enough reason to leave.

This will look better for inselaffe, who's viewing at work...

glc, sometimes I worry about you.

I have a mere 2 weeks to go. Right now I think the boss has realised that I'm not going to be very productive!

Saying that, the friend who I'm staying with has gone and got herself a job. Therefore I'm busily hunting away about what I have to do when I get there. Honestly she's sooooo selfish!!

too lazy to rewrite a resume when i finished university and being an aupair you don't need one. i was (still am not) ever interested in being an aupair and i think the job is stupid and sucks and i don't have a high opinion of it. i also just got a dog and thought no one in his/her right mind would have an aupair who brought her dog with. so i put info up on the internet on an aupair site and procrastinated finding a real job all of last summer and now i'm here and a year later no closer to having anything better to do or direction in life as to what to actually do with my career

anyone who wants to give me a more 'real' job let me know! i'm definately open for options.

(my statement about aupairs is not to offend anyone so i'm sorry if it has. all of you, the aupairs/nannies i've met here, are wonderful)

I moved to Munich because I found a good airfare Actually, that is partially true. I found a great airfare from Washington, DC to Munich for a long weekend back in December. I went a city walk tour and inquired about a job with the guide. I met one of the owners of the company the next day...and when I went home to the US I kept in touch. Around the end of January they offered me a job. So, I moved to Munich on April 13th for a working holiday of sorts... I'm in Munich to take some time off, reevaluate my priorities, drink beer and have a good time.

just like ER, had nothing better to do. The idea was to come to Germany for a year to learn German (for all the obvious reasons: I was born here, my dads family is German, I have a German passport)... that was 7 years ago. Munich is a very safe place, and I think that is what has kept me here in the first place. Safety gives you freedom.

Me...for love

I wanted a year to see something other than the midwest (travelled a lot as a kid, but never alone). A friend had been an au pair before so I looked for a family. Found one in Sydney and one here, but applying for a visa to work in australia was more of a bitch, so I came here.

I have a feeling that in a few years I'll be back under the "nothing better to do" category.

My boyfriend wanted to travel and liked porsche cars. I wanted to study for a masters and study in Germany is (was) free... and since we like mountains Munich was the obvious choice. Easy really.

"Is This Original Enough"

I was stationed here in Germany 26 years ago... This is somewhat of an old story with a unexpected twist. I met a girl fell in love and then comes baby. She wanted me to get out the army and live in germany, we could not see eýe to eye on this, meanwhile I got orders for stateside. She refused to go, telling me it was over. We lost contact as she met someone else. The years past and as I got older I wanted to find my daughter... I searched for her for 10 years, then one day I was searching a site "Zaba Search" and was totally shocked to find my daughter was also looking for me. I sent her an email and she called next day. This was the most wonderful thing that has ever happend to me.

All those years went by I never got over my first real love. I never found anyone I loved as much as my daughters mother and regreted ever leaving her and my little girl. My daugher and I talked every day on the phone for three months. In the course of our conversations she told me her mother still loved me and could never get over me. I took the first plane I could get and two years later my wife and I are living as if we had never been apart. I am very blessed and had an opportunity few people will ever experence... I found my true love, my wonderful daughter... who made me an opa... all our german friends welcomed me home as if I had never left...

My father was a attempted french revolutionist who married a Puerto-Rican whore.

We fled here to Kalgoorlie Australia to escape from French gangsters who were opposed to my fathers political beliefs and frequently attempted to take his life.

Once we arrived in Australia, we were hounded by Asian gangmembers in Perths northern suburbs when we were trying to walk to the commute station.

THERE ARE NO TAXIS IN AUSTRALIA!

Once we arrived there we met an anglo-spaniard by the name of Felix, who warned us that the French gangsters were back on our tail.

He organised a sky plane flight for me and my mother to Berlin, Germany. And took my father to a secret base in the Kalgoorlie Mines to hide until the tile to strike was at hand.

Weve been here for 3 years now and still await contact from my father.

Sometimes I worry about you Gorgonite...

