Living in Germany

Traveling to a foreign country is always a great experience but its best to avoid troubles in advance. You need to find out information such as whether you need a visa to go to Germany or Austria, is your passport valid, is your health insurance up to date as medical care in Germany is expensive, get health insurance especially if you plan a long stay, find out about Germany's dos and don'ts of etiquette, whether you will need an adapter for your computer and other electrical equipment.

Germany follows the metric system so you may need an online metric converter and remember the main currency is the Euro.

Since the reunification of Germany in 1989 it is once more one of the largest countries in Europe with the capital city being Berlin. Germany has many varied geographical features like the shores of the Baltic and North seas and the beautiful Alps.

Germany is about 360,000 sq km in size with a population of over 83 million people most of whom live in the cities. Germany has the following countries on its borders: Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland and the country itself has 16 states which are Baden Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Northrhine -Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia.

Germany's population is mostly Caucasian and has a large Turkish population as well as many refugees from Yugoslavia.

The majority of Germans are Christian with approximately 40% of the population being of the protestant faith and around 35% are catholic with the remainder being made up of minorities.

Germany's climate is quite varied but generally it is mostly temperate. The winter climates vary in the east and west with below freezing temperatures. Summer temperatures are usually between the ranges of 20 and 30°C and there is generally more rainfall in the summer.