Living in Stuttgart, Germany.....
Discussion
My eldest son, who is studying software engineering at Uni in Stafford, has landed a post working for Hewlett Packard in Boeblingen, near Stuttgart, for 14 months as part of his "work experience"...
So, have anybody Ph'ers any helpful tips, such as things to do, places to see nearby etc.
He can speak a smattering of German, but hopes to be fairly fluent by the time he returns, or will he find that a lot of people can speak English?
I must say he is really looking forward to it, should be a good experience...
>> Edited by Wacky Racer on Monday 30th May 10:49
So, have anybody Ph'ers any helpful tips, such as things to do, places to see nearby etc.
He can speak a smattering of German, but hopes to be fairly fluent by the time he returns, or will he find that a lot of people can speak English?
I must say he is really looking forward to it, should be a good experience...
>> Edited by Wacky Racer on Monday 30th May 10:49
I spent 6 months working in Germany near Frankfurt as part of my course. It was tricky at first but I wish it had been for a year, as it would have been even more valuable as an experience.
I'm sure he'll have a good time. German can be difficult to speak but the main thing is to make an effort. If you give it a try Germans tend to help you fill in the blanks. He will certainly become fluent at understanding what other people say. This can provide a lot of entertainment at times
Being Scottish (or pretending to be Scottish) also guarantees some fun.
And the beer is excellent
I'm sure he'll have a good time. German can be difficult to speak but the main thing is to make an effort. If you give it a try Germans tend to help you fill in the blanks. He will certainly become fluent at understanding what other people say. This can provide a lot of entertainment at times
Being Scottish (or pretending to be Scottish) also guarantees some fun.
And the beer is excellent
Wacky Racer said:
My eldest son, who is studying softwear engineering at Uni in Stafford, has landed a post working for Hewlett Packard in Boeblingen, near Stuttgart, for 14 months as part of his "work experience"...
So, have anybody Ph'ers any helpful tips, such as things to do, places to see nearby etc.
He can speak a smattering of German, but hopes to be fairly fluent by the time he returns, or will he find that a lot of people can speak English?
I must say he is really looking forward to it, should be a good experience...
He will find a mix of those wishing to practice their English and those who will nto wish to.
Places to vist?
Baden-Baden, Freiburg, Lake Titisee, are all nearby.
Freiburg -Stuttgars ist idyllic road, Liebchen. Outstanding scenery und views - ist worth hiring car to do this. There ist Uhrenmuseum in Furtwangen (clock museum) My favourite ist the one which shows the wife beating the cobbler husband mit a shoe on the hour
Schonach has biggest cuckoo closk in world - ist near Triberg - Gernamy's highest waterfall -und there ist Black Forest gateau to die for in this town of Triberg.
There is a old German farm museum Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof ... ist a farm museaum und ist a bit like Townend in Cumbria.... ist German farm life as it was in 1900. Ist very interesting insight into German lifestyle of past. There ist Hesse Museum (Hermann Hesse -the great German author) und a monasery - Alpirsbach -date 1075 und still in one piece.
He must vist the Daimler-Benz Museum whilst he ist there - ist a must for any petrolhead or junior pistonhead
Und in the autumn they have the Cannstatterfest here - ist Stuttgart's version of Munich's Oktoberfest. (Und Munich ist not far away for visit 
) Und there ist also the Porsche Museum - which traces Porsche form earliests days.
Stuttgart - to see - Stiftskirche, Schlossplatz, Willhelma Zoo, Altes Schloss, Neues Schloss.
Und Frankfurt und Hanover are very easy train journey.
He could buy student Tramper-Monats-Ticket und spend a month travelling length und breadth of Germany as well if he wants too.
He should take every advantage of this opportunity Liebchen - und I hope I have given some ideas to him...but the car museums .... go und visit him. Why should he have all the fun
>> Edited by WildCat on Sunday 29th May 23:51
Can only agree with WildCat, am only 250kms from Stuttgart myself, but one thing DO NOT try to live in Stuttgart itself, too expensive and poor boring food, live in a village outside and drive/bus/train into Böblingen. That's one of the advantages of Germany the transport system works!
