Currently in Toronto

I'm currently sitting in the Pearson Airport, and as far as airports go, this one is pretty decent. There is ample seating and electrical outlets abound. Oh and the free WiFi. They do it right in Toronto, though the woes of the modern traveler pale in comparison to those of even last century.

I still have a little over 12 hours till Berlin, including a 2 hour layover in London. I should arrive in Berlin shortly before midday local time. From the airport, I have to go to the Humboldt University International Office, from where I (and the other participants) will be taken to our lodgings.

I found my car key in my pocket while going through security. It won't do me much good in Europe presumably.

The flight is still on schedule. I hope all the flights go flawlessly because traveling to Europe is enough excitement.

Until London.

What to bring for an extended stay in Germany

So this will be my second time moving to Germany for an extended stay of more than a month, and after my previous travels, I've got it down pretty well. Some of the stuff is common sense, some of it is definitely dependent on the German culture. Six weeks is more than enough to plan out everything you need and find the time to go get it.

This list of course also depends on for what and for how long you will be going, as well as the time of year and exact place. But I will make a general overview for the average American millennial preparing for one or more semesters abroad. Someone who plans on backpacking throughout the country would need a much different list, one which I am not able to furnish, as I have no experience in that activity. A summer abroad is slightly different, but much of the list is applicable.

Let's get started.

I think the most important thing is a comfortable pair of walking shoes or, if you're like me, several. Odds are you will be doing a lot of walking and be spending a lot of time on your feet, and the cobblestone is less forgiving on your feet than the pavement and concrete that is common in the US. Although some sidewalks are paved, far more common are cobble or paving stones.

The second most important object is a wristwatch. You will probably be carrying electronic gadgets that tell time, but they have batteries which die, and on extended journeys, they cannot be relied on. For someone looking for something cheap and easy, I recommend the Casio F91W-1, with its quartz movement, it gains and loses very few seconds every month, it is rugged, and its battery will probably last 10 years. It can be picked up for under $15, or oftentimes even under $10.

For someone looking for something a little nicer, an automatic watch, a watch that winds itself via the motion of your arm, is also not a bad choice. As long as the watch is worn, it will continue to function, i.e. it does not require a battery. They tend to gain more time than a quartz movement watch, but this can be adjusted at watch repair shop. For a cheap automatic watch, a Seiko 5 is never a bad choice. Automatic watches are, however, expensive when compared to the classic Casio.

The more nostalgic types may wish to bring some equipment along to make permanent memories of the travels. I brought a digital SLR with two class 10, 16 GB SD cards for memory. Back in 2012, those cost about $16 each, as of this writing, there is a 32 GB SD card from Sony on Amazon for $8, which would be able to hold thousands of high quality photos. For those wishing to travel with less, a simple point-and-shoot digital camera can suffice, but for both travelers, a travel journal is recommended. Photos of beautiful scenery are nice, but they don't capture your thoughts at the time.

For a camera bag (for a DSLR), I recommend something snug to the body, such as a backpack or sling, in order to keep the camera and accessories out of danger, from a potential snatching if you're in a touristy area, or if you decide to take a walk down/up some nature trails. I found this sling by Case Logic to be a perfect fit for me.

Especially for students, a laptop computer is highly recommended, if not necessary, as you will not have 24/7 access to your school's computers in Europe. In addition, it serves as your connection to "the old country" while you're at home, allows you to play DVD's or watch movies, update your blog and social media, gives you access to video chats, etc. You know what a computer does. It is absolutely necessary for this device to be Windows (preferred) or OSX. I do not recommend bringing a Linux or Chromium system to Europe unless you absolutely know what you're doing.

For your photos, a good photo managing application is helpful. I recommend Picasa, although that's being discontinued next month. I have yet to look into it, but LightZone may also be good for the amateur photographer.

Along side the laptop, I would recommend an external hard drive for backing up photos from your camera (important), and you can use it to store movies, file, games, or programs from home that you may need but will not be able to access remotely (bear in mind that your access to internet at home may be limited). A 1 TB external hard drive can be picked up for around $60 new. I found it to be an indispensable tool during my 10-month stay.

Highly recommended but not absolutely necessary is a smart phone, like the computer, for its multipurpose functions. Most phones nowadays can be used on European and American networks, but ensure your phone is capable of connecting to a GSM network before leaving home. It can be a music player, web browser, video chat device, ebook reader, English-other language dictionary, alarm clock, or a useful messaging device.

