Life in Augsburg - advice for newcomers - Germany

Hi all, this is my first post in this forum.

I will be relocating to Augsburg in August to take up a new job. I am currently living in Brisbane, Australia.

I wonder whether you could give me some idea on the daily life expenses such as housing, daily shopping, transport, etc. I would like to stay close to the University of Augsburg since I will be working there. Any info on good kindergarten will also be appreciated.

Thanks for the info..

btw, I'm married and have a three-year old daughter

Hi. The weather is better in Brisbane.

Augsburg is the 2nd biggest city in Bavaria (population 300,000) compared to Munich with around 1.2M so largely speaking prices will be the same as Munich - so just read around the forum and you will get all the information you need. The one thing that should be cheaper is accommodation, but that really depends if you want/need to be in central Augsburg.

For example I live 20 minutes South of Augsburg, so it is easy by car or train, and it is VERY cheap to rent. Like a 140sq m house with 3 beds, 2 baths etc will be maybe €800. Close to central Augsburg I think would be 50% more than that - but others may have more information on Augsburg apartments.

Johny, thanks for your info. are the places around Augsburg easily accessed by trains (or maybe by some other means of public transportation)?

it all depends on where you live. if it's a really tiny, minuscule village, then you might be lucky if a bus passes through once an hour, but that is rare. most places on the outskirts of a large city have good public transportation connection.

I think Elfenstar is making it sound much worse than it is. There are plenty of trains running into Augsburg from most of the villages - so not an issue. I was in Augsburg yesterday, and I think the shopping is excellent.

But compared to Brisbane the weather will be a shocker!!!

And it's a very pretty town!

Augsburg is historically more significant than Munich. I have heard it has a nice city center -- and Mozart's father, Leopold, was born there in 1719.

To be honest, there are cow-fields that have more historical significance than Munich. Augsburg was founded by the Romans and so is over a thousand years older than Munich. See Wikipedia: History of Augsburg.

Nuremburg won't be happy to hear you say that

you know you love pedantry really

Thanks guys. seems like I'm heading to the right place. How about language? Can I survive without knowing German at all?

Yes you can survive - but if anything Augsburg is less International than Munich - so you will find more people I think DONT speak English than do. This is different to Munich.

As a rough guide you will find the Germans under about 35 usually speak pretty useable English, and those over 35 often don't unless they have cause in their normal business to do so.

But makes me realise that I pretty much never use English in and day-to-day transactions so I guess my German is not as shite as I sometimes think. As I am sure you can guess, the sooner you get some German under your belt, the better.

why bother coming here then. or maybe i am jumping to conclusions, but i know how frustrated i would be if i went to a foreign country and didn't even try to learn how to buy bread or order cold cuts at the deli.

EDIT: if you plan to spend many years here, then try to learn some german. if you're only here for a few months then the effort would be much greater than the benefit.

i should have been more clear in my initial question. what i meant was can i survive without knowing german at all within a month or two after my arrival.... i will definitely learn german if i decide to stay many years there.

does anybody know how cost of living in Augsburg compared to the cost of living in Lyon, France?

Best beer..easy..Reigele..try their "export" Privat..the weissbier is very good as well..different to the traditional darkish weissbier but great banana!

My first year in germany was spent in augsburg. In that time I learned German very quickly through necessity as no-one, well hardly anyone speaks english. As a way of learning the language, which is such an advantage, it worked quite well.

Even my german wife was often asked right out if she was an auslander because she has picked up a bit of my Scottish accent over the years.

Another thing, and this may only be my personal impression, but after living in a community for over a year, people wouldnt even respond to a guten morgen, in fact i was "der schotte das oben wohnt", despite my constant attempts at friendliness (invites for coffee, drinks etc ). I met more friendly and open people in 1 month of living in munich than all that time in various places Augsburg.

Enjoy the city, but dont ever expect to be accepted into a community as quickly as you would in munich.

