18 years old, money problem, please help

[Govilku]

18 years old will be the most difficult age of my life as I am faced with a few decisions on closing this distance. A flight to berlin (1 way) would cost at least 1000$. The issue is I cannot find a job in this Floridian job-market and most importantly I would need a home. The current plan is to boost my atrocious GPA by the end of this year, buy property in the foreign country (After talking with a specialist in foreign real estate of course), somehow (by the grace of the flying spaghetti monster) get accepted into a German college, and then after all that, stock up on funds in case something goes south. Am I being over-ambitious here?

[kittyo9]

Lots of students from the US study abroad in Germany. This is one thing I can definitely say you are not too ambitious on. You can either go to a school in the US and then study abroad for a semester or a year through one of their programs, or apply to a school in Germany all together. However, you would need to speak German if you want the best chances, although there are some English-speaking schools or schools with English-speaking programs.

I don't know when you are planning to fly, but right now I can find one-way tickets from Miami to Berlin for about $900 for the end of August (and August is a peak month). In mid-December, I'm finding prices at $670 and up. It all depends on when you go and how carefully you look.

Questions: How many jobs have you actually applied to (and are you being flexible-- for example, would you work at a convenience store or grocery store)? Why do you want to buy property in Germany? Why not rent an apartment?

[Ejoriah]

I am also wondering why you would want to buy property in Germany? If you are broke at 18 and still need to go through college then I think you are waaaay over ambitious if you think you'll be able to afford to buy property there. My boyfriend is 25, graduated, works a good job, is debt free, and still isn't in a position to comfortably afford property right now. Heck, one of my german best friends (also 25) is still renting an apartment with his wife because he cannot afford a house.

As far as schools go... do your research. Figure out where you want to go and what their criteria is. In your post the only "overly ambitious" thing I saw was the whole buying property thing. The rest is very much possible, and probably at a lower cost than you think, if you do your research and compare your options.

[Tooki]

There are also restrictions on buying property (as a foreigner).

How can you afford to do all of this? Has your family agreed to this?

[mllebamako]

I don't think it's overambitious to go study in Germany. But buy property in Germany when you're already talking about money problems? Yes, overambitious.

[emsimes]

I think you would have a chance of studying abroad in Germany, as the above posters said
From what I've heard, I think you need at least a 3.0 GPA to study abroad, which is not very hard to do if you just study and apply yourself...(no help needed from the flying spaghetti monster!) My SO is German as well, (he lives in Potsdam, which is only about 20 minutes from Berlin) and from what he has told me, rent is quite expensive there, so I wouldn't think too much about buying property there, either.
As far as the job search goes, have you looked anywhere and everywhere? Maybe you could try Craigslist as well, if you haven't already.
Good luck to you, and I hope you enjoy Germany if you end up there! (After all, Germans are the best

[Dziubka]

If you speak some basic German and fulfill all the other requirements to get into university (I don't know how they convert American HS diplomas, but I'm sure it's not that difficult to find out), there are universities that offer one or two semester German classes, preparing you for the language certificate that allows you to study in Germany. These courses are generally free.
I don't know what the requirements for non-EU citizens are to get a student visa. I think you need something like 8000€ in a German bank account.
It's really not over-ambitious to try to get into university in Germany.


I also don't understand why you'd want to buy property?

[Govilku]

So I have used an incorrect term here, I meant RENT property but still the friggen rent to these places would back me into a corner juggling the costs of utilities, school and rent. I got a year to make approximately 15,000USD or more to cover rent for a year in Berlin.

[kattermole]

What about sharing with other students? That will take your expenses right down AND is a great way to meet people Would you live with your SO? Where does she/he live currently? Would you be able to get a part-time job while you studied? Are there any grants etc you can look into?

[Anoulie]

Student housing is very cheap in Germany. Still, this is Berlin, so you're looking at maybe 8K for housing for a year. Also keep in mind if you want to live in cheap dorm (which I recommend), you'll need to apply very early, up to a year before you want to move in.

[committed]

I don't think ambition is a bad thing, but what I'm wondering is this: Are you wanting to move to Germany for a relationship that just started on 6/6/2013?

[Govilku]

I was planning to live with my SO in fact, but I gotta make sure that I can afford a place my own just in case her parents don't tune in to the idea or something.

[Govilku]

I asked myself that question every day I was with her. That's why I call it ambitious. There really is nobody like her, I really tried hard to deny that I was in love but I mean, I just can't snap it. Either way studying in Berlin is a good move.

**Also this kind of started as a long term friendship that ended up being more.