Darlan came to Hamburg this year to pursue a job in a German E-commerce company. In his last posts, he described how he got this job and the steps he had to take in order to obtain a German work permit. In this guest commentary, Darlan tells us what he did after reaching Germany, how he found a place to live and made friends, and if he plans on staying in Germany forever.
I knew I’d like life in Germany before I came to Hamburg for my job. I had lived here before as I had come for a six-month-traineeship. Even before that I was convinced that Germany was awesome by becoming friends with Germans who had been trainees in the Brazilian company I worked for. Therefore I knew I wanted to go abroad.
Also Blumenau, the city in Brazil where I was born, is not a huge city, with around 310,000 inhabitants. Although it is a good city with pretty good schools, it has a small-town feel, and I like to be in a big city like Hamburg where I can meet international people all the time.
My start was easier as I already had German friends
My start in Hamburg was made easier as I already had German friends from my work in Brazil. I got to know more people through them, so I now have a lot of friends over here. I’m also very into music. I found some people who really match the music that I like and the way I joke too. I feel like I fit in here.
I hear that it’s hard for foreign people to make friends in Germany, but for me it wasn’t. I feel that might be a Brazilian thing. I think for Brazilians it’s really easy to connect to people. I feel that we have an easier approach. Second, I also had made friends with Germans in Brazil and they introduced me to other ones and those ones to other ones… And I also have friends from abroad who live here.
At work we do stuff, we colleagues invite each other to birthdays and we have department events. Of course, as is usual in Germany, I separate my life at work from my personal life with the other friends a bit. My closest friends here are not from work, they’re just people that I met somehow at some point, most of them Germans by the way.
If you focus and get the offers fast enough you have good chances to find a place to live
I live in a WG with one girl. A lot of people say it’s hard to find a place to live in Hamburg: it might take several months to find an apartment or maybe years! I actually don’t know how hard it is to find a WG, for me it took one week. I looked on www.wg-gesucht.com for a couple of days every once in a while, so if you focus and get the offers fast enough you have good chances. Now I live with a flat mate in the “Schanze”, which is a very popular and central area. Maybe I’m lucky, but I was also not too picky. The apartment just has two rooms, one room for each inhabitant plus a kitchen and bathroom.
When I first reached Germany, I stayed with two colleagues I got to know through a Spanish friend. He had arranged it for me, so I stayed with them for six weeks. I think my company would also have arranged something for me, but I did not need it. I had lived here before, and had many friends. And then once you are actually in the city it’s way easier to find a place because you can go personally to the places instead of just sending emails or making Skype calls.
Try to be independent but don’t forget the contacts you have
But you also shouldn’t be afraid of using your contacts when you need help. One should not be afraid of making the best of the resources you have. Especially when it comes to language. People feel more comfortable when speaking to people in their native language. And people from public departments like ministries or agencies, they don’t have much patience if you are not fluent in German. A little support from friends or colleagues helps a lot. So try to be independent but don’t forget you have the contacts, the company wanted you here, so they should help you. My company fortunately does so, I tried to do most things myself, but I would not manage to do so many things, handle so much bureaucracy without the help of my colleagues and the personnel department.
You have to do everything from zero
There is lot of work in the beginning, imagine that you are just “born” in Hamburg. You have to register for the place you live, for this registration you need the signature of the owner of the place. If you want to do sports, you have to find a gym and register. And then you get your Proficard (the public transportation ticket). You need to open a bank account, you have to take care of the payment of the broadcasting fees too. Even if you want to buy something online, then you have to register at every single website because you are new here. It’s like that first month you have to really, really organize yourself and register for a lot of little things. You have to do everything from zero.
Where some help is really useful in Germany
Where some help is really useful? For example after registering for the place you live, you receive a letter, which tells you to pay the broadcasting fees, and you probably won’t understand the bureaucratic language of the letter. With things like this you might have to call some German bureaucratic department for help … If you don’t get the right words or for whatever reason you just don’t get the exact answer you need. And for a foreigner, if you don’t get an answer after trying three times, for weeks or months, facing every day a world that was not made for yourself, it can be really frustrating, it can bring you down. If you have some people at work or some friend to call in there to just ask a question very quickly for you or to be patient when you want to speak German, then it’s good to have colleagues to support you. My colleagues are really patient and they help me with these little things.
I try to mingle with society here
I try to mingle with society here. I’m not looking for a Brazilian network right now, although I see that for some other nationalities that have it very strong, they look for people from their country. I don’t know if it is going to happen after one or two years, that I’ll miss my home and will think it would be cool to get to know more Brazilians here and see how it is with them. But now personally, and also because I think I get along with Germans very well, I do not feel the need. Of course it is cool to meet new people. I don’t mean to be arrogant or say I don’t like people of my own country. It is my place, they behave like me, I’m still a Brazilian and have no ambition to become a German, and I’ll never become anything else. I was born and raised in Brazil and want to keep my Brazilian manners. In the end, that’s what took me so far. It brought me here. Right now I am deeply focused and practicing and trying to master the German language (which is pretty hard, but not impossible).
I’d like to develop the German analytical mindeset
Talking about Brazilian manners I mean the easy mind, it’s easygoing, it’s open, it’s happy, it means listening and caring about others. We think a lot about what the person we talk to is thinking, we reflect. On the other hand, I would really like to develop the European or the German mindset like being analytical, sometimes cold when needed. I like the balance of both, it is a good mix.
What I miss …
For sure I miss the ones I left behind, my friends my family and… the food! Brazilian food is way better than European food in my opinion. Oooh, yeah, meat – I miss it a lot. 🙂
Also on our blog: Living the Indian way in Eastern Germany – Dinesh Kumar Kodavali from India shares his experiences of living and studying Engineering in Magdeburg. Also interesting: Naked greetings in the sauna, a bakery on every corner, and – ha – German buses do run late: Read the interview with Megan Lester from Portland, Oregon (USA).