The exchange is cancelled

We cancelled the exchange yesterday. The Coronavirus situation is getting only worse, and there is no hope, that it would get better soon. That annoys, irritates and frustrates at the same time.

We have been dreaming of this for three years, when I decided to go back to school. We have planned and organized things for more than a year. Now the last weeks have been very busy, as we have organized the last things: packing for move, SIMs for mobile phones, travel insurances, the trips there etc. The departure came closer day by day, but still it was so unreal, that we didn't really understand that the departure will be soon. And then.. BOOOM. Before we even realized, we really are going, we should now realize, that we are NOT leaving.

Of course we have cancelled our apartment in Finland. We have brought part of our stuff to store. And now with 2 weeks notice we have to get a new apartment and to get help for the move despite the Coronavirus (and one of our kids is coughing and has mild fever).

Besides this, the coming time is going to be one of the most tight times financially ever. We decided with my wife, that we are committed to try next year again. I have only 4 months left of my adult student pay, and I want to save them for next year. The summer would be good times to finish my Master's thesis, but alongside work that would be too rough, and would my employer accept, that I come with so short notice from study leave back to work? My wife changes this month to home care allowance. I have to come along the summer with student pay, so that I save the adult student pay. So, my income will be 350 € per month, and I have to be careful, that the income limit for the whole year won't be exceeded, so I don't know if I get that for whole sommer 4 months or less or at all.

Luckily a cheap alternative for living was found. My parents old house has been almost empty lately, so we get to move there. Phew, it would have been too rought to look for an apartment in this situation and even for the cheapest possible because of low income.

So after a year we will try again to exchange. The University of Regensburg has promiset to be as unbureaucratic as possible and the happily accept us next year there. A very big thanks to them. The University of Vaasa has an official process which we have to go through, luckily it has positive assumption. The biggest issue is, if my graduation takes too long time. We have to hope, that the decision is positive. We well be waiting for that.

Coronavirus

The Impact of Coronavirus to the Exchange

The Coronavirus is romping at the moment around the world. The reporting is busy, and it is becoming to our consciousness also here in periphery of Finland. 10.3.2020 there are 40 cases in Finland, and 314 cases in Bayern. In Regensburg there are 3 cases. But what kind of impact this has to the exchange?

I have got an email from university of Regensburg last week, that the incoming dates are changed from 2.4.20 to 14.4.-15.4.20. Also the orientation is postponed and it will be organized mostly as online orientation. The actual studying is not postponed. The whole semester should not be postponed, but there might be changed in individual courses. Let's hope so, that the situation stays as such.

Our apartment is booked from 31.3. on and the flight tickets also. The travel insurance would cover the costs of postpone, but because we have cancelled our apartment here in Finland and planned also all other things, are we not going to postpone our travel for now. We will move to Germany 31.3.2020.

According to the reporting, the Coronavirus is not so dangerous for kids and young adults. Therefore we are not afraid for our health. The most irritating thing will be if we get two weeks quarantine, or if the university is going to cancel or postpone courses or someting similar.

12.3.2020 Update

The situation of Coronavirus changes so rapidly, that we can't view it as sure, that we manage to get on trip in planned schedule. We just have to look for the situation, follow the reports and act, as we see at best.

Auto in Deutschland

Mit fünf Kindern ist ein Auto fast völlig eine Notwendigkeit. Ich habe vielmals über Leben ohne Auto nachgedacht, weil damit man insgesamt ungefähr 400-500€ monatlich sparen würde. Aber ein Leben mit kleinen Kindern, Hobbys, Einkaufs- und Dienstreisen würde so schwierig, dass es schließlich nutzlos ist, über ein Leben ohne Auto nachzudenken. Das Ding wäre verschieden, falls man in Helsinki leben würde, und das ganze Leben sich um ein Paar U-Bahn-Stationen dreht.

Wegen dieser Gründe, ist ein Auto erforderlich im Austausch. In der Mitte der Herausforderungen und der Empfindungen, die von fremder Umgebung gebracht werden, möchte man keine zusätzliche Herausforderungen. Und außerdem, das Reisen in Deutschland und in seiner Umgebung ist bedeutend flexibler mit einem eigenen Auto als mit Zug oder mit Bus. Mein Traum ist, z.B. auf die Alpen zu gehen, um die Täler und die Bergabhänge zu erkunden.

