Things needed to do a summer internship in Germany:
✓Passport
✓Job offer
✓Plane ticket
- Place to stay
- Work visa
Got the job offer! Varengold Wertpapierhandelsbank decided to hire me as an intern this summer. The hard part was finding places in Europe that looked like interesting place to work, and then sending tons of email every day to find out which ones might be able to hire me for the summer. And then, get them to hire me. Which I did.
Plane ticket was tough. The plummeting dollar made buying a plane ticket pretty painful. I've spent the past week or two scouring the internet for "decent" prices. I decided to settle for prices now, rather than risk being faced with $2000+ tickets later. Having a set time schedule made this part particularly difficult; in the past, I've always had lots of flexibility with my dates, and the lack of flexibility constrained my choices. Not this time.
The place to stay is a sort of check. I've got a place that looks like it will probably work out. Just need to finalize it all. Found on http://www.wg-gesucht.de I'm still keeping my eyes out for more, but this one looks like it's about as good as any that I can expect.
Work visa is another thing that I only sort of have to worry about. The German Embassy assured me that as an American, I can get my visa after I arrive in Germany. The only problem with this is that it's yet another thing to worry about, and I don't have too much spare time where I can go pick up my visa. The other option is to go to Chicago and apply in person here in the US. The obvious drawback to that is the $99 it costs to fly down to Chicago, and then the money it'll cost to get to the Embassy and back. So, I think I'm going to pick up my visa in Germany. Sound like a good plan?
Now. Things left to take care of:
- Figure out housing for next year
- Make it through the semester
Housing is tricky. First, I have to see if there are better place to live than where I am. Second, I have to figure out if I even can stay here next year. I'm pretty sure that'd mean subleasing over the summer, which would be a hassle. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. This will unfold in the upcoming weeks...
Making it through the semester should be a piece of cake!.
..right?