24 years ago my dad had to go to a conference in germany so he took the family with him. I was just a kid and totally amazed by my first abroad experience- Germany was like life, but done much better. The last night we were there i swore to myself that one day i would live in Germany.
Anyway i totally forgot all about this, and only remembered it the other day, so ive no idea if it had any bearing on my random decision to move here or not.

I agree with the experiences of the guy who said about the "guess where im emigrating" game, but its like a secret handshake when you get a positive response -from the persons who have actually been here.

So I can watch my German movies w/o subtitles. Not sure if that is a good enough reason but o well.

Well, I'm completely unoriginal.

I originally came to Karlsruhe to do the cumpolsory year abroad that was part of my German degree. Met my boyfriend here, went back to England to finish my degree then to Austria for a year because I'd always wanted to go to Austria. After 2 years I was fed up of being in a long distance relationship so I applied to be a Language Assistant in Germany, specifically asked to be placed in the Karlsruhe area and actually maanged to get placed in a school close to Pforzheim. Moved here to do that last September and am now 3 months into a 1 year internship at a translation firm.
So basically I came here for love. Like I said, totally unoriginal ;-)

So far Im the only person that has voted "Army", the British Army though.

I did 14 years over here and then moved to the Frankfurt area to continue my career in Telecoms (Im ex Royal Signals).

Im also married to a German, so I guess love had a bit to do with it too

Where are all the geordies who came over in the 70s/80s to work on building sites... did they all go back?

did Auf Wiedersehen Pet ever get shown on German TV?

I think I should write an auto-biography.

Don't think so.

The reason I'm moving is because I fell in love with Germany this summer when I was on holiday. And since I'm going to school and don't have to work for a couple of years...I figured, why not live in a scenic area, learn a new culture/language and plant myself in the middle of Europe? It'll make for some excellent side trips.

Gotta love distance learning in the modern age!

BTW...I'm moving on December 15th! The date draws near! I'm a little nervous and excited, but thankfully, not apprehensive.

I don't know if there's another thread like this somewhere, but I am wondering what made you want to move to Germany? Out of all the countries in the world why did you decide on Germany?

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Bier, low crime, clean streets, fests, history, scenery and bier.

German is the only language outside of English that I am even remotely familiar with, and I studied here briefly during University and couldn't shake the desire to return for a longer stay. I love Germany for the scenery, the language, the art and history, the central location in Europe, and because of my heritage. The bier ain't half bad, either.

My heritage, and some unknown draw to the country that I've always had... Not to mention the schwäbische Küche.

Wife homesick, wanted kids bilingual and be close to older parents. U.S. company (at the time) accomodative and offered combat pay/tax equalization. Euro v. v. weak which alowed us to buy v. nice place with (at the time) overvalued dollars.

We've since stayed longer and gone more native (local employer. etc.) than I'd planned. Waiting to take euro savings and turn around and pounce on undervalued dollar and fire-sale real estate for eventual move back home because the demographics and quality of life here are so sub-par. Sure, the beer's great ... but the worst beer jones costs one max EUR12/week. Guadalajara has great mexican food ... but would you really want to raise a family there? Factor in income/tax hit to lifetime wealth-building.

As I've stated on prior threads, notice how most foreign travel (survival) guides to Germany are written with a "see, it's really not so terrible" tone; there has to be something to that. It's not a place a lot of people voluntarily move to ... "gee, post-war wreckage block houses, 50% tax rates, grumpy defeated cheapskate communist people, crummy weather, neidkultur, and the nagging feeling that one's living in a place that when one announces where one's living, the reply alyays includes an incredulous "?" instead of a positive "!" ("Frankfurt?" vs. "Provence!") ... sign me up!

Lecker - I'll be down for a plateful of that just after Easter (Kirchheim/Teck...)

Been here a few years now... still asking myself that question

I have to agree with Expaticus on all that, especially the communist people and the Neidkultur - and I am German!

