Relocation advice - Choosing where to live

Hi,

I hv accepted an offer from Infineon Munich and am now preparing to relocate to Munich in January 2005. They are sponsoring my kids (7&9 years old) for international school as well and now I need advise from the readers what is the best place (preferably not so costly one) to live such a way that it is not far from my work place and also close to the international school. Thank you.

regards,
Kong Weng

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Both those places are not close together. Probably best for the kids to live near the school and you commute with the Sbahn to work. The school is located in an expensive area, but there are deals to be found. The housing market is good for the renter this year as prices are coming down a bit. There are a few people who live in the Starnberg and could give you a better idea, but they may not be back online until Monday so don't fret if there are few responses this weekend.
If you don't want to live that far out, there is a European School that could be an option depending on how they interpret being inployed by the European community???

Regardless which international school you decide to go for (BIS in the North: Haimhausen or MIS in the South: Starnberg/Percha), they are both approx 30 km away from Munich and Infineon. There is no way, you can live close to both. Since the school bus fares are fairly expensive, the majority decides to live near the school and whoever works will commute. Housing is cheaper in the North of Munich, at the same time there is less choice. Many people consider the South to be more beautiful. If I were you, I would make sure that Infineon provides you with the services of a relocation company as they will be able to help you find housing and help you settle in. They will also be able to recommend the best areas for you to live in according to your requirements.

Yes, they will provide 3 months of temporary accommodation and at the same time, relo agent will be helping me to source for a permanent one. I am just not sure shall I go to north for BIS or south for MIS. Yeah, I would think the same way as well where I commute everyday, any idea what is the cost likely for me to travel daily to Infineon?

regards,
Kong Weng

depending ón where you haver to travel to and from a monthly MVV ticket costs up to €150. The Annual ticket costs up to €1,400.

I thought the European school was for kids whos parents work at the EPO

But I could be wrong. Mr weng

well, let say I decided to stay near to the North, and travelling 30km to work everyday by train/tube/underground, can I get a monthly ticket that let me travel unlimited trip?

First contact both BIS and MIS to find out whether they have vacancies for both your children, this may make the decision for you as to whether you'll be based in the south or the north! The admissions offices of both schools will be able to tell you the bus routes and areas served and again which routes are already full for the year so the areas where you might live are narrowed down even further. Lots of MIS families like to live along the S6 route (Gauting, Stockdorf, Krailling, Planegg, Gräfelfing etc) as there are school and public buses from MIS to the Starnberg Nord S-bahn (S6) and also good access to central Munich for those who work.

Yup you're wrong.

It's primarily for the spawn of EPO staff, but external people can also go there, their parents just pay shit-loads for the privilege, and only if there's space in the class.

Word is the fees at the European School are to rise and eventually be the same as MIS/BIS. We live in the south, 15 mins from MIS and my husband travels north everyday. I know he dosen't love the Sbahn but we manage with one car and have done so for the past six years. Suggest to your company that paying the school bus fees is "normal". Being close to school is essential if your children are to be involved fully in all aspects of school life. MIS has great extra curricular activities for all the family, it would be a shame not to have the time and energy to take advantage of them.

Find out where they are putting you when you arrive. Infineon tend to put people in Apartments in the Hotel Max Emanuel, which is ok for a few weeks but not for three months.
I started with Infineon in September stayed at the Hotel for 4 weeks and then moved out to an apartment. Wait till you get here then you will have time to look around for an Apartment we found one through Mr. Lodge within a week. I think you can find a link to them through Toytown also try to learn as much German as you can before you come it will help at work. I know they probably told you the all Technical stuff is in English which it is. but they do tend to switch to German in meetings and you can easily loose track of what’s going on.

Bliss

Europäische Schule München I think is the name of the european school in Perlach. It teaches in English, I don't know how much it costs or anything, but I think it is not so expensive there. It is close to the mall and to Sbahns and Ubahns. Some people don't like that neighborhood very much though, but I think that neighborhood is still way better than most neighborhoods in NYC or DC or New Orleans (the only cities I have lived in)

Bavarian International School
Admission-Selection
Fees
9.700,- € to 12.150 € per year
www.bis-school.com

Munich International School
Admission-Selection
Fees
10.300,- € to 12.530 € per year
Futher information
www.mis-munich.de

European School
Admission-currently only open to children of people employed by the European Community
Fees
1.850,- € to 2.520 € per year
Futher information
www.eursc.org

Hi,

thanks so much for all the responses...

Bliss,
I was told that the temporary accommodation is for 3 months and for a family size of 5, so I guess we have pletty of time, anyhow, deciding on which school to go is more urgent in my case.
As for the apartment, I actually looking for an unfurnished apartment so that I can have some saving in the long run. preferably sub-1K, is this realistic?

regards,
Kong Weng

For a family of 5? Within the city limits? Probably not, unless you are willing to have all the kids sleeping in one room.

well he is chinese. they have different idea of living space than most western europeans or north americans.

Eurovol,
UrbanAngel is spot on about the European School, your information is incorrect.
EPO and EC are entirely separate entities and have different member states (e.g. Iceland and Turkey are members of European Patent Convention but not of the EU).
Katrina

My info is from there site???

I have also given links to go to the site and see for yourself.

From FAQ:

But EU DOES NOT EQUAL EPO! Children of families employed by the European Patent Office can go to the European School regardless of their nation state's membership of the EU as the two things are entirely separate.
Believe me I *would* know. *cough*
Katrina

Secret love child that you are sending there Katrina that you haven't told us about?

What's love got to do with it, showem? I just coughed a bit too hard and there it was.

Before you have a cow there Katrina, re-read and tell us just where anybody said the EU equals the EPO.

Kong Weng asked a question and I posted info with links.

Children of employees at the EPO (irrespective of nationallity) are entitled to places at the European School. So far as I know places are open (on a paying basis) to other children, who must be EU citizens, but only if places are available after EPO needs have been satisfied. If there are more applications than places then a lottery is held. If one child already has a place then a younger brother or system also gets automatic entitlement...

YL6

YL6 is right. That is basically how it is done at the European School of Munich (ESM), even though its a bit more complicated than that.
Basically children are divided up into 3 categories.

Category 1 are children of parents that are employed by an EU institution. In Munich these are the European Patent Office, the European Space Observatory in Garching and the European School itself.

Category 2 are children of parents that are employed by companies or organisations that have a special contract with the ESM. In Munich these include Netma in Unterhaching, Intel, British Aerospace, Panavia, the British consulate and a few more.

Category 3 are children that do not fall into either category 1 or 2.

Because of lack of space at their location in Munich-Perlach, the ESM is currently only granting admission to category 1 and 2 children, except for when there are classes where there are still places abvailable. Siblings of students at the ESM are automatically granted admission.
Since the ESM is not a public school, fees have to be paid, either by the company/instutution or by the parents. Currently these fees are quite a bit lower than those for MIS or BIS, but they are increasing every year, since the EU in Brussels has lowered the subsidies for the European Schools.

The official website of the European schools can be found here.

okay, hope that this issue has been made clear now.

Dan