Living Costs In Germany

The living costs in west Europe is definitely more than any South East Asian country. A two room apartment with a living room costs around 700Euros (water, electricity, heating included). However, the rule in Germany is, everyone needs a 12square meter of living space. Basically the rule of the the size of your apartment is no. of persons x 12sqm

Electricity is very expensive in Germany. Make sure you turn of all the unused lighting and try to minimize electricity usage.

Heat is also not so cheap. Beware of Nachtspeicherheizung. It is not advisable to use your heater at night. Buy a good down blanket, which is normally around 100Euros. It might seem expensive at first, but it is reusable in every winter! But if you really have to turn of heating at night, make sure to place a large bowl of water near your heater, so the humidity does not sink. Humidity in the room is important to stay safe, or else you will wake up feeling dry!

Due to the fact that the Euro is higher than any other currency, the cost of food is can be considerably cheap. For one adult cooking at home, 50Euros is more than enough (even if you make Kari Ayam everyday!).

How to Find an Apartment to Rent in Germany

Basically it is not so easy to find a house for rent that suits with you. It does takes weeks to find it.

Here are among the website that would help you to find one.
Studenten-WG
WG-Gesucht
Immobilien Scout
(please note that the first two are for WG (Wohngemeinschaft = basically an apartment with housemates)

In Germany you need to pay for gas, water and electricity. So, if you rent a house, try to find a house that already includes everything. Normally it is more cheaper. Plus, if you see Nachtspeicherheizung as the type of heater, be warned the heating in winter will get very expensive. However, there are owners who only take gas or water in the bill. So you have to pay extra for other accomodities. If you have child, try to find ground floor house, because here they are very particular about the noise (like jumping in the house!).

A house here is not like in Malaysia. One house usually occupies 3 or 4 families.

Studying in Germany

The best thing in Germany that we don't have in Malaysia is the cheap university fees. In West, we have to pay only €500 per semester for the fees and €180 (varies from region and university) for a semester ticket which allows you to travel unlimited in a certain region. Sometimes the regions covers up to the whole state!

(At the beginning of Winter Semester 2011/2012, there are fees are completely WAIVED in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. Meaning you will only have to pay for the semester ticket!)

So basically, as a student you don't have to worry any more about the transportation to your university.

€500 per semester is very cheap if we want to comparewith UK or USA.  But, studying in Germany maybe a bit longer than other places.

The course of study in Germany may be prolonged. This is due to the fact that studying in Germany is a very independant act. There are few to no assignments, few to no quizzes, and your finals are accumulated stuff from the whole semester.