ADAPTING TO THE GERMAN ENVIRONMENT AND OVERCOMING HOME-SICKNESS

Every year there are tremendous increase in the number of students coming abroad for their education. I have seen so many students opting for Germany as their destination for pursuing Masters. Many of these students are very eager to know the German life and how to adapt to these conditions. For most of them, it is going to be a first experience outside their home country, so based on my own experiences, i would like to give some tips and tricks for those who are coming to Germany for the first time. 

First and foremost, it is going to be tough to adapt to the food habits. As a student from India, i have experienced a lot of these. To begin with, we cannot find more Indian restaurants and even though when you find one, all are costly and we cannot compare the taste of the dishes prepared in these restaurants, to the one's we used to have in India. Because, these restaurants are mainly for the local people, who want to explore the Indian cuisine and hence most of the dishes are very bland and are suited for the locals. As my personal opinion, i would not suggest anyone. Rather, i would suggest you to try out the Döner shops.

I strongly believe in the saying that, "The best way to overcome Homesickness is to learn cooking". I would suggest everyone to learn cooking before coming out of India, in case you plan to save money :P. I have seen many of my friends, who form a group and cook together, which is actually a good idea, but again, you should get a group of friends, with whom you are comfortable and most important thing is that, all of your timings and mindset should match. Because i have seen many groups, which have dis-integrated within a span of time, because of various reasons. But, once again, it all differs from person-to-person, so i may even be wrong. 

Some of the tips in terms of cooking:

NOTE: Some of the terms for grocery items are in German(Deutsch) language, which you can find in most of the supermarkets in Germany.

• There are lots of varieties of bread, i would suggest you to try out the brown breads with sunflower seeds. It would be a saviour during a lazy day or during exams. Just 2 slices of the brown bread, along with some Frischkäse or Remoulade will be enough for your lunch or dinner. You can also try out various salami or filets. 
• If you are person, who likes thick curd. Then i suggest you to buy plain "Speisequark" instead of the regular "Joghurt".
• You can find RAVA, which is called as "Grieß", available in Penny supermarket. This is a life-saver, if you are a person who loves idly or dosa. You can just mix this Grieß with fair amount of Speisequark and water to make dosa or idly batter. 
• You can find tinned RAJMA and CHOLE, which is called as "Kidneybohnen" , "KICHERERBSEN in all the supermarkets. 
• For all indian spices and sweets and all other items, you can order online in GetGrocery. This is so far the cheapest option to all the indian food needs. 
  Tipp: Since the minimum amount for free delivery is 49 euros, you can ask your friends and order together in a single bill, which will be beneficial for all.
• In the above mentioned website, you can find TILDA BROKEN BASMATI rice in 10kg quatity, which is by far the best option for most of the students, who prefer rice. 
• You can also find LONGKORN SPITZEN REIS(90 cents per kilo) in most of the supermarkets, which is also helpful for  many. 
• You can find biscuits called "BUTTERKEKS" in most of the supermarkets, which comes handy during your tea-time, for you late-night cravings or even during late night studies.
• You can find a substitute for Wheat flour in KAUFLAND, where you can buy "WEIZENMEHL 1050"(90 cents per kilo), which is similar to wheat flour for rotis. 
• You can easily make puffs with "Blätterteig", which is otherwise called as Puff pastry. You can find it in Penny supermarket.

Tips for making free calls:

Apart from cooking, there are apps like Skype, Whatsapp which needs no introduction for calling and video conferencing. But, one more android app which i would like to mention is NumberTank. It helps you to make calls to numbers who are even Offline. It makes call directly to the Indian number. One more useful app, for offline calling is TextMe. 

Tips for Winter clothing:

• You definitely need a good jacket for getting used to the cold winters. There are lots of shops like C & A, NewYorker, PriMark, TkMaxx. 
• A good scarf will do wonders, which actually covers your neck properly and maintains your body temperature.
• A good pair of woolen and leather gloves is also needed, whilst you carry some grocery bags or laptop bags.
• A good pair of snow shoes will help you get through snow.  

Other random tips:

• Microsoft offers most of its software and Operating systems for free, if you are a student. Try googling "<YOUR UNIVERSITY> dream spark". You can download the latest operating systems and lot of other software for free and it is totally legal.
• Go through your university's website thoroughly, because many universities offer various softwares for free and legally.
• If you are into learning German or any other language for that case, and if you are searching for language partners or native speaker, you will definitely thank me for this app, Hello Talk. Just try it!!
• I hope most of you know that, Torrents are illegal in Germany. So if you are looking for ways to listen songs, you can always download Spotify and use the free version with ads. 
• You can also use 8tracks, which is an internet radio. 
• And of course YouTube is always there.

From my experience, it is quite easy to adapt to these conditions. It just takes some time to get settled down and once you get to know all the hacks, you can enjoy to the fullest, without worrying a tad about homesickness. 

You can find my other posts regarding Educational Differences and Free Education in Germany. Do let me know your thoughts in comments section and if you like my post hit the Share button below.

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Have a nice day!! :)