Moving to Munich

Hi TT's everywhere,

I'm obviously crazy! ...but... myself and my husband have decided to throw any common sense we had, (which wasn't much to begin with) to the wind and up sticks from jolly old England to begin a new life in Bavaria, hopefully within reachable distance of Munich.

'So what?,' you may say, "we've all done it, you'll get on with it,' etc etc ..just one tiny thing to mention, ..we have no jobs to come to, (and are leaving decentish paid jobs here), we have only a mild ability to speak German (but are thowing ourselves into learning the language), we are selling our house (so we will have a certain amount of cash to rent somewhere whilst we are settling in etc) we have 2 young children, (only 1 of school age) -

We need your help to advise us where we would be able to find decent family accommodation at short notice when our house sells, also do we need to register with anywhere in particular or is this only after a certain time? What is the likelihood of finding any type of job that would cover the rent on an average family place?
Will local schools take in our 7 year old or will they require a high degree of German first?

Yes, we are aware this is totally ludicrous, however, we have reached decision point in our lives, we have always held 'the dream' of living a better quality of life (if somewhat poorer financially) for our children, and, sadly, this year we have lost our only relatives here (both sets of parents) so there doesn't seem to be anything to stay here for, and to be honest we thought, 'wel it's now or never' as when our kids grow older it will become more difficult for them and also we would be that much older trying to find work! (we are both late thirties)

We have set ourselves 2 years to find a job, we will live off some of our savings and if nothing comes of 'the dream' then we would just have to move back to England and start again here. At least we would all be able to speak another langauage!!! (I'm forever the positive one)

- so appart form the obvious (crazy Brits thing) what do you think? Is it possible to do this? Do you know anyoine else who's achieved something from a similar risk? I know we'll never be rich but that doesn't matter to either of us, wej ust want to let our children play out and to have a better quality of life than we currently do (working more than 12 hours a days sometimes!)
I'm sorry to waffle on. Interested to know what you think...

Thanks,

Very smart move

what kind of jobs do yo u have in England?

My Husband is an information analyst for a large local hospital, and I am a Team Manager in a call centre...(AAARGH!!!)

fab
good luck, hope it goes well for you
if it's what you want to do, go for it - there are tons of great things about living here, including quality of life and the "nice environment" thing for kiddies

to answer some of your questions - yes, you have to register, and you have to do it within 7 days of arriving
here's the page from the TT wiki

most people over here live in flats, and you can get a decent 3-room place fairly central for around 1k€ a month (e.g. this one)
if you want a house, then you'll have to look on the outskirts
have a quick look on www.immobilienscout24.de, that should give you some idea of what's available and within your budget

do you want to live somewhere central, or out in the sticks?

i came over here to work in telemarketing, this was 11 years ago when it was just taking off in Germany; i'm not sure exactly how much times have changed in the meantime (i changed careers about 8 years ago), but i imagine if you have experience in call centers, then you might have a pretty decent chance of finding something. you'd have to work on your german, though, so focus on that in the meantime.
and pm me if you want, and i'll try to cast my mind back to find some company names

There is a company looking for Clinical Research Associates. They advertise on here occassionally. Then there is also Gr0ßhadern Klinikum. As for call centers, they have those here too. You both will need to speak German to live, but only English to survive.


Actually, you sound more crazy American to me.

Thanks TOPSY, that's very kind of you...I will PM you later... as for the place to live..I think we would really prefer somewhere out in the sticks (for the kiddie winks ) but reality shouts at me that finding a job would be easier in a city like Munich, also the commute in the winter may be a worry if we have to get back for the kids!

Thanks for the tip Eurovol - I'll keep any eye open - I know we're mad as march hares but hey what the heck! that's what I figure life's for ...living a little... cheers for yoyur kind reply

Well I wish you the best of luck. It wont be easy and I would advise you to live as close to Munich as possible so that you have the support of the local ex-pat community. We moved here 4 yrs ago, but to a smallish Bavarian village. Its very pretty but at that time my knowledge of the German language was very limited and its taken me a long time to settle in. My daughters were 6 and 7 1/2 when we arrived and started in the local German school without knowing a word of German. It was really tough...and we had to pay for a lot of extra tuition. Now 4 years on they are both fluent German speakers and my eldest daughter will start at the local Grammar school in September ( we re very proud of her!!!) My youngest daughter has just completed her first year of Kindergarten but not keen to speak any German as yet.
The toughest time s are behind us now and I can let my kids play outside without having a panic attack when I cant see them...The quality of life here is great. I hope it works our for you.

SueC, brilliant! I'm not surprised you're proud of her!

Thanks for the advice, we may even consider obtaining a lease on a small cafe or some such, if nothing happening on the job front, (if that's possible on our budget) although I was worried whether a landlord would rent to us, either a house or a business if we haven't currently got employment - or would the fact that we have our house money overrule this? - does anyone out there know how the land lies for renting a small cafe?..must admit, what worries me about this idea is that what would happen if we built up a business and then the landlord put up the rent or asked us to move, he would have a thriving business to sell on and we would be left with nothing...or is this not possible?!?

Congratulations on choosing Bavaria as opposed to Spain or France like all the other Brits... you'll find it much more civilised out here

It's good that you have given yourselves a long period of time to find work (2 years). I would spend time and money at the beginning doing a German course and getting the language up to speed. That will at least help you with your neighbours. There are lots of English-language IT jobs in Munich, so that will be something to look at.

Rent will be much cheaper in a smaller village than in Munich, and the commute needn't be so bad, especially if combined with train or S-Bahn. Don't worry too much about winter; they're pretty good at clearing the roads.

