Study and research in Germany
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Always keeping up-to-date and in touch
Tomás and Mai agree: "It's important to know the German media if you want to settle in quickly in Germany. That helps you understand the country and its people better and is also good for learning German." So, Tomás immediately took out a subscription for a couple of magazines. Mai prefers to watch German TV. "That helps me understand the everyday language. After all, at uni we mainly learn the German needed for studying, which means loads of grammar," reports Mai. Yet, as important as it may be for Tomás und Mai to learn a lot about Germany – they still very much want to keep in contact with family and friends in the Czech Republic and Vietnam. And that's best done by phone and Internet. Our following section provides a brief guide to media and telecommunications services offered in Germany.
Go on, give them a call!
In her first few weeks in Germany, Mai used the public phone booths and telecafés to phone home. But that was too stressful for her long term. Because sometimes the coin-operated phones had been converted to phone cards. Or the phone wouldn't take coins or would take them but not let her call. That's why she wants to have her own phone line in her flat. She goes onto the web at www.tariftip.de/telefonanschluss.html for a comparison of the services and prices offered by all the phone providers in her town.
An often very inexpensive option, especially for international calls, involves using "call by call" numbers to pre-select the carrier. For an overview of these numbers, check out:
Phone boxes: These can mostly be used with cards (in some cases also with credit cards: But, beware! That is expensive). Phone cards, such as those offered by Deutsche Telekom, cost 5, 10 or 15 euros in the T-Punkt stores, in post offices, in some stationary shops as well as in Internet or telephone cafés. In addition, coin-operated payphones can also occasionally be found.
Mobile phones: The conditions and services for mobile (cellular) phones also differ from one network provider to the next as far as purchase costs, pre-paid or monthly charges, and free phone numbers or special rates are concerned. Detailed advice – that can go as far as producing a caller's personal phone profile – should certainly be used. Initial info on this is available from www.handytarife-rechner.de.
Finding phone numbers: After Mai had chosen a phone provider, she immediately wanted to contact her friends. But she had lost the slip of paper with the phone numbers. So she rang directory inquiries (www.telefontarifrechner.de/telefonauskunft).
Printed phonebooks or telephone directories (listed alphabetically or by name) or classified directories, also called Yellow Pages, are another important information source. For example, if Mai is looking for a doctor, tradesman or language school in or around town, she will find the answer in the Yellow Pages.
The following phone numbers are valid throughout Germany:
110 = Police
112 = Ambulance and Fire Service
Both are direct lines.
Notepad: Pay attention! Telephone contracts
Some phone contracts contain minimum contract periods that can run up to between two and five years. Or they can have clauses on a minimum monthly charge. That can become very expensive. So do make sure that you read all the small print first, before you sign the contract. If you are uncertain, contact the consumer advice centre (Verbraucherzentrale) at (www.verbraucherzentrale.info/
index.php).
And: Ask providers about special rates for students.
All around the big wide world
Internet access: The easiest way of getting Internet access is via the university computer centre. This is also where Tomás registered. All he had to do was present his matriculation (university registration) certificate. Some of the student halls of residence also meanwhile have broadband networks. Internet access is often already calculated into the monthly rent.
Other options for getting on to the Internet are the Internet cafés (www.dooyoo.de), hotspots (wireless) (www.cafespots.de) or by ordering an Internet connection from a provider. But the same applies here, too: Check all the offers carefully before you sign a contract. You can find a list of providers at: www.billiger-surfen.de/ .
Post office: All towns and cities have letter boxes and you can also find them close to railway stations and at airports. They are easy to recognise: yellow box with a black postal horn. You have to buy stamps for your letters and postcards. You can get these from the post offices, either by going to the counter or drawing them from a stamp dispensing machine. For the latest postage prices, check the Internet at: www.deutschepost.de.
Always knowing what's going on
Radio and TV: Everybody who has a television or radio in Germany has to register it with the German central licence-fee collection authority called Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ). Only then may the user connect and switch on the TV or radio s.t. The monthly licence fees are 5.52 euros for a radio, 17.03 euros for a TV, or for both together also 17.03 euros. Under certain circumstances, students may be exempted from the licence fees. Registration forms and fee exemption forms can be found on the GEZ website at: www.gez.de.
Wikipedia offers a list of all TV and radio stations and programmes:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Fernsehsender
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_deutscher_H%C3%B6rfunkprogramme
Newspapers: Germany's press and media landscape is very diverse and varied. Besides national and local daily papers, there is also an enormous market of magazines on all kinds of topics – from politics and the economy, to business and industry, education, science and research through to hobbies, student mags or pet mags. And up-to-date international press and media products are also available, at least in the larger cities. The widest range of print products and publications will probably be found in the press shops at railway stations and airports.
But you can save yourself the walk to the kiosk or station if you take out a subscription called Abonnement, or Abo in short. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are quite popular in Germany. The big advantage is that the paper is delivered to your address every morning (with magazines delivered weekly, fortnightly or monthly, as the case may be). In addition, the price per edition is mostly slightly cheaper than if you buy from a shop or stand. However, if you want to cancel the subscription, you have to observe the contractually-set notice term. Often a subscription runs for a minimum of one year.
In most cases, you can get an – often free-of-charge – trial subscription (as a rule, two weeks), to try out the paper or magazine and the delivery service. Major papers often also have stands at the universities themselves, where you can order such a "trial read". And almost all publishers offer special student rates. For more information on this, try out the following:
© 2009 Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst e.V. (DAAD), Kennedyallee 50, D-53175 Bonn
Source: http://www.daad.de/deutschland/deutschland/leben-in-deutschland/06192.en.html
Date: 2009-01-09