Kaufen

Shopping in Germany is not terribly different from back in the States as far as I have found, although there are some noticeable differences. The big one is that Germans (for reasons that escape me) use cash for almost all purposes when it comes to buying things and almost never use credit cards (which is probably a good thing). The downside is that credit cards are not accepted in a terribly large number of stores, which can be a real pain when you first get here (Visa is more accepted than Mastercard).

This stresses the importance of opening a bank account, which you will need for doing most of your transactions with the Uni and for withdrawing money. Personally I chose Deutsche bank, but they are all about the same and have relatively similar student account plans. Banks and ATMs are more sparsely spread out, so that may be something to keep in mind when choosing a bank (location, location, location). Getting everything setup took me about three weeks between getting an appointment, getting my card/pin (they come separately), and getting the money transferred.

Some other good news is that it takes Heidelberg about three days to get you your scholarship money.

Food and the essentials for the most part are a good bit cheaper in Germany, even at the mom and pop places, prices are generally lower across the board. I am not an economist, but I would think this has something to do with the Europeans Union’s agriculture policies. For the most part you can basically all the same food you can in the US, including Ramen noodles with real chicken. There are also plenty of places to go shopping, usually I go to Rewe, but that is mostly about convenience. One thing I have noticed is that food generally tastes more authentic, if that makes sense.

If you are looking to buy anything other than the essentials than unfortunately these tend to be more pricey (if it is technology related than a lot more) and because cash is king, getting your parents to foot the bill is a little harder (some debit accounts, like mine have strict weekly withdrawal limits). Clothes are also quite expensive and because Woolworths has closed, there are no ‘cheap’ places to go, so if you want to buy clothes here, be prepared to spend money, although they do accept credit cards.

Something that has been a great pain for me has been the opening times of stores, which are nothing compared to back home. For starters, the city is basically shut down on Sundays, so there is not much hope of being able to do anything. While this is extremely strange for someone who has grown up in New England, religion is far more a part of everyday life and culture in Germany than it is in Massachusetts, despite the stigma. Which means that you kind of need to prepare for Sunday or else it will be a long day. Germans also have a much more traditionally normal schedule here in Heidelberg, so if you are an American like me, that means waking up at obnoxious hours in order to get anything done (by that I of course mean before noonish). Simply put I have been forced into a much more adult sleeping schedule in order to get anything done, it is not like back home where you can expect the super market to be open at midnight. The markets are smaller and have comparably smaller hours of operation. There are a couple gas stations that are 24/7, but they do not sell very much.