I Moved from Germany to the USA at 22 (& you can too!) | Feli from Germany

hello servos and welcome back to my YouTube channel my name is Philly I'm originally from Munich Germany but I've been living here in Cincinnati Ohio on and off since 2016. that's the part that most of you probably knew already but today I want to talk about how and why I ended up here the full story [Applause] [Music] now it's not like I've never talked about how I ended up in the US but I've really only ever mentioned parts of it here and there so you'd probably have to watch every single one of my videos to kind of piece it all together which is why I thought it might be time to sit down and tell the full story beginning to end and hopefully this will help answer some of the most frequently asked questions that I get from you guys in the comments and in my DMs and also help those of you who want to move to the us too and since my personal story only covers one of many many ways to come to the US from abroad I'm super happy to tell you that I partnered up with the amazing people from aiming toward college or short ATC who are specialized in helping people from around the world to make their dream come true and go to college in the US that's something that I wouldn't really be able to help you with since I got my bachelor's degree in Germany and didn't have to go through this whole process of applying to an American University from scratch taking the SATs getting a scholarship and all of those things but Arturo the founder of ATC did go through all of that himself he came to the US from Chile in 2016 so the same year as me to go to college here and together with his team he has now made it his mission to help make this dream of studying in the US possible for other people as well so if you've always wanted to study in the US or know someone who does ATC offers a free evaluation video call to look at your specific case and then you can either book their one-on-one ATC mentorship program or or their brand new roadmap during the one-on-one program they will guide you through the whole process via video calls from helping you pick the right colleges looking at your academic performance and your athletic skills to see if you could get a scholarship as a student athlete to Preparing you for the needed exams and applying for scholarships and financial aid they'll literally be there every step of the way and at the end they'll even prepare you for the big move with a cultural transition training in addition to that they actually just launched their brand new roadmap which guides you through the whole process with super helpful videos presentations worksheets and links and for both of these options you can now get a 10 discount with my code ffg10 or by clicking the link in the info box below and in case you're thinking that you might be too far away to study in the US or you're too old I just want you to know that ATC really is targeted towards people of all ages from literally all countries around the world and they're not only helping people to get into undergrad program programs so for bachelor degrees but they can also help you if you would like to transfer to an American University halfway through your studies or if you'd like to get a graduate degree in the US so a master's or PhD so make sure to check them out aiming toward College aimingtc.com tell your friends and save 10 with my code FFG 10. so my story starts in Munich Germany after I graduated high school I took a gap year to intern at different radio stations in Munich because I wanted to do investment median as we say in German something with media and I was always fascinated with radio and audio plays and things like that so I did those internships and then a year later started my undergrad at Ludwig maximilians universitate Munich LMU in communication Swiss and shaft communication studies with a minor in political science while still working at the radio stations on the side throughout my bachelor's program I then also gained some work experience in online marketing and public relations so that was pretty much my life at the time University and two or three different jobs in the evenings and on the weekends some for money some simply for practice and passion like my work at emphiana where I was a team lead editor and radio and TV host and where I spent a lot of time and also learned so so much [Music] but before I graduated with my bachelor's I really wanted to do a study abroad you know because it's such a great opportunity that most universities provide for their students and because people who've done it always talk about how eye-opening of an experience it was and how it turned them into a different person and things like that and I particularly like the idea of experiencing that crazy American college life before I would graduate and leave those days behind me once and for all at this point I had visited the us a few times and I knew that I really liked how outgoing everyone was in the US and how things just seemed much more laid back LMU offers a lot of exchange programs with universities all over the world but within my University my department particularly had a few Partnerships themselves that were specifically targeted towards our major and among those there were two programs with universities in the US one was a journalism program in Washington DC but that one actually required for participants to pay half of the American tuition which was a few thousand dollars and that's not usually the case for exchange programs the other one was at the electronic media division of the University of Cincinnati which was more what I was interested in anyways because I always really liked audio production and those kinds of things and it also seemed like fate a little because the very first time I ever went to the US was actually to Cincinnati because Munich and Cincinnati are actually sister cities and when I was in 10th Grade I participated in a two week long High School exchange between the city of Munich and the City of Cincinnati so together with around 15 other students from different schools all over Munich I got on a transatlantic flight for the first time in my life to stay with an American host family in Cincinnati I didn't really have a lot of expectations for this exchange and to be completely honest with you I really only signed up because a friend of mine wanted to do this but then she ended up not going through with it and I had already sent to my application and then I was selected to be one of the 15 students out of like 80 applicants or so so I figured well let's do it and it actually ended up being one of the best experiences of my life and I had such a great time met so many amazing people and I realized that I really liked how outgoing and welcoming Americans were and a lot of my time