Aber, wie würde man ein Auto nach Deutschland verwirklichen? Die Alternativen sind in der Tat: ein eigenes Auto aus Finnland nach Deutschland mitzubringen, oder es zu verkaufen und ein Auto in Deutschland zu kaufen.

Ein eigenes Auto nach Deutschland mitbringen

Würde ich mein eigenes Auto nach Deutschland mitbringen? Die erste Alternativ ist, es nach Deutschland zu fahren. Es gibt viele verschiedene Route Alternativen. Man kann mit einer Fähre aus Helsinki direkt nach Travemünde Deutschland erreichen. Die Reise dauert 31 Stunden und es kostet ungefähre 280€ mit einer eigenen Kabine. Eine andere Route Alternative ist, eine Fähre nach Schweden zu nehmen, und dann nach Südschweden zu fahren, und dann entweder eine Fähre aus Südschweden nach Deutschland zu nehmen, oder durch Dänemark über die Öresundbrücke (ungefähr 50 €) und über die Großer-Belt-Querung (ungefähre 35 €) zu fahren. Die letzte Alternative ist, eine Fähre aus Helsinki nach Tallinn, Estland zu nehmen, und dann durch die baltischen Staaten und Polen zu fahren. Diese Route hätte am meisten Fahrkilometer.

Ein eigenes Auto nach Deutschland fahren hätte das Gegenteil, dass ich das Auto im Voraus nach Deutschland fahren, es dorthin lassen, und dann zurück nach Finnland fliegen soll, um meine Familie nach Deutschland zu begleiten. Das daher, dass es für meine Frau zu anstrengend wäre, allein mit fünf Kindern die Bahn- und Flugreise nach Deutschland zu schaffen.

Andererseits könnte ich einen Freund oder einen meiner Geschwister überzeugen, das Auto nach Deutschland zu fahren. Auf jeden Fall würde es nach meiner Rechnung zumindest 700€ kosten, um das Auto nach Deutschland zu fahren und aus Berlin mit EasyJet (die günstigsten Flüge zwischen Finnland und Deutschland) zurückzufliegen. Nicht so günstig.

Die letzte Alternative ist, nach Firmen, die Autos zwischen verschiedene Länder transportieren, suchen. Ich habe mich bei einer Firma erkundigt, und ihr Preis wäre 1200 € aus Helsinki nach Regensburg.

Ein Auto in Deutschland kaufen

Würde ich mein Auto in Finnland verkaufen, und ein vertretendes Auto in Deutschland kaufen? Deutschland, das Land der Autos, wo man auf der Autobahn (nicht überall) volles Rohr fahren darf, falls man es sich traut. Diese Alternative wäre sehr verlockend. Es kommt auf die Marke und das Modell an, aber in Deutschland bekommt man um ähnlichen Preis ein neueres und weniger-gebrauchtes Auto. Falls man auch darauf achtet, dass unsere Familie noch wachsen wird, dann wird das größere Auto bald erforderlich. Also, ich würde das Auto zum Schluß des Austauschs nach Finnland bringen.

Aber das Ding ist nicht so einfach. Das passende Auto zu finden, kann lange dauern, und der Aufenthalt in Deutschland ohne Auto kann für die ersten Tage verwaist fühlen. Wie kaufe ich für meine Familie ohne Auto ein? Und für die ganze Zeit, die ich nach einem Auto suche, muss meine Frau sich allein um unsere Familie in fremdem Land in fremdem Zuhause kümmern. Außerdem habe ich als Student nicht nutzlos viel Geld, also ist das Budget knapp, was die Auswahl beschränkt und erschwert, einen guten Autokauf zu schaffen.

Überdies muss ich mein Auto zuerst in Finnland verkaufen. Ford Galaxy, 2006, 390 000 km, Diesel, Schaltgetriebe. Der Verkauf hat sein Risiko. Wie schnell und um welchen Preis kann ich es verkaufen?