Wow, that is really sad what the last post says because I am moving to Augsburg in about 3 weeks, and have expectations that we will befriend our fellow apartment members. Well, then again I have never really lived apt style living...maybe I will be in for a shock. I currently live in Munich, but am moving in with my boyfriend who works in Ulm, and I work in Munich...it is the middle. Nevertheless, I am super excited to move there and explore yet another town in Germany. Plus I will be in Munich every day, and to be completely honest I haven't found the people in Munich to be all that uber friendly either...

Hi, I'll be moving to Augsburg in June. I'd like to know if anybody has an advice on living in Nord Augsburg or Gersthofen or Oberhausen. I'll be working at Donauwoerth but I plan to live in Nord Augsburg and commute to Donauworth. I need to be closer to bigger city rather then live in very small down like Donauwoerth. How long does it take from Augsburg to Donauwoerth with train? thanks

www.bahn.de

Looks like 30mins on the quick train and 40mins on the slow but both without a change.

Hi

I have lived in Munich for over two years but have been to Augsburg dozens of times. The local tram and bus network is fantastic with Augsburg itself being a very compact beautiful city with nothing too far away. If travelling to Munich I suggest taking the train as the trip on the normal slower service is still just under a hour long journey. you can add another 30 min if driving by the time you find a car park.

My german is pretty bad and you will find alot less fluent english speakers but is much more laid back living style. They have an american style shopping centre with a hundred or so shops under one roof and is fantastic for shopping epecially with small kids.

In general the locals are pretty tolerant of broken german and will help you if they can. Its a really safe city as well. Certain times of the year they have some pretty cool festival parties in the middle of the town.

There are some really nice towns around Ausburg as well although can be a bit boring for night life. If your hungry for a good steak highly suggest farmers steak house located on the main road B2.

Enjoy the change

Aussie Steve

Does anyone know of many english speaking companies that are based in Augsburg, I am looking to move over there to be with my girlfriend, but my german is still quite poor although getting better. So I was hoping to get a job where I could speak english. I am an IT professional in London but am willing to do most sorts of work.

hey guys

is anyone of you still in augsburg? would be cool to catch up with someone there. if u want just send me a msg...should be fun ay

cyas around

Hi, In response to Joe Frank's question, I live in the next village to Gersthofen and it's not a bad wee town/village (if you like cakes it has a wicked konditorei)- the people are generally pretty nice and helpful. I would try to learn at least some German before you come here if you plan to live in Gersthofen itself tho, as believe it or not the 15 mins journey to Augsburg makes quite a difference in terms of whether people speak English or not (at least that's my experience). I get by with my 'grammatically inept but gets me understood' German and people are usually really tollerant of mistakes, I find. If you're coming over from somewhere more cosmopolitan you might want to consider moving into Augsburg itself, because Gersthofen is still quite small-towny I would say despite being so close. Anyway, the upshot is that if you like smaller town life you'd probably like Gersthofen and the journey to Augsburg really is nothing. If you prefer living in a city I'd move into Augsburg itself because the feeling is quite different being in the city itself. At least that's my experience! I find Augsburg a really nice city to be living near to in any case. Good luck with the move.

For God's sake learn to spell tolerant you moran.

im thinking about moving to augsburg, and i only have one friend in the area... i speak really basic german, but im a pretty good learner, and i think that living there i will pick it up pretty quickly. i have no idea how to go about looking for work or a place to live before i get out there, so im kinda stressed because i have no idea what im doing... i've never even been out of the US before. so anybody that would like to talk, give advice or anything, im pretty much open to it

Hey, yep im still in augsburg...

very tolerant JE... hehe

CPM, thanks for you tips. Yes, I'm used to live in a city and I do plan to move to the Augsburg. I just have to commute everyday to work to Donauwoerth. I guess it wouldn't be that bad, I got to get used to it.
Once again. Thanks a lot for your tips.

Joe

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