A major problem for foreign exchange students is having to adopting to new cultural norms, and by extension, understanding what other university students find fun or interesting. For me, the switch from California to Germany was relatively easy as they both have similar cultural laws and traditions. But what students’ interests and even the most fundamental reasons for going to university are different. So here are my top five tips about what to expect from student life in Germany…
1. Don’t expect college parties in Germany to be as crazy as LA
Coming from California, the land where college parties are almost as ubiquitous as sunshine, traffic jams and surfing, I naturally assumed that this was true everywhere and of course, college parties are always the coolest. Indeed many people, both from California and elsewhere, have enrolled in university there for that very reason. But while the parties in California are awesome, (so awesome you won’t remember most of them) the reality is that you never really meet people there.
College parties in Germany are different: going to a bar with a group of friends, drinking a few beers and talking about stuff. Maybe you meet someone new. This form of partying is much more sensible for your health, wallet and brain. This is not to say that there are no awesome college parties in Germany; there are. It’s just not as common or positively looked upon to drink yourself into a stupor.
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