here really felt like it was straight out of the movies however unlike some of the other students that participated I never had this big dream of moving to the US one day going to college there or anything along those lines in general I wasn't the biggest fan of leaving my comfort zone as a kid and as a teenager and quite frankly I never even thought that I'd move out of Munich or if I did then I wouldn't move very far away I just never had a desire for that a year later I was 17 at this point I ended up visiting my exchange partner here in Cincinnati for a week during summer break and then my parents and brother came over too and we went on a road trip through the U.S for a few weeks and then a few years after that we did another road trip through Canada in the US so I had seen quite a few places of the US at this point and always really enjoyed it but let's jump back to a few years later when I was in the last stretch of my bachelor's and applied for that Exchange program with the University of Cincinnati and by applied I mean I applied within the communications department and I was very lucky because there was only one spot for that program and I got it and the great thing about exchange programs between universities is that you technically stay enrolled at your home University the whole time and pay your normal tuition fees there and don't usually have to pay for tuition at the exchange University which in this case is an amazing deal if you think about it because as you probably know we don't really have tuition fees at German University fees we only pay a few hundred euros per semester but I still get to experience all of the perks of an American University and campus that usually charges around fifteen thousand dollars per semester and the University of Cincinnati I'll also refer to it as UC is actually on the cheaper ant there because it's a public university for private universities you'll easily pay Thirty to sixty thousand dollars a semester Harvard costs about 55 000 per semester for example I think I had to pay a small international student ptuc but that was it and in return you get all of these things that are Unthinkable at German universities like these huge stadiums and sports games with 40 000 people in the audience a huge rec center with a pool and a rock climbing wall hundreds of really cool student organizations free pizza and ice cream like all the time free shuttle buses and a free taxi service around campus and the electronic media division where I took my classes had everything from cameras and microphones that we could borrow for a project at any time to a full-on audio recording studio TV new studio and a super expensive editing Suite so all in all just really really cool I think I got accepted in February of 2016 so about six months before the semester would start so my next steps included submitting some more paperwork and an official application to UC which I think was more or less just a formality at that point then take the TOEFL English test to prove my language skills apply for a Visa attend an Intercultural training at my University and find a place to stay in Cincinnati the TOEFL test was actually quite a pain in the ass because it's a very strictly timed standardized test that takes three to four hours and you really need to prepare for it no matter your language skills I mean I'm sure people pass it without any preparation but I remember that you really needed to know how much or little time you had for each section before going in and what was wanted from you so that you did didn't have to waste time reading the instructions and the test costs between 200 and 300 dollars so I didn't really want to risk having to retake it so I actually bought one of those preparation books beforehand and did a few practice tests for those of you who are interested in this the TOEFL score goes from 0 to 120 and I believe that you see required a minimum score of 80 and I got a score of 111 so everything worked out fine the Visa I applied for was AJ One Visa which is the category for exchange visitors so for people who are doing a semester or a year abroad without getting a degree from the American University like myself but this is also the Visa category for Au pairs interns professors research assistants and so on now the Visa process is a whole story by itself but to summarize it you need a so-called sponsor for the Visa which in this case is the University so you need to wait until you have the documents from them and then you apply for the Visa online and you'll have to fill out a bunch of forms where they'll basically ask you about every little detail of your life then you need a photo that fulfills US passport requirements and of course you have to pay a fee of about a couple hundred dollars and if all of that looks good you'll attend an in-person interview at an American Consulate or Embassy which was pretty simple for me since there's an American Consulate in Munich that I could do this at but many people also have to travel out of town for this for my Green Card interview a few years later I actually had to go to Frankfurt for example but if you want to learn more about that whole process I have two videos about that on my channel so I'll just make sure to link those in the info box below one thing that's important to keep in mind for this Visa is that it's a so-called non-immigrant Visa which means that you can't show any intentions of wanting to stay in the US permanently so during your interview at the consulate and also at the airport when you enter the country they're probably going to ask you about your ties to your home country and why you're going to return back home after your time in the US because they want to make sure that there is no chance that you'll use the this visa to get into the country and then stay there legally so when you enter the country it's best if you have your flight back booked already and can show that and that actually applies to other non-immigrant visas as well including a tourist visa or esta I had my interview at the Consulate in late June and fortunately my Visa was accepted which would be the first of many visas but I didn't know that at the time so my last big step now was Finding housing in Cincinnati I was able to choose between on-campus housing in a dorm and off-campus housing that I would have to find myself the good thing was that I knew the girl that did the exchange a year before me and she was able to give me some advice and told me that on-campus housing was really not necessary at UC because the university is located right in the city and is surrounded by lots of normal AKA off-campus houses and apartments and on-campus housing is pretty expensive even for a shared room and you don't usually have a kitchen in your dorm so then you have to buy one of those