If he's driving he'll find that the Black Forest generally has superb roads, as the euroHooners 04 found out, the A81 south of stuttgart one of the real blatt autobahns!!! also a lot more to see in the black Forest than the tourist traps mentioned by Wildy....
some of the best food in Europe! some of the best beers, Waldhaus, Rothaus, Alpirsbacher to name just 3
If any more info needed contact me offtopic through my label.....
Don't forget he must register with the police (Ausländeramt) where he must apply for his residential permit (it's a right but you must still have one! German bureaucracy does not sleep!) a couple of other bureacratic hurdles as well...... must always carry ID and car paperwork......
If he's driving he'll find that the Black Forest generally has superb roads, as the euroHooners 04 found out, the A81 south of stuttgart one of the real blatt autobahns!!! also a lot more to see in the black Forest than the tourist traps mentioned by Wildy....
some of the best food in Europe! some of the best beers, Waldhaus, Rothaus, Alpirsbacher to name just 3
If any more info needed contact me offtopic through my label.....
Don't forget he must register with the police (Ausländeramt) where he must apply for his residential permit (it's a right but you must still have one! German bureaucracy does not sleep!) a couple of other bureacratic hurdles as well...... must always carry ID and car paperwork......
Wacky Racer said:
He can speak a smattering of German, but hopes to be fairly fluent by the time he returns, or will he find that a lot of people can speak English?
He'll probably find that there are so many "foreigners" working at HP that the majority of the time english will be spoken anyway (this is certainly the case at IBM in STTgt).....
Apart from which the Stuttgarters and all of them in the valley running east from Sttgt are not german they're swabian and thus do NOT speak a good german, their accent is sooo bad that the rest of the germany "send them to coventry",
We Scots threw them out a thousand years ago because they're REALLY PAINFULLY tightarsed!!! not careful the way we are!!! but they have the best economy in Germany!!!
If he wants to become good at German then he really will need to make an effort to use it all the time and refuse to speak English, which will be next to impossible at somewhere like HP I imagine. I lived in Germany for a year and attended hundreds of law lectures in German. Whilst my German is pretty good there's no way anyone would describe it as fluent. Other people who were there with me still speak atrocious German, as they made next to no effort. It may be washing over you all the time, but that isn't enough.
Also, wouldn't worry too much about the southerners not speaking the best German in the world. Somewhere like HP will have a mix of people from all over, so you'll get exposed to a lot of accents.
Also, wouldn't worry too much about the southerners not speaking the best German in the world. Somewhere like HP will have a mix of people from all over, so you'll get exposed to a lot of accents.
JMGS4 said:
Can only agree with WildCat, am only 250kms from Stuttgart myself, but one thing DO NOT try to live in Stuttgart itself, too expensive and poor boring food, live in a village outside and drive/bus/train into Böblingen. That's one of the advantages of Germany the transport system works!
If he's driving he'll find that the Black Forest generally has superb roads, as the euroHooners 04 found out, the A81 south of stuttgart one of the real blatt autobahns!!! also a lot more to see in the black Forest than the tourist traps mentioned by Wildy....
some of the best food in Europe! some of the best beers, Waldhaus, Rothaus, Alpirsbacher to name just 3
If any more info needed contact me offtopic through my label.....
Don't forget he must register with the police (Ausländeramt) where he must apply for his residential permit (it's a right but you must still have one! German bureaucracy does not sleep!) a couple of other bureacratic hurdles as well...... must always carry ID and car paperwork......
Jawohl..Liebchen - wir sind uns einig
Ist just that thought normal tourist traps are one place to start....und work outwards to explore a lot more - lots of great roads in Black Forest und driven most of them...ist worth getting fullest map und planning excursions ....und for student ...that train ticket ist good value ...but paperwork ist essential - they are "peinlich genau"....
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