A Generation of Internships
I have written a little bit about this before, but it’s an important issue in my personal case, since I am looking for a job in Germany, but all I turn up with is internships. The reason? Jobs simply don’t want to pay workers full wages right from the start. In Germany, it is mandatory for parents to give money to their children, therefore students can easily survive and get paid next to nothing for an internship before given a real job.

Recently, I heard a story of a guy who worked for nothing for a company for an entire year. He was supposedly promised a job at the end of this 1 year period. He developed one long software program this whole year. When the year was almost over, they told him: We don’t need you anymore. No job, no pay. What did he do? He destroyed all his work for that whole year…

German: Easy Discrimination
In German, females are distinguished by their noun. German adds “in” to the add of the nouns that involve a female… Take Girl Student = Studentin. This makes it very easy to seperate genders, emphasizing that male and female is not the same.

Germany: No Freedom of Religion?
It seems that even in Germany, you really aren’t freely able to worship as you please. Take Scientology for example. Though I might not support such beliefs, it is almost outright banned in Germany. I’ve been straight out asked if I am a Scientologist, and that’s legal here in Germany.

Germany: Discrimination Problems
The government of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany, forbid jazz great Chick Corea to play because of his affliation with the religion Scientology. Even Tom Cruise had plenty of problems and was even persecuted himself. Even something so simply as playing the game Wolfenstein is illegal in Germany.

Shouldn’t Germany uphold the right to freedom of Religion and Speech?

How to Meet a Tandem Partner in Germany
First make a good advertisement. I usually write something like: USA Native, 24, seeks German Native Speaker for Tandem. Can be contacted via email XX@XXX.com.

Meeting Your Tandem Partner
Arrange a nice location like a coffee shop. Somewhere that is public and not too loud. Usually I meet my language Tandem for about an hour or two, then try to arrange another meeting appointment.

-Just remember, this isn’t a commitment, if you don’t like them, you can just as easily say, I don’t have time anymore…

1. Shift.tv
Get German tv prerecorded for you. You choose what you want to watch and shift.tv will record the show and let you stream it directly from their website. They have about 20 different stations to choose from, so whether you want Friends in Germany or even the Simpsons, they have it. With the trial version, you’ll get 2 hrs of saving space.

2.OnlineTVRecorder.com
Sort of like shift.tv but you have to download the shows you record. It does have a larger selection than shift.tv and there are no limitation on how much you can record.

So far those are the best two options I could find. I use them to brush up on my language.

Will it be Hillary or Obama?
This seems like a really close call. From a personal perspective, it seems more like the young people in Europe seem more supportive of Hillary than Obama, yet those college students that I’ve talked to in the USA seem to be for Obama. If either one wins, it will be a new era for the US and it will send a new message to Germany. The US is a different place. No more Bush era.

Mitt Romney or John McCain?
Personal I don’t believe either stand a chance, but Bush did win two elections. The consensus I’ve received here in Germany is that it is time for a Democratic candidate to take office. Yet, there are still enough republican supports that this will not be an easy win for the Democrats.

Make sure that on Feb 5 that if you can vote, that you do so!

Payment
Generally expect to earn at most 600 euros for your internship in Germany. Pretty much this is the standard rate, though many actually offer nothing. My girl friend took an internship in Berlin and was compensated for nothing, no food, no housing, no transportation. Though she did gain valuable experience, this can be problematic for many. Many need funding, since lets face it, not every student has rich parents. In fact, some students simply can’t do an internship because they can’t afford it.

Free Labor?
I’ve often suspected that German companies are very willing to offer internships in Germany as a way to get cheap labor. Consider that you are working full time, doing the same thing as everyone else, but you are getting paid very low wages for it. The companies seem very willing to hire as many people as they can under an “internship” than to actual hire people for real jobs. But just think, if you were the employer, wouldn’t you take advantage of this situation of this too.

So just what is fasching?
It’s the German version of Carnival. It’s supposed to scare off the winter and bring in the warm summer months. Consider it sort of the German version of Halloween but a very long event ending at the time of easter.

According to:mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
“The biggest and zaniest Karneval is in Köln. The Köln carnival involves heaps of street-parties and pub-parties, with people disguising themselves in all sorts of ways. At the parades and costume-balls people are dressed as sheiks, Vikings (with hairy coats and horned helmets), Attila the Hun, clowns and harlequins, devils, witches, animals, or fruit, and in many other creative ways.”

My Life in Germany
I’ve been to Germany 4 times now and currently live in a small city called Tuebingen. My life consists of waking up, writing, and walking throughout the town. I developed this website in response to the inability to find a job, and little did I know that my website writing would take off to the point that I could support myself without a job. Read more about that aspect of my life at http://www.clickfornick.com.

Differences in the Life in Germany
In many ways, the people in Germany are like the people in the rest of the world. They want success, a perk job, and a nice lifestyle. However, there are some difference. Since everything cost more, than for example the United States, people simply have less stuff, but that isn’t a bad thing. It all depends what you define as quality in your life.

Would you enjoy Life in Germany?
That depends. If you like things calm, traditional and different, then it is worth a shot. However, realize that as a foreigner you will always be missing some rights that you had at home. Unless you become a citizen, things will always be more difficult for you. I can admit though Germany can be fun at times, there are other times were I am asking myself, just why I am here? You might run into job problems,visa problems, and even money problems, but just try to make the best of everything and remember, things could always be worse.

Visiting my becoming Germany link here.

Horst Teubert:

“The EU has turned into “a first-class global finance power with the Euro”, declares the German Foreign Office on its website. And it declares further: “For the first time the finance markets possess a credible alternative to the dollar.” This is especially important for German policy: Finally they can compete with the USA. With the Euro Germany has got a currency that makes this possible. German bankers are even hoping the Euro could beat the dollar. The Chief Economist of the “Deutsche Bank” declares: “In the not too distant future, in short, the Euro will be to the dollar what Airbus has become to Boeing.” The European Airbus outstripped US-Boeing in the meantime.

The Euro is to compete with the dollar in the whole world, and for that purpose German bankers offer the strangest suggestions. You know, on the continent we have one-Euro-coins but no one-Euro-notes Recently a German banker declared publicly that the one-dollar-note was world famous; so the EU should introduce a
one-Euro-note because a coin could never become as famous as a note. Of
course this is a very strange idea, but it shows how eager Germans are to compete with the US.

Yet the Euro isn’t a currency which can be influenced by all Euro-countries
to the same extent: Germany is the country with the strongest influence on the new currency. When the first Euro-coins were introduced German newspapers declared: “The Euro speaks German.” It speaks German, not French and not at all
English. The currency policies of the “European Central Bank” which is situated in the German town of Frankfurt am Main has been established according to German concepts and is formed by them. The statutes of the “European Central Bank”, the “convergence criteria” and the “stability pact” correspond to concepts developed by the German Ministry of Finance. The German Minister of Finance succeeded in getting them accepted against concepts suggested by other countries.

Of course Germany, the strongest power of the EU, has enough influence to shape the political general conditions for the Euro in accordance with its national interests. You can recognize this very easily by the “stability criteria”. To make the Euro become a stable currency an upper limit for new indebtedness of states was fixed at three percent. The first state that threatened to exceed this limit after the introduction of the Euro was Portugal, which was warned officially by the EU. The second state that threatened to exceed the limit of three percent was Germany - and Germany was not warned by the EU. As long as Germany itself exceeds the limit
there won’t be any consequences. When Germany again fulfills the stability criteria, other states, which do not, will get into serious trouble.”