23M from the USA studying my masters in energy engineering in Munich, Germany.
I have enjoyed Munich so far (1 year in) and made some occasional, hang out sometimes on the weekends type friends, but no close friends I can talk to daily or every other day about anything deeper than surface level stuff. I am scared this will just continue if I choose to live here long term, as making friends in Germany without speaking German is notoriously hard. If I were offered an internship or full time position, I would make it a priority to learn German.
I was planning to go back to the US to start looking for jobs after graduating, but I might have an opportunity to intern and then maybe work at a famous Bavarian automotive company as a battery engineer. I love the benefits of working here and work-life balance, even at a lower salary. The salary at this company is also a bit higher than other companies in the region for my position.
This has got me thinking where would you guys recommend to stay?
Weather is not an issue for me as I really enjoy Munich’s weather — it is pretty similar to the Northeast where I’m from.
Thanks!
I spent 2 out of 5 of my grad school years in France. I was doing a PhD at a well known US engineering school but had two separate 1 year visits to France. While I contemplated staying in France after graduation since I really enjoyed the country, the people, the food and the culture. The money offered at home was much better I.e. almost 4x and my French was never going to be good. There is also closeness to family and friends factor which also tipped the balance. To this day, I don’t regret it since I can still regularly visit France for work and vacation! :)
This is the kind of scenario I’m dealing with now. Not as far along in education but I’m just not sure working in France/Germany would be the best career move for electrical engineering.