Good luck!

you could also consider freising. Due to the location to the airport there are many jobs for english speaking people there. It's in the sticks but is still a nice little village. My recomendation would be to take a month (at least) and just do language school.

there was and may still be a call centre manager's position available in freising. it's at texas instruments through their call centre mgmt company harte hanks. here's the link and it looks to still be open, so give it a try and good luck.

"Crazy?"

It will probably be the best move you have made in your life!

Live out n the boonies... your money will go twice as far.

Best of luck

G

Grazzenger - thanks for that..I have sent off an application! (you never know!!)

and to everyone else who was kind enough to offer advice, thanks for all your help. You've been fab - and have spurred me on...now just to put the house up for sale and I'll be joining you all shortly!!! cheers

Nope, you should really consider moving to France or Spain. Both much nicer places to live than Germany. I've lived in all 3.

Don't let us stop you moving back to one of the other two.

Liar liar pants on fire, Bavaria far far far out cools France or Spain.

@Ellmaugirl: All the best, it's not easy and it takes a lot of courage, more than insanity. Hope it works out for you, and keep posting back to this thread to let us know how you're coping.

Just a quick 'un, but why Bavaria? The standard of living is just as good in other parts of Germany and rental prices are a lot cheaper? (of course Munich is pretty nice though - have only visited friends there a few times, but I did love the place. Almost as nice as Ddorf )

gah, who let the saupreussen loose on this thread? (only joking righter )

WHY8 - Thanks for that, I certainly will keep in touch with the TT'rs. I have actually been reading this site for about 2 years or so, as I have had the idea of living in Germany for years. Just never had the 'push' really to do anything about it. Maybe the time is right for us eh?...I'm looking forward to meeting some of you at the 'get togethers' and I'm sure that come what may we can only benefit from the experience of living in another counrty.

Righter...'Just a quick 'un, but why Bavaria? '

We chose Bavaria as we have been holidaying there for 15 years and actually had our wedding blessed there one year! And whilst we're aware it's going to be no holiday, surely the benefits will far outweigh any obstacles we come across??

Must say though...my husband is the brave one for letting me talk him into the idea in the first place!!

One word: don't.

(Or is that two words, since it is a contraction of "do not"?)

@Ellmaugirl - maybe it's good to read up on the pitfalls of relocation
Here are some good articles I found relating to cycles that one goes through when relocating to a new culture:

http://www.iht.com/pages/athome/index.php

http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/02/16/rdepress_ed3_.php

http://www.overseas-experience.com/culture-shock.htm

There must be some threads on TT about such things.

Some people must have had very negative experiences and left. Not to discourage you, just make the big move with both sides open, would surely help.

All the best!

Sorry to be the downer here, but is there no way you can change your quality of life without uprooting your family, quitting your jobs, and selling your house to move to a different country where you don't speak the language? You do realize that Germany is not exactly the Land of Opportunity these days, especially not for foreigners?

I'm a cautious person, it's true, and I'm worried for you.

I hope you're not underestimating the stress you are surely going to be under socially and financially. This kind of stress tends to undermine the excitement and adventure of a move to a foreign country, if not at first, then eventually.

OK, I said my peace and now my conscience is clear. But you said it yourself: you're crazy. Good luck, though.

I can understand the whole throw caution to the wind bit but Cinzia's voice of reason is well, reasonable. Can you not turn over your house to a property management company for rental? That way you'd have a bit of both: some ongoing income and a place to return if need be. If your not successful in germany it'll be damn expensive (i imagine) to start up again in England and if you are successful, well then you can sell it and have a nice nest egg.

Never two without three? I admit I was too much of a coward to voice my minority opinion yesterday, but I tend to agree with cinzia and jml.

Whatever you decide, though, good luck!

@ kay: what a bunch of worry warts we are. we should start a club, maybe get together, wait i'm busy, you two are busy how about we find an internet forum where we can just hang out virtually. jeeze it really does hurt to be this brilliant.

@ cinzia - thanks for your concern, it is appreciated, however, frankly this country is getting more distressing by the day, it's not safe for children to play out and actually live like kids should (like we all did when we were growing up!), we've had an incredibly stressful year already and yet with no family to turn to we've pulled together and got through it, we're not used to failure and have no intention of startng now, so we're determined to make this transition work and, whilst we are of course nervous about the risk, we are looking on it as another challenge to be overcome! - thanks again for your concern and good wishes

You're right, I feel a headache coming on. Good night...

I think some people who have been out of the UK for a while don’t see this, it isnt even safe for adults. Get yourself out here, you will be fine.

By the way I hate you because I have to go back to the United Krapdom soon, and im dreading it!!

You're spot on! Sorry you have to come back, you haven't got a reasonabily priced house going begging in the sticks have you?!!

yeah, just go for it
you seem like you're together, i'm sure you'll manage to sort something out
you also seem to be pretty realistic about the fact that you probably won't be earning pots and pots of cash (at least at first), so that's good

when i moved over here loads of people back home told me not to, oooo - it's a bit of a risk, what if it doesn't work out, etc
so what if it doesn't work out? you go back to where you started or you move on to the next thing

i'm with tbfb, i would *never* willingly move back to the UK now
i can totally understand you and wish you the best of luck

when are you coming?

Thanks for that Topsy - we're hoping to come out as soon as we can - realisticaly that's probably going to be either the end of the year or early next year, but I'm a great beliver in planning everything down to last details, I write lists for everything!! (should fit right in with the German way of life shouldn't I?)