The Germany Experience

Are Germans really efficient? Do they like order? Are they as punctual as everyone says they are? Nicole Palazzo, a US expat living in Germany and the host of The Expat Cast, helps me confirm or bust common stereotypes and cliches about Germans.

Discuss your opinions on these stereotypes in the Expat Life Germany Facebook group! And also: let us know of any we missed, or ones that might be common in your area of Germany...

Mari is a US expat living in Germany. She's also a writer and an avid pug fan. She discusses what it's like being an English-speaking writer in Germany, her book "The God Queen", and how to bring a dog from USA into Germany...

Discuss this episode in the Expat Life Germany Facebook group!

Vlad from Romania was tired of the political situation in Romania, and made the choice to move to Germany. But, unlike many Romanians who emigrate to western Europe, integration is easier for him since he's highly educated and already knows German...

Michael Silberman lives in the USA, but Germany is certainly intertwined with his life over there. His parents left Nazi Germany (and were stripped of their German citizenship) to start a new life in the States, and this heritage led to a fascination with Germany. Michael spent some time in Murnau am Staffelsee and Augsburg back in the 80s, when he studied German at the Goethe Institute...

The parkrun concept is simple: you turn up on a Saturday morning and you walk, jog, or run 5km. The best thing? It's free. Since it started in 2004, it has become a global phenomenon. And it's a great thing for expats, too: get out and exercise, and meet new people!

In this episode, I talk to the organizers of the Wöhrder See parkrun in Nürnberg about the concept.

The parkrun website: https://www.parkrun...

What exactly is an "expat"? Turns out this question is not as straight forward as Shaun used to think. He goes into some of the problems surrounding the terminology, and also defines his interpretation of it for the podcast...

In the last episode, Anna Noakes Schulze dropped so many insights about expat life that I had to edit some of it out. Since it'd be a shame for it to go to waste, I decided to put it in a bonus episode.

Here is more Anna, and we go into detail about social media, how to help others by first taking care of yourself, and why she is not afraid to make connections with people who might be moving on in the future.

Visit Anna's website: https://www.sunflowerux...

Anna Noakes Schulze from Canada presented a TEDx talk called “Living Abroad Teaches Us the Power of Connections”, and in it she tells her own expat story to demonstrate how those that we make connections with shape our lives and who we are, even if we don't live near them. This will resonate with many expats, and so I invited her to come on the show.

In this interview, she expands on the TEDx talk to reveal her wisdom and insights that describe the expat experience...

For all the links mentioned in the episode (there are a few!), go to the Finding and Getting a Job in Germany blog post.

I go through some of the ins and outs of getting a job in Germany. To help me, I got Cheryl Howard of cherylhoward.com to discuss her experiences as a job seeker in Berlin (she's interviewed for dozens of jobs). Then Abi from IamExpat.de joins me to discuss what goes in a German Curriculum Vitae, as well as some general tips for writing the document...

I first interviewed Sarah back in July for a bonus episode, because she'd almost been caught by a scam. We had such a great discussion that I wanted to have her back on the show, and here she is.

Although Sarah is new in Berlin, she is by no means new to the expat way of life: she has lived in Syria, Canada, Dubai, Malaysia, Japan, and now, Germany. She discusses how her international background has made adapting to new cultures easier, and how she views her identity...