Nun. Welches Auto würde ich dann kaufen? Vielleich, ist die einfachste Alternative, ein ähnliches Auto zu kaufen, aber gern ab Baujahr 2012 und wenig gefahren. Die ähnliche Größe wäre Volkswagen Sharan, aber es ist teurer. Die günstigen Alternativen wären Opel Zafira und Volkswagen Touran. Aber, wenn man an die Zukunft denkt, wäre Volkswagen Caravelle oder äquivalenter 9-Sitzer am besten. Diese kosten aber nur wahnsinnig viel.

Ein Auto in Deutschland mieten

Ich habe auch nachgeschlagen, ob ich ein Auto mieten können. Aber das wäre so teuer, dass es sich ganz einfach nicht lohnt. Jeder Euro wäre weggeworfen, und weil wir ein Auto nach dem Austausch brauchen werden, wäre das Geld direkt am nächsten Autokauf fehlen.

Die Auswahl

Zu welchem Schluß soll ich kommen? Die Vorentscheidung ist, dass wir das heutige Auto hier verkaufen. Dann werden wir ein neues Auto in Deutschland kaufen und wir bringen es nach Finnland zum Schluß des Austauschs. Wahrscheinlich ist das die Auswahl, aber wir haben noch nicht endgültig entschieden. Den Verkauf des Autos rechtzeitig zu timen, und ein Passendes in Deutschland zu finden, ist schwierig. Und das Budget bringt seine eigenen Herausforderungen. Zusätzliche 20 000 € würden merkwürdig helfen...

Danke für deine Interesse. Bis nächstes Mal.

Apartment in Regensburg

Home has a big role with kids in regards of quality and meaningfullness of life. Even a small courtyard brings easiness and flexibility to life, when you can get outdoors nearby and you don't need to go farther to playgrounds. Also the kids can go outside to play with each other and we parents can do our own things inside. For example during cleaning or other household works the kids can be outside and we can peek them through the window and supervise if there are some fights to be solved.

The University of Regensburg offers in practice only shared flats for exchange students. For some reason they didn't appeal to us with five children, even though it would have been inexpensive. The only option left was to get an apartment from private markets. Therefore, getting an apartment is the biggest and most expensive challenge in exhange studies.

When researching the rental markets of Germany from various sources, it became clear quite quickly, that in big cities the rental markets are very challenging. It is very difficult to get an apartment and you might need to search for an apartment for months. And Regensburg is one of those cities. So the biggest challenge became even more challenging.

I researched the rental offerings from many sources, e.g. Immobilienscout24.de, immowelt.de, ebay-kleinanzeige.de, wg-gesucht.de and AirBnB. I googled also many sources and read also the instructions in Reddit for people interested to move into Germany, which can be found here. I found also a very good tip to look for local newspapers and their adverts. The local newspaper of Regensburg is Mittelbayerische Zeitung, and at first looking into it I didn't understand anything, because the adverts were full of different abbreviations, e.g. ZKB, EBK, NK, OG, EG etc. Very soon became clear two characteristics of the rental markets of Germany. The first characteristic is that the rents are announced as cold rent (Kaltmiete) and on top of that comes the additional costs (Nebenkosten) such as heating, water, etc. So compared to Finland you have to total the cold rent and additional rent. The second characteristic is, that the rental aparments don't usually include kitchen, but the tenants have to obtain the kitchen by themselves! Yes, you read precisely! This is totally insane from the perspective of a Finn... But, if there happens to be a kitchen, it is informed with word Einbauküche or with abbreviation EBK.

In addition to normal rental apartments there are also vacation homes, which appeared to be very expensive. These can be searched from e.g. ferienwohnungen.de or by googling different variations of words ferien wohnung.

Because it started to feel yet more challenging to find a suitable sized apartment for short-term renting while being located in Finland (though I was also prepared to go there in Jan-Feb to look for good apartments), I asked help from International Office of University of Regensburg. They directed me to office of longer term researchers etc. They have to some extenct different welcome services for exchange students and longer term researchers and PHD students. They pointed me to AirBnB-like company Bed-and-Breakfast-Regensburg.de, and initiated negotiations of an apartment for us. This was a good finding, because with my own googling I wasn't able to find it.