Honestly, I really have no idea why you all are here. I mean, I am damn happy about it, otherwise it would be a sad life without all those Friday Beer Gardens meetups in Munich and all the funny conversations about what's wrong and right in Germany...

I think the reason why I am still here are mostly sentimental ones.. friends, family and the language. I love foreign languages but somehow get quite depressed without German for some time. Funny, but it is like that. This must be the cultural mechanism that make you loyal to your tribe even against your own best interests...

But I am seriously considering moving away to a more enlightened and lower-tax place...

Ok, Germany also has something to offer if you put up the effort of learning the language and really getting into the culture and everyday life. The big cities are safe and offer a rich cultural life. You pay a lot of taxes but you get something for it (infrastructure, police, health care etc.). And yes, the beer is very good.

But still, there is a strong feeling that Germany is well below its potential, the political system is stuck, unions are holding the country hostage and mediocrity and timidness is ruling the country. I think if you put a premium on career and exciting work then Germany is the wrong country. If you value family life, leisure time, clean streets and stability, then it's the right country.

hm.. by the tone of these posts i really question why i am so eager to learn german from scratch
are things better in the neighbouring countries (german spoken) in terms of tax rates, quality of life, demographics and whatever else ??

It's fantastic here. 30 days vacation (+ holidays), decent work hours, great beer, safe, clean city, beergardens in the summer, skiing in the winter, hiking in the Alps in spring & fall... Within a 5 hour drive I can be in Prague, Vienna, Venice, South Tirol, Berlin, Strasbourg, et al. 2 hour flights get me to London, Amsterdam, Paris... Diving in the Red Sea is only a four hour flight away, golf in Tunisia is only 2 hours flight. Bavaria is fantastically beautiful, plenty of culture, history... high taxes, but I don't think I've seen a single pothole in the 16 years I've been here, great health care system (which I've unfortunately had to experience too much)...what's not to like?

Sure, I could probably move back to the US and double my salary, but but do I really want to work 80 hour weeks, including weekends, and have 2 weeks of vacation (if I'm lucky) that I will be encourageed NOT to take?

Quality of life is much better here, unless you measure it by number of SUVs in the driveway and the number of big screen HD TVs you have...

I think this is where I'm supposed to say to the Expaticus types, "If you hate it here so much, why don't you just leave?"

And to answer the original question, the US Navy sent me here. I got married, got out, and stayed. I've been here 16 years.

Try Switzerland... all the pluses, very few minuses, and in the end you even have better supermarkets, better healthcare, and more spending money in your pocket because taxes are much lower. The area around St. Gallen and Lake of Constance where I lived is lovely. You can always pop over to Austria or Germany for shopping, and if you take a wrong turn coming out of the mall where I used to go, you end up in Liechtenstein. (been there, done that )

Fixed the quote:

Had a love affair with Munich for over 20 years off and on and now made it my home.

Bizarrely i now have a job starting in England that i'm gonna commute to in the opposite direction to the thousands of expats headed this way.

haha, thanks a lot for that. maybe I'll learn German in Germany and then head over to Switzerland to start a living.
but i probably can't get by in switzerland with what i learn in berlin language school

I moved to Germany for grad school and then moved on. I enjoyed my stay, though!

If you want to live in Switzerland, rather learn German there, or you'll stand there with your mouth opening wondering what the people are saying - their German doesn't sound anything like German German! In fact, When I phoned a South African friend there, and his daughter answered the phone, she gave him the phone and said: "I don't know who it is, but she speaks "Hoch Deutsch"! I'd been here for less than 2 years, and my German couldn'd be described as High! It was a family joke for months! Then, when we visited there, my son said: "I could learn this language! It's easy!" Sure, but he didn't recognize it as German!

I'm just curious, because it seems that most of my expat friends came here to be with their partners, and i'm feeling reflective because me and my girlfriend are about to separate. I haven't thought about going back to the U.K, much, but I have missed English humour, and manners, and the food, and the T.V and a healthy disregard for the rules, and style, and ethnic diversity, and and and...

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It was come here, or get a divorce.