Seeking Asylum at the British Consulate

Arguably our most productive day since arriving in Munich today we accomplished... a few things. An early start saw us at the Hauptbahnhof for 9am where we were STILL unable to get a student travel card.

Our next stop was the British Consulate. Having spent all week in various queues we went to get some real help and found it in the form of Chris Dowers. What a man. He was able to give us all the information and forms we needed to get us properly sorted over the next few weeks.

Confident and full of new knowledge, we strutted our way back to Puccistraße where we had originally registered with the town only to find we were in the wrong place again! Tax cards are given at the Finanzamt, duh!

Upon arrival we found we can't apply for a card for another two weeks. Damn. However, I NOW HAVE A GERMAN SIM CARD. This makes me almost officially german right? I've also been able to get myself another house viewing for next saturday having spoken to one of the 2 students currently living there. I just want some friends!

Things are hopefully looking up, i just need somewhere to stay for the next week or so!

Marcus and I have set up rival blogs and unfortunately he's currently winning, despite my best efforts. He's since become an 'expert' and is posting on every social media site known to man! This is not how our first friday in Munich should be going!

7 Steps to Student Success in Munich 2012

Having just moved to Munich, my friend Marcus and I (both Auslandsjahrstudenten) decided to create a check-list of things that you need to do once you arrive. We hope you find our tips both detailed and useful. Our step-by-step guide is ideal for anyone going to live, work or study in Munich (and indeed Germany) this year.

IMPORTANT - be sure to carry your passport with you at all times. If you fail to adhere to this and are stopped by a Police Officer (Polizeibeamter) then you are liable to be arrested.


1: At the airport

Follow signs to the S-Bahn. The logo is easy to recognise - it is a green circle with a white S in the centre. Before you take the escalator down to the platform, ensure that you have purchased a ticket from the ticket desk. The best value ticket you can buy is the Streifenkarte for 12€. Which should last for a few days.



2: Anmeldung (registration):

Within the first few days of arriving you must register your presence with the City authorities. In Munich this can be done at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. The nearest Tube station is Poccistraße which can be found on the blue/red U6/U3 line. Take your passport with you. At the end of this process you will be given a Anmeldebestätigung. Congratulations you are now officially a citizen of Munich!



3: Bank account

Setting up a bank account in Germany is very easy. As long as you have a permanent address and Passport you will be able to open an account. We recommend Deutsche Bank as it gives you free cash withdrawals in over 30 countries. They also have a free student account (Das Junge Konto).



4: Mobile phone

Telekom (T-Mobile) and Vodafone are the two biggest phone companies, but look around for deals. To set up a monthly contract you need to have a bank account, but "Prepaid" (Pay as You Go) accounts can be set up in store in a matter of minutes.



5: Registration at LMU - Ludwig-Maximilians Universität Immatrikulationsbescheinigung

Take the U-Bahn to the conveniently named stop Universität on the U6/U3 line. When you exit at ground level you will see two fountains either side of Ludwigstraße. The main University building is the building with arches directly behind the fountain, on the opposite side to the Englischer Garten. 

Once in the building follow the corridor to your left. At the end of this corridor you will find the Studentenkanzlerei where you can go to ask questions and advice. However, as an Erasmus student your first stop is left before the Studentenkanzlerei, follow this corridor with lockers to the end where you will see a small library straigh ahead. Continue straight through into the next building where you will see many different rooms. Go up the stairs to your right and you should find a spiral staircase on the first floor. Proceed up this spiral staircase for the Erasmus office. Here they will give you all the advice you need regarding LMU.

6: Student Travel pass

The transport system in Munich is run by MVV (Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund) as opposed to Deutsche Bahn. To get a travel pass for the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Metro etc with a student discount you will need to following:

• If working, bring a copy of your Praktikumsvertrag (work contract) stamped by your University and employer

• If studying just bring a copy of your Immatrikulationsbescheinigung (Student registration certificate)

• Passport-style photo (35X45mm)

• Ausweis (Passport)

• Anmeldebestätigung (registration certificate: see 2)

• Mietvertrag (copy of your rental agreement)

7: Lohnsteuerkarte (Income Tax card):
Two weeks after you have registered with the city you will receive a tax number. At which point you will be able to register and get a Lohnsteuerkarte (Income tax card). This is done at the Finanzamt (nearest station Hackerbrücke - S1-8) NOT at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. 