Bed and Breakfast Regensburg had surprisingly wide and good offering in Regensburg-sized city, and there were many suitable options. There was upstairs or downstairs of a house, flat apartments, but also even whole houses. The price level was manageable, if you didn't want to get an apartment from the center of Regensburg. Though, there wasn't any row houses or semi-detached houses.

When considering the alternatives the criteria of the comfort and home-like of living started to weigh the most e.g. compared to inexpensive price. We thought that the experience of Germany for my wife and kids would be the most comfortable, if we have our own courtyard, own house and own permission (a saying in Finnish "oma tupa, oma lupa"). So we ended up renting a whole house, even though it costs more. On top of being in a strange country surrounded by strange language and strange people, we didn't want any more stress factors, so this was the best option. For example, in the other half of a house offered, the landlord didn't want to give permission to use their courtyard, and on the another they would, but we should always pay attention, that we don't disturb the landlord too much, and that would have been too exhausting.

So there is waiting a confirmed house for us, which is fully furnished. It is located a little farther than 20 km from Regensburg, but it has good transport connections. The rent includes in practice everything: heating, water, electricity, furniture, washing machine, linen&towels and even some kind of cleaning every three weeks. The amount of rent is 2500 €/month, so for whole exchange 10 k€, completely shocking amount! We have to check yet the broadcasting fee (Rundfunkbeitrag) if it is whether us or the landlord to pay it. But anyway, the broadcasting fee is mandatory to everyone in Germany, even for those exchange students in the shared flats!

I started the apartment searching very early. I contacted the University of Regensburg first time at April 2019 so approximately one year before the exchange. The confirmation of the apartment took place in July 2019. So the biggest challenge of the exchange is already overcome, and we have been able to start thinkink about the exchange even more positively. It feels it is really going to realize. There are only way more minor things left to organize.

There are still 5 long months to wait.

Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Destination

The destination of the exchange studies was selected to be University of Regensburg in Germany. The consideration of the exchange destinations began from New-Zealand, because of its beautiful nature, Canada, Nordic countries and Europe. Also, we considered more exotic destinations such as Asia.

The Nordic countries were excluded, because when we really go to exchange, it is a bit unimaginative, not getting farther away than Nordics. New-Zealand and Canada would have been good choices, as the family could develop their English skills and getting along would have been easier for my wife with local language. Anyway, my university doesn’t have an agreement with a university in New-Zealand, so I should have acquired one by myself and addition to that the tuition fees are rather high. In Canada there was one destination ready, but here also the tuition fees would have been rather high.

At this point the choices were limited in practice to Europe or some Asian destination. The practical means started to guide more the selection. Maybe the most important criteria were, that with kids the destination must be safe. Because of that the exoticism of Asia wasn’t so appealing anymore. The only exotic choice left was Las Palmas, which was rejected because of requirement of Spanish skills.

For myself one important criterion was the job possibilities of the future and the impact of the exchange to the job possibilities. My big dream is to have a job from BMW in München Germany. For this goal the exchange in Germany would be the most useful. We could learn the language, experience how the living in Germany feels, get to know the culture, people and places, and to get a foot in the door of BMW. The exchange would work as a test for the whole family, how the life in German would be. Based on that experience we could decide of possible permanent living in Germany. Because of these reasons we chose Germany.

There was variety of universities in Germany, of which to choose from. I picked those options, where BMW has production or other offices. Our university has mainly two choices: Leipzig and Regensburg. In Leipzig there is two alternatives: private top-university Handelhochschule Leipzig, in which the teaching is held in English, or the public university Universität Leipzig, which requires min. B2 German skills, because there are no courses held in English. In Regensburg there were also courses held in English.

So, the destination was selected to be Regensburg. Regensburg is located in south Germany in Bavaria 125 km to north from München. In Regensburg there are 166 000 residents, so its size is in halfway between Jyväskylä and Turku. Regensburg is known of its old town, which survived well of the bombings of World War II. There is also a big production plant of BMW, where they produce for example 1-series and X1 & X2 models. In the university of Regensburg there are 10 faculties and 21 500 students yearly.

Until next time!