Germany : The new American dream

Why Germany?  

That was one of the essential questions asked by the employer at the German embassy in my homeland Egypt. I stayed in Germany for three years, during which i studied worked and travelled across Europe. I am sharing my experience based on my point of view and my background. 

How many friends, relatives or colleagues do you know who travelled to Germany? 

That’s one of the popular questions that you can ask to any young Egyptian male or female and you will probably realize that any or the majority of them knew at least one person who travelled to Germany either for study purpose or exchange or work. Till today, the number of Egyptian residents or the yearly number of Egyptian youth travelling to Germany is still unknown. There is no official publication to the public about the number but you can imagine how this question is an illustration to the high number of Egyptians either travelling there or living there in the current moment.

2015: The one million refugee

I applied for my master program at Stuttgart university in late 2014, and I got my acceptance letter in march or April 2015. By June, I started my visa application. And in July, I had my visa interview at the embassy. The embassy was crowded and a bit chaotic at that time. 2015 is known as the major year where a great number of refugees were allowed to enter Germany. Egypt was one of the countries that allowed the entrance of Syrian people at the start of the war without any visa papers. It was quite normal to see a large number of Syrians at the embassy, standing and waiting to submit their documents or their interviews. 2015 is the one million refugee year for Germany.

2016: New Start? or maybe NOT!  

I travelled to Germany on late September 2015. The day I went to my room at the dormitory, was the day I decided with hope and determination that this is my new future and life in another country. I have to shape my own goals and work hard to achieve them.

I started the lectures and tutorials. I was a bit disappointed at the skills of employers there. The majority of German professors had poor presentation skills. I also realized the German evaluation system at the university is very strict and there is no room for flexibility. Students are granted grades based on their final exams only. There is barely any project work, there is no focus on working in teams, there is no midterm exams, there is no evaluation of the interpersonal skills of the students. The German system does not take into account people with sudden medical conditions such as those who suffer from asthma or panic attack. What if they get these symptoms during the final exams out of a sudden with no prior preparation or indication that they will get these symptoms in advance. Therefore, there is no distribution of grades on several activities or assignments or exams that would give students multiple chances to improve their academic performance and thus, their grades

I realized there is no really big gap between the educational system in Egypt and Germany. Both lack different values. And that may be it isn’t a new start.

2017: John Kennedy in Germany?

In November 2016, I was invited to an internship interview in Schaeffler company. I went there, Schaeffler company is located near to the central train station in Schweinfurt. There is a road there called john f. Kennedy in Germany. At the left corner, one can see different big and famous markets in Germany such as DM, Edeka, etc. I noticed the shops are similar to those in the united states, very big with large parking slots. I realized late that this kind of design is popular in other Bavarian cities when I went to visit my friends. I spent six months mainly with Germans, I learned time punctuation, being organized, staying heathy and going to the gym. I also improved my German language skills. I had different opportunities to travel across Europe during the weekends. Living in the small little Schweinfurt was my favorite part of my stay in Germany. I mainly had it all, I can fully say that was the time I had my life under control. I felt like Germans even for a small period of time. The typical German day started very early, going to work, going back from work, hitting the gym, an afternoon activity and then sleep. And a repetition of that day till weekend which is planned of course just like the Germans.

2018: Final Destination

2018 was the year I wrote my master thesis. I didn’t like the topic that much but I had to finish it. That was also the year I had to decide whether to stay and change my visa type to (searching for a job visa) or simply finishing my studies and returning back to Egypt. I knew when I had the internship that finding a job in Germany is very complicated. There is a ranking amongst job applicants and that ranking is hidden or secretive but easily detectable. Applications are being evaluated not only based on skills, education, fulfilling the job requirements but also, the citizenships and nationalities. The rank goes as follows: Germans, EU, Refugees (and that includes mainly the Syrians). So, I realized I will spend a lot of my resources (money, time, effort) on job offer that requires fighting an entire continent along with their refugees. I decided to return back to Egypt.

Why Germany?

That was one of the essential questions asked by the employer at the German embassy in my homeland Egypt.

Because it is the country that will be the new American dream for middle eastern citizens and large part of the world, because Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in the whole world (along with japan). Therefore, a huge number of immigrants (both EU and Non EU) are needed to fulfill the workforce gap that will result due to this low birth rate. Because the American dream was once delivered to the generation of my parents but it is no longer available to my generation due to different policies and restrictions. Simply because there is new star offering more energy and light called Germany.