If you are struggling with any aspects of your life in Munich the best advice is to visit your nearest Consulate. The British Consulate is located at Möhlstraße 5, 81675 München. The nearest U-Bahn stop is Prinzregentenplatz accessible from the green U4 line. They are very helpful and have answers to everything!

Good Luck and enjoy your stay in München!

Today has been scary

As above. Another day and still no responses from the people I have emailed about accommodation. I decided today to take the radical route and phone ACTUAL GERMANS to see if I could get a viewing. First one, nicest room i've ever seen - success! An hour later and i was in the suburbs of Munich standing outside a typical bavarian pub. Unfortunately, the roommates were a 40+ couple and a Malaysian lad whose German is as good as mine. It's not exactly the best way for me to improve my german.

Great room, weird people. Today then consisted of moping and feeling sorry for myself. I've read a bit of my finance book and rang a few more people but have had no success. SOMEBODY LOVE MEH. tonight i'll get all my work things sorted and then tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us. We've tried our best to do it alone but tomorrow we call in reinforments - THE BRITISH EMBASSY. help us!

Interesting Day

After a lazy morning of feeling crap because nobody wants to reply to me, Marcus and I went on a Schreibwarengeschäfte Jagd (stationary shop hunt)! I've bought myself a german diary, a german finance book on how to get rich and a miniature german-italian dictionary which will help me in two ways! It certainly made us feel good (although i felt good for considerably less than marcus!)

Then we attempted to register at the uni again TO NO AVAIL. having eventually found the right department we found it was closed on wednesday, a wasted journey.

The main excitement for the day was saved until the evening. Having got an email from my boss i headed off towards the Ostbahnhof for a "Team-Dinner" at what must be the coolest bar in Munich - 2000 tonnes of sand including NINE beach volleyball courts. Anyways, i sat next to a very rude future colleague who didn't oince speak to me and had his back towards me for the entire meal. Pfft. However the guy opposite, Andy, is 41 (the oldest of the team) and has a sister who lives in Oxford. His favourite band? Radiohead. His favourite football team? Man Utd. If only he was 20 years younger we'd be bezzies!

I didn't end up speaking that much german but it was good to begin listening to their accents and when I did speak they seemed to understand. Alles gut. I had no idea how young Westwing is - FIRST BIRTHDAY TOMORROW. ridiculous. the department has trebled in size since I was last here. Ridiculous.

Tomorrow we should be able to get registered with the uni. as for the WG search, still fruitless.

Speak soon!

Nath

First day complete!

Weirdly enough I had an uncharacteristically early start, getting up at 8! This meant I was able to spend a few hours finding suitable shared accommodation before lunch. I have now applied for 22 viewings and need to wait for the landlords to reply to me. Hopefully i'll get enough to have a choice of places.
We did a Lidl shop (Marcus and I) before lunch as there is a fridge, oven, hob etc in the room so we can have pasta for tea every night and ham and cheese baguettes every lunch! I'm soon going to tire of that.

After lunch we walked to Marienplatz through the main shopping area (where there were FIVE H&Ms) to find the registration office. After some german communicating we located it and officially became citizens! (above)

We then went to the Uni to try and cheekily register (you get cheap railcards and gym usage). Then we went to the englischer Garten which is THE BEST park in the world! there's a man made river which is basically a rapids ride, loads of people just lie they are float downstream! at the very start it's so strong that people are able to surf on it!

It's been a good day but hopefully we'll speak more and more german over the next few days before work starts.

I'm ACTUALLY here

It's hard to believe that I'm in Munich now for my year abroad. I've had my sights set on this since high school and it always seemed like a distant dream. Arrived last night and it was incredibly good to see a face I knew in Marcus. We went straight out for a few pints and spent the whole night catching up. in english. Hopefully today i will speak more german because I'm really scared about that aspect of this year. It feels as if I've forgotten all of my vocabulary and I just have no confidence in the language. I'm also scared about finding somewhere to live. It seems like a really difficult thing to do and I only have one week. I just want to skip forward a few weeks when I'm settled and getting on with the year. I think I'll be nervous until then.

On with the House search!

Nath