Hello Internet!
So we've all heard about the amazing German work ethic where they play hard and work even harder. That's not quite the case when it comes to filling out a lot of paperwork. I must admit, the registration process is a lot smoother than other countries (sorry, France), but there are still some places where I dread to go.
Firstly, I like how there are specific move-in days and registration days for International Students in the beginning of August. It helps that there aren't huge crowds everywhere, and most of the people around are here to help you. I was lucky when I got here that my apartment manager was available when I arrived and that my room was ready for me to move in to right away. I first went to my room and got my rental agreement and then I went to the International Student Office at L1. This place is your knew best friend for the first few days in Mannheim. They also set up a wonderful check list of things you need to do when you arrive at Mannheim in order to be enrolled at the University:
First, you get your health insurance settled. It costs about € 75 per month for students and includes dental coverage as well. You will get some paperwork from the AOK service representative and should receive your Insurance Card within the next few weeks after that.
Then you go to a school representative who makes sure that you've paid your semester contribution. This is not tuition, but a social contribution to the "Studentenwerk" and covers the costs for various student services that they provide. The fee is about € 66 per semester and can change from year to year so make sure you find out how much it is before you go to the bank. All you need to do for this process is to show your transfer receipt and they usually ask you to do this with a wire transfer before you arrive to Germany. The representative also makes sure that you're enrolled as a student of the university and in your correct school. I am registered at their Business School and am under the Business Administration field of study, which is similar to Carleton's International Business program. After enrollment, you receive lots of papers describing your program and that you are in fact a Mannheim student, and yes, you do need all of the papers for many different steps so be sure to bring some sort of binder or portfolio to keep everything organized and at hand.
Now it's time to go to the Library where you get your ecUM Card, password and user ID for the student portal and your student email address. You once again need to show three papers and your Passport and then they take a picture of you for your Card. The ecUM Card is similar to the Carleton card in that you can put money on it and use it at the cafeteria and to pay for things at the school store and vending machines, as well as getting discounts in the city. It also allows you to buy a semester ticket which is used for transportation such as buses, trams and intercity trains. Trams are a big thing here in Mannheim and they are amazing. First, they are quick and reliable, meaning it comes when it says it will come and if there is some sort of delay you will know about it in advance so you can make other arrangements if necessary. Also, they can take you almost anywhere. You can visit many neighbouring towns and cities and even cross the French border to Strassbourg!
Now that you've settled things at school, it's time to go to the Bank and open a "StudentKonto" Student Account. This account provides you with a EC Karte which is like a Debit Card and is accepted everywhere in Germany, and many places in Europe. Personally I went to the Deutsche Bank because the International Office at both Carleton and Mannheim advised me to do so. It is one of the largest banks in Germany and is partnered with Scotiabank in Canada so if you have a Scotia account you should talk to someone about what the benefits are. I am not a Scotia customer so I just created a new account at Deutsche Bank. It was simple enough. Most people speak English so I was thankful for that and they just need your Passport, Admission to your university, and Rental agreement. The main purpose of the bank account is so that the Studentenwerk can take money from your account every month for your rent and the Insurance office can take money for your health insurance. After the process is completed you will get some more papers which show your account information and you will receive both your EC Karte and PIN in the mail in a few weeks. Also, be sure that when you're putting money on your account that they hold Canadian cheques for about three weeks so you can't access your funds right away. The best thing is to have some actual cash that you can deposit into your account for at least the first few months.
Now that you're all registered, you have a place to sleep tonight and you have money (yay!) you can go to the dreaded K7. K7 is the Bürgerdienst where the government offices are located and where every student needs to register their residency. The biggest problem is that they have the shortest opening hours I have ever encountered, so be careful that you get there on time. Thursdays is when everything is open later and weekends are days off. Usually, if you get there between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. you should be fine and remember to take all your papers so that you have everything they could ask for. Being registered is easy enough there's just usually a long line for getting to a person and none of them speak any English which means you can use your amazing German skills! The hard part about K7 is the whole Visa and Residence Permit issue I spoke about in my previous post. If you have a Visa like I do for the whole duration of your stay, then you are good and don't need to talk to anyone or do anything else at K7 (yay!). If you don't there are many documents you need to prepare and you need to set up an appointment with another official that only speaks German so you need to bring someone to help translate for you.
So this was one of my most informational and probably boring posts that I will do this year, but it had to be done. Now you can find all of the important information in the same blog and that's why it is so long as well. The next one will be much more interesting I promise!
Keep Travelling!