meal plans too so like a cafeteria subscription plus there are lots of rules when you live on campus including that there's no alcohol allowed and things like that so I decided to find a place off campus instead for like half of the price and she told me about some really helpful Facebook groups so I was actually able to find a furnished room for supplies that was in a five bedroom house with four American roommates and it was just a five minute walk away from campus and cost less than 500 a month another thing that many people do during their study abroad is live with other exchange students and stay within that exchange student bubble which was something that I personally tried to avoid because I wanted to actually meet the locals if you will and be part of normal everyday life here so then as August approached I packed two suitcases and a personal item got on my flight to Cincinnati and hoped for the best and as you can see in the video title I was 22 at the time so not super young anymore but to be completely honest I was pretty terrified even though it was only going to be for five months and I knew I wasn't going to be alone I had a whole itinerary for orientation week where I would attend the orientation events for international students and meet all of the other exchange students and get my classes set up and all of that but it was still a situation where I was going into a chapter where everything was new like I didn't know any of the people yet that I was going to spend the next five months of my life with I didn't know what my classes were going to be like if I would get along with my roommates if I would feel lost in everyday life in the US I mean I hadn't even seen the place that I would stay at yet except on photos but as you guys know everything turned out to be just fine or actually turned out to be amazing and I had quite literally the best time of my life I was super lucky and had the best roommates possible we threw parties spend our free time together and they always drove me around to the grocery store and things like that since I didn't have a car then of course I did hang out with the exchange student bubble and there were a lot of cool people there I also met really cool people through the UFC German club who I saw at least like once a week week including Josh who you all know from some of my videos and of course our podcast understanding train station and yes I also went to a lot of college parties and I can indeed confirm that they're exactly like they're in the movies except that I was very surprised that Americans play beer pong with water in the cups instead of beer and since I did the semester abroad at the very end of my studies even after I had written my bachelor's thesis which is mandatory in Germany none of the raids were actually important for me and I didn't need to meet any credit requirements anymore so I was able to just take classes that I was actually interested in so I had an audio production class a digital video class a post-production class one about Cinema in the 20th century and even a hip-hop class once a week for credits but the whole social aspect is really why studying abroad is one of the best ways to move to a new country in my opinion because just by default you're not going to be alone you'll be a part of so many different social environments especially at American universities with all of the student organization Asians that you can join the campus events that they offer and one of the most important tips for the first few weeks that really helped me at the time was to make sure that you go to every event that you're invited to even if it's exhausting for the first few weeks just say yes to everything and go to the party or the weekend trip or the football game because you never know where you'll meet the people that will become your best friends now I know that many of you are probably wondering why I'm still in Cincinnati today if that was just an exchange semester well the answer is that after I went back home in January of 2017 I started looking intensely for ways to come back and there were two main reasons number one was that I had never felt like myself as much as I did during that time so you know that cliche of you're going to find yourself when you live abroad was totally true for me and I realized that a lot of things about the American culture and mentality just lined up a lot better with who I am or who I want to be it would be a little too much to go into detail about all the things that I love and maybe also the things that I don't love about the us but I actually have a whole video about the top 10 things that I love that were part of that reason why I wanted to come back so you can check that video out up here but you know from the optimism to how outgoing most people are here I just felt like it brought out a side of me that made me feel really happy and at ease I should say though that part of that was probably also just the fact that I moved to a completely new place where nobody knew me before because that alone can feel pretty magical and often leads to people discovering a whole new side of themselves no matter where they move to the second reason was simply that I started dating an American while I was there not been and I really wanted to continue that relationship and not live on two different continents so this was another driving factor of why I didn't give up and I just kept looking for ways to come back to the US and to Cincinnati in particular and that's not an easy task because the US doesn't just throw around visas even if you have a job so I was back in Germany for about seven months three of which are lived in Hamburg for an internship before I did return to Cincinnati on a B1 tourist visa because a local non-profit organization the over-the-ride museum was looking for some help at the time so I was able to come over for six months to volunteer for them which was basically like an unpaid internship but I had some savings and my parents supported me too so it wasn't too bad financially because working with them was actually really really cool and this is also when I started my YouTube channel by the way my first video went live in January of 2018. now that relationship didn't last but I still wanted to come back and one of the most common questions that I get from people is why why did you want to leave Germany or why did you decide to move abroad and the answer is I didn't I know we're not done with the story yet but to this day I never had that moment where I was like okay I'm gonna move abroad like indefinitely I would have never had the guts or the desire to do that all I did was go on a five month Exchange semester I was even too scared to do a full year and then I did a six-month volunteering position and then a one-year master's program but we'll get to that in a second but that's also why I always say that I've been here since 2016 on and off because it's not like I moved here in 2016 and then never left again I mean obviously I do live abroad right now there's nothing to deny there but it was a very gradual process and I never had that moment where I booked that one-way ticket and sold all of my stuff in Germany or shipped it over here what I did was that I brought a bunch of stuff over step by step and I bought a lot of new things here but the rest is still at my parents house and also always still have a flight back to Munich to this day like I've literally kept the round trips up since 2016 so that they always technically start in Munich and the flight back is always the next one that goes to Munich if that makes sense and it was never that I wanted to leave Germany I had no reasons to do that it's a great country but you know I had lived there my whole life and I just preferred B being here for that face of my life as I said earlier it just felt like it was bringing out the best in me and I'm a very intuitive person I make most of my decisions based on my gut feeling I mean coming here for six months without being paid and actually paying money for another Visa was probably not the most rational decision but it was the right one for me in the moment and somehow I'm still here now it just hasn't stopped feeling right yet so after the six months of volunteering I went back to Munich for about five months but I had already applied for a one-year master's program at UC in German studies I actually got the position through the vdac American clubs Federation of German American clubs but I was a normal degree seeking student and I was directly enrolled at the University but like all the other grad students at the UC German Department I got a full scholarship and also had to take a position as a teaching assistant to teach German a second language at the University which came with a 15 000 Dollar pay for the Academic Year so this was actually perfect for me because not only could I come back on a student visa now which is one of the easiest ways to go to the US especially at a young age but I also got a master's degree in only one year which I kind of wanted to get a master's anyway at some point but in Germany there's only two-year programs so this saved me a whole year and I didn't even have to write a master's thesis for this program and Not only was it free but I was even getting paid on top of that and I was actually really excited to teach German so from August of 2018 until May of 2019 I was back at UC to get my masters and teach German on an F1 Visa this time which is for degree seeking International students now most of you probably aren't too interested in all of the legal stuff so I'm not going to go too much into detail but I had actually found out previously that I had won the Green Card Lottery the first time I ever participated and even though it looked like things weren't going to work out for me to get that green card at first that changed right as a graduate it with my masters and I then went home to Germany in the summer of 2019 for a few weeks to do my Green Card interview at the Consulate in Frankfurt and that's how I was able to live in the US after I graduated without having to stick to certain visa rules like having to find a job in my field of studies AKA German studies with an employer who would be willing to sponsor me for a work visa so I freelance for a while with teaching German and doing a few other jobs here and there and I also spent some more time with my YouTube channel and half a year later that suddenly became my full-time job right around my 26th birthday that was almost three years ago now and I'm still here bought a house in the meantime adopted a cat moved in with my boyfriend and I'm still doing YouTube now one of the most common questions I get asked after the one about why I moved to the US is if I ever thought about moving somewhere else in the US because I know that many of you simply can't comprehend why in the world I would pick Cincinnati of all places but if you watch the video up until here you now know that I never actively picked the city it was just the option that was right in front of my face which also somewhat goes back to the fact that Cincinnati is the sister city of Munich my hometown and after my first few times here this was obviously where I had started to build my Social Circles I had friends here I knew my way around the city and there's also a lot of German history here as well as German companies and organizations which meant that I could always meet other Germans and go to events that felt just a tiny bit like home and I honestly really like living here and no I'm not saying that because I haven't seen enough of the US I mean I've been to about 20 different states and I've seen a lot of cool places in this country but I've just never felt the desire to move to any of those places I feel like the places that are fun to visit and the places that are great to live at aren't always necessarily the same ones and for me Cincinnati has just the right size it's about 300 000 people it's not as big and stressful as Munich it's actually a very relaxed next Midwest City there's lots of space everything is drivable and compared to Munich or also New York California Chicago it's very affordable I mean I was able to buy a house here which is so cool to me and it's not like it's the [ __ ] that doesn't have anything to offer like many people out there seem to believe it's actually a really great city that has everything you need beautiful views great education Sports concert venues lots of breweries and bars lots of fascinating history and art scene huge companies and I honestly like the weather too I mean I'd probably like California weather better but I wouldn't really want to pay the extra 30 or so for living expenses but Cincinnati Winters are pretty much the same as in Germany and the summers are very long and consistent which I like a little humid but at least it's warm for about six months of the year which is great the truth is I just so early have a reason to move anywhere else and I never felt the need to go to another city in this already foreign countries just to start all over again and now with Ben it also makes sense because his family is close by I actually got a lot of questions from you guys about this topic that are a little bit more specific about a certain aspect of my story so I'll make a whole q a video for you guys in the next few days to answer those questions but the last thing that I want to answer in this video is do I plan on staying in the US forever and the answer is no but I also don't plan on leaving forever I could totally see myself moving back and forth but I definitely noticed that