What City to Live in for 6 Months?
Replies: 18 - Last Post: Jan 16, 2013 6:38 AM Last Post By: ruhrbuerger
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What City to Live in for 6 Months?
I play American Football and have been contacted by several teams in Germany to come play for their team and live in their city. I have been offered by small towns and big cities... I was wondering what and where you guys think would be best for a 25 year old kid. Thanks for all your advice. here is some info about me: Born and raised in Florida, I like the outdoors (hiking, hunting, camping, parks, zoos), I like eating healthy, I like beer, wine, and music, and also, I am going to be with my girlfriend for the majority of the time. Since the team will put me up in an apartment or house, and give me transportation, my other concern is cost and availability of quality and inexpensive food.Here are the cities that have offered me:
-Munich
-Hamburg
-Schwabisch Hall
-Marburg
Thanks. I look forward to traveling around Germany too and I would love to hear what you experts think would be the best fit.
1
Munich, without question. For young, active people it is Germany's favourite big town. People from all over Germany have been migrating to Munich for decades. People like Munich for the outdoor opportunities that exist very close by, chiefly south of Munich, where you have plenty of lakes and then hit the Alps an hour outside town. Munich is stuck in the middle of conservative Bavaria, but is itself a liberal and lively place, again due to decades of migration and a high density of well-educated, cosmopolitan, comparatively wealthy inhabitants. If your accommodation is provided, you've won the jackpot. Munich is Germany's most expensive city in terms of real estate and rent. Food and the like costs pretty much the same all over Germany.Hamburg is attractive as a port city. Are you more into sea or mountains? But even if the former, the sea in Hamburg isn't really pretty or relaxing compared with Florida's coast. The climate is too cold for that. So unless you are a hardcore sailor who needs salty air every day: Munich
The other towns are small. I believe Marburg has a respectable university, so there may be a student scene. But you'll find the same in Munich's Schwabing neighbourhood. If you want to see pretty, small German towns (rather than living in one) there are plenty of day trip options from Munich.
2
If you like small towns, Schwaebisch Hall ( http://www.schwaebischhall.de ) is excellent and you'd have a hard time finding a more pleasant medieval town. Otherwise, those larger cities have more to offer, although you could take a train to larger places within an hour away.3
Just some statistics for the small towns. Both are beautiful half-timbered towns with a castle on top of the hill:Marburg has 81.000 inhabitants. 21.000 of them are students.
Schwäbisch Hall: 37.000 inhabitants, 700 students.
So at least in Marburg there will be enough young people to meet. I know some people who studied there and nobody was complaining about the town.
For outdoors: You can be out of town quiet easy in the two small towns(by bike or feet). The countryside is hilly with some forests and valleys, but not very spectacular. The lakes and Alps south of Munich are great but you also have to calculate some travel time to get there. It's good that the team will pay the apartment. Munich, Hamburg and also Marburg got some of the highest rent prices in Germany. I have never been to Schwäbisch Hall but in bigger cities it might be easier to find English speaking people and expats. But on the other hand even Schwäbisch Hall is kind of international because of some very, very successful companies. Munich sounds like the obvious choice but it's still difficult.
4
I don't know the other 3 places, but Munich will definitely be a good choice. As buffybot already pointed out it is close to many lakes and mountains and within 1,5 hours by train you can reach very nice wintersport areas.Munich is also well-known for its Biergarten (Beer gardens) and probably the biggest beer festival in the world, the Oktoberfest (which actually takes place mainly in September).
If you like to see more than Germany, Munich is also a good location for that. It's quite close (especially for American standards) to Austria, Czech Republic, Italy and Switzerland. And if you don''t want to travel by car or train, there's also a relatively big airport just outside of town.
Assuming that your girlfriend will not work or study fulltime (do take a language course though, it's a great opportunity!) I would advise a big city anyway. This will allow her more opportunities to undertake activities, whatever it is she likes.
5
Munich would be the worst choice and is a completly overrated place anyway. If you prefer smaller cities or towns and more relaxed both, Marburg and Schwabish hall are very good options. If you are into big cities, Hamburg is a much better option than Munich. People will be more welcoming than in Munich all the time and it will be easier to make contacts8
By "overrated," I'm pretty sure beerfree means, "most people seem to like it a lot more than I do."No one intentionally over-rates a place. For example, I love Venice. Some people can't stand it. That doesn't mean I over-rate it and they under-rate it. Just different subjective experiences.
I mean, you're not exactly going to get a big response to "Everybody who over-rates Munich, please raise your hand."
Semantics aside, what might be most useful to OP is an understanding of why beerfree didn't like Munich as much as most other people seem to.
9
You may be right Craig.Of course,there is also the type of person who says...everyone else thinks its great,so I've got to say I hate it,just to be different.
Not only with travel...music.food,films...anything really.
Anyway,I too would be interested in beerfree's opinions on Munich (as you know,i know the city pretty well) and also on the other three places.......
12
Also does anyone have a book they could recommend for a first time traveler to Europe? Possibly with facts and rules about the technicalities about traveling. Thanks.13
Not sure what "facts and rules about technicalities" you mean, but a basic guidebook (LP, Rough Guide or other) will give you information about the country, transportation, customs, food, etc. I find the Rough Guides a bit better than LP for historical/cultural background but that is probably more useful if you are travelling around rather than mostly staying in one place.