For messaging friends back home and where you will be, you need an internet messenger app. You can use Telegram, which is encrypted end to end, doesn't steal your data, and has a desktop application. The most popular messaging app across the world, however, is WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook last year. If you value privacy more than ubiquity, then I do not recommend WhatsApp. Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies most definitely mine your data. Both allow you to voice chat and send attachments such as videos, photos, and files free of charge. Of course, if you have a Facebook account, that would also suffice.

A sim card with a data package of 6 GB per month can be purchased for €20 per month, a price far better than you can get in the US. It will not include any minutes for phone calls or texting, but the aforementioned messengers can take care of all of your texting and calling needs, provided that the other person also has the app. Even if you don't get a sim card, the WiFi capabilities should allow you to at least use a smart phone at hotspots, which are becoming more common in Germany.

A dedicated ebook reader is also not a bad idea to bring along, due to their long battery lives, light-weight, and larger screens. Of course, if you're not an avid reader, you can give this one a pass. Schloss Gripsholm by Kurt Tucholsky is a good German novel for those travelling in the summer.

Another indispensable tool is a universal power strip for all your electronics. This allows you not only to plug in your American electronics, but any European ones as well. Friends from different countries can therefore share the one power strip.

In order to schlep all your stuff around, you will definitely need a bag or two. I'd recommend one or two of different sizes for different tasks. A laptop backpack would be suitable for university work, whereas you might want something bigger if you take an excursion somewhere, or for shopping. In Germany, shopping bags are not supplied to the customers at groceries stores. Most people bring their own with them, or if they find themselves needing one in a pinch, they can purchase nicely-sized, reinforced bags at the checkout lane. You can also by reusable totes there.

Something that is always useful, especially in Berlin, is a decent travel umbrella. Beware of cheap ones that will turn inside out the first time they encounter a light wind. Find one large enough to keep you dry, but small enough to fit into whatever sort of bag you bring with you.

As for access to money, I recommend opening a State Farm Bank checking account. The account is hassle free, no minimum balance, and no ATM fees. The first time I was in Germany, I got gouged by Bank of America every time I withdrew money, firstly for withdrawing money from an ATM outside their network, then on top of that a foreign transaction fee. With State Farm Bank, they still do not (to my knowledge) charge foreign transaction fees, and they refund any fees levied by ATMs for withdrawal fees, though it was my experience that German ATMs, at banks at least, do not charge fees.

An alternative is a credit card without a foreign transaction fee, such as a travel rewards card from Bank of America or any card from Capital One. If you have a checking account at BoA, then you can just simultaneously transfer money from your checking account to cover any transactions made on your credit card, thus eliminating any interest that may be charged.

Another alternative would be to simply open a German bank account for the duration of your stay. If you are receiving any sort of remuneration during your stay, you will be forced to open an account anyway.

NB: in small towns, like where I and many of my classmates studied in Eichstätt, cards are not accepted any many places, and where they are accepted, you need a chip card, which means that cash is still king. This is where the State Farm Bank account was a saving grace. A credit card without a foreign transaction fee would not suffice in this situation.


Another small thing to be made aware of include the size of the banknotes. The smallest (both in denomination and physical size) banknote is the €5 note (4.7 in × 2.4 in), which is significantly smaller than the standard US banknote (6.14 in × 2.61 in). The largest banknote is the €500 note (6.3 in x 3.2 in), more than a half inch wider than the American banknote. In fact, every European note except for the €5 note is wider than their American counterparts (and some of them longer), and as such, there is a chance they may not fit in your wallet. You can find exact sizes here.

For nominations under €5, there are 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, €1, and €2 coins. Something to hold all these coins is recommended; the 1 and 2 cent pieces start to accumulate if you don't use them regularly. I still have a collection from 2013.

I would be remiss not to mention a towel. As the late Douglas Adams wrote:

     The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

     A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-tohand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. 

     More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have ”lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

A microfiber towel is very compact, perfect for travelling.

This is, of course, just my list of things I found useful during my studies. Many people may not find an external hard drive or wristwatch useful, so feel free to omit according to preference, keeping in mind that the essentials for a student, in my opinion are: walking shoes, a timekeeping device, a reliable method for getting cash, and a laptop.

If you bring nothing else, bring a towel.

Write-Up on Canisius homepage

Currently, my acceptance to the program is on the front page of Canisius College's website. You can find the article here.

This post is short, but I hope to post an entry here regarding what you should bring with you, should you find yourself in the position where you will be traveling to Europe for an extended stay.

Until then.