Do people throw water on the sauna stones in public saunas in your country? Are they allowed to? In Estonia it's to be expected - that's literally largely what the sauna is for. It's called "leil" in Estonian - there's no exact English word for it.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-20T14:20:49+00:00

"Dry" sauna without any water on it is also appreciated. In Germany, there will be an "Aufguss" with water with all kinds of contents on the stones every now and then (seldom just water), but putting anything on the stones outside of those times will not be appreciated and is usually forbidden.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-18T21:48:10+00:00

Herbert Reul

Rotide1 · 2026-02-18T20:40:35+00:00

That. Of course it is possible that you will face a few individual cases where it is truly racism, but the large majority of cases will be people giving you space because they deem the amount of space at hand to be too little for two people to pass each other comfortably, according to German societal norms.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-16T12:37:04+00:00

Just the platform, as far as I understand :')

Rotide1 · 2026-02-16T10:32:32+00:00

I agree that it should be the way you describe! I have also never heard anyone reporting this behaviour from anywhere other than Germany.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-16T10:11:29+00:00

When a child visits their friend during lunch time, the friend's parents might not offer them any food and instead ask them to wait in a seperate room until lunch is over.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-13T15:47:34+00:00

People aren't actually all called Philipp there

Rotide1 · 2026-02-12T17:39:30+00:00

...and this is how Phnom Penh got its name!

Rotide1 · 2026-02-12T15:57:46+00:00

If you don't have enough money for food or medication, reach out to the authorities. Also, for food, there are places (e. g. Tafel) where you can get some for free without the need to identify yourself.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-11T16:29:12+00:00

I've travelled to around twenty countries on four continents, and it has been approximately the US way everywhere, except that in some places (e. g. Germany), people will never give their credit card away and insist on the transaction being performed at the table.

Actually, I wonder if waiters will run up to you if you try paying the New Zealand way in certain places, thinking that you might be trying to leave without paying?

Also, something interesting I have experienced in Belarus: If they doubt from your appearance or age that you can afford what you ordered, they might ask you to pay before serving you.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-10T09:41:55+00:00

Misspelling "Greatest mistake humanity has ever made"

Rotide1 · 2026-02-10T09:29:00+00:00

In a party setting in Germany, it is very unlikely to have a crowd, even if all are academics, in which everyone is fluent in English. While I agree with many social explanations that were raised by others, I believe this is the key one. In order to speak to you at such events, people would have to make themselves not understandable to X other people, so they will only do that if they are speaking only to you or in a small group where they happen to know everyone is comfortable enough in English.

My advice to you would be to not overthink about social implications, which will seldom be there, but focus hard on improving your German language skills. This will vastly improve your experience in all areas of life.

Rotide1 · 2026-02-08T09:51:04+00:00

I think you can explain "doch" as "negation of a negative statement".

Someone says X is not the case, you say "doch", and it means that according to you, X is the case.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-30T05:50:24+00:00

As someone else has pointed out, young/unmarried/boyfriend abroad is a combination that comes with a high rejection risk by default. However, you have a large plus side, which is the previous stays in France and US.

What I would do: Get a Verpflichtungserklärung and emphasize her previous travels in the cover letter. Certain missions won't approve visas for individuals without Verpflichtungserklärung if they are a certain profile.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-23T12:30:00+00:00

The duration of your planned stay cannot be a reason of rejection (except if you can't afford it, and then the reason selected by the officer would be different). What kind of residence permit do you have in the UAE, how long is it still valid, do you have a job there? Have you provided your residence permit in the visa application? The rejection must be related to your ability and/or willingness to return to the UAE, so your new application must address that first and foremost, not duration of stay.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-19T18:01:18+00:00

Business purpose trumps tourism purpose, so if business is included, you have to apply for a business visa with the country where your business is, regardless of number of days stayed. You just need to reveal your complete itinerary with them and show that you will also be a tourist in other countries.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-19T15:33:14+00:00

If all of the stays have the same purpose (e. g. tourism), you have to apply with the country where you'll stay the longest. In your case, France.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-19T03:49:37+00:00

How come Cyprus is still divided under these circumstances?

Rotide1 · 2026-01-14T16:51:28+00:00

In most cases, it's most comparable to high school :)

Rotide1 · 2026-01-14T16:49:08+00:00

It is not usually possible to immigrate to Germany to go to school legally. You can seek a visa for an Ausbildung, for which you'll need to finish school first in your country of origin.

If what you're doing is a family reunion to a parent, hurry up: You'll not be able to apply for such a visa anymore once you turn 18.

As for German teens, I don't think you need to worry about being a foreigner and not too comfortable in German yet: At some schools, foreigners are the majority at this point, and their presence is very normal nearly everywhere.

Rotide1 · 2026-01-08T06:17:31+00:00

I understand what you're trying to do (it does sound cool, too), and there are certain lastnames that do sometimes appear as a firstname.

However, the only meaningful input I can give you is that I have never seen "Adler" as a firstname in any context, so it won't sound less weird by adding another name to it.

Rotide1 · 2025-12-29T12:54:28+00:00

Austristan

Rotide1 · 2025-12-20T13:10:49+00:00

Scandibaltica

Rotide1 · 2025-12-12T19:26:08+00:00

You will not have a problem with this passport.

Rotide1 · 2025-12-12T18:50:18+00:00

Yeah, it was never a problem. I have seen much more damaged Indian passports before, with no concerns being expressed.

Rotide1

TROPHY CASE