I recieved an admit for the LST Master’s program around mid-March. I was ecstatic. This was my second admit (I had recieved one for CS at Stuttgart around mid-February) and I was waiting waiting for EM-LCT results to be released. I was officially done applying. I now had to decide on where to go. Stuttgart had a great speech processing track record, a breat CS department, but the city was unappealing. I liked the comparatively smaller city Saarbrücken, with an equally small LST Department. Plus, rent was super cheap in comparison (although finding a place to live felt like challenge).
I was still missing an important document that was necessary for getting a visa - the APS certificate- and it had already been about 4 months. The funny thing was, the office responsible to process student degrees and give the APS certificates was somehow not processing the applications in any order - some applicants had been waiting for over 6 months and some got the certificate withing a month. This additional hurdle left a bad taste in my mouth. Anyways, I managed to get mine in early June.
All other related processes went on smoothly. I chose to go with Lufthansa as they had a direct BOM → FRA flight that landed in the morning. I had also created a WhatsApp group for all students with admits, where I met Vedant. He lived close by and we decided to fly together. I bought the Deutschland ticket for about €49 on HVV Switch, the only place that had an easily cancellable ticket. The ticket from Frankfurt Flughafen (I recommend taking a train here, you dont need to travel to the main station!) to Saarbrücken Hbf was about €43, so I was saving money. We met another student from India, studying in the MBA program. The journey took about 4 hours and another 15 minutes for me to reach my WG.
I started searching for a WG mid-June and I hardly recieved any replies to my messages on WG-Gesucht. Fortunately, I was also active on the department WhatsApp group, so I had informed some peeps there to let me know of some leads if they come across any- and this saved my ass. I got a great WG with a balcony for €370/month. The flatmates were great too, followed a cleaning schedule and were very welcoming. I was helping Michael clean out the kitchen and he dropped a bombshell - everything would be closed the next day to celebrate the Reunification. I still had to get my ID, a SIM card and some groceries. The Welcome Centre was closed by the time I reached and the ALDI store had sun out of SIMs but I managed to get some groceries. I was starting to get frustrated. I got a SIM when the stores reopened. Comically, the place I bought the SIM was underground so couldn’t activate it and I was asked to visit the other ALDI about 10 minutes away, where they couldn’t find India in the list of countries💀. I got my SIM activated at the postfiliale with the help of my flatmate. I decided to meet my brother at his place in Frankfurt for the weekend to cool off. I hadn’t seen him in over 10 years. I was happy to meet him, my SIL and my niece. We walked on a trail behind his place (a thing I love about Germany, they have a ton of trails to walk and bike.) and it was the most fun I had in a while. I got to eat some really delicious Manglorean cuisine made by SIL.
I got my city registration done the following week. The trick is to wake up early and look for slots in the coming days at the Rathaus closest to you. The appointment was quick and the office worker was quite nice, curious about the Master’s program. I now had to get a bank account. Santander was recommended, but they were giving me problems. It was over a week I had filled up the docs and given them my data but did not hear from them. I was done. My friends at CommerzBank were done within 3 days. I marched to the CommerzBank branch 3 streets away from me and I had a bank account. I got my blocked account linked to my bank account and went to the postfiliale for verification.
I had to now buy a jacket to survive the winters here and I would not be able to do this in a hoodie. If there is a ‘starterpack’ meme for Germans, it has to have Jack Wolfskin gear. The only issue is they cost a ton. I instead chose to buy a Tom Tailor parkha from Adler for a discount. It was warm and comfortable and looked good on me and that’s what mattered.
Overall, the first month here was awesome. I got to meet a ton of people. I learnt to rely on myself. 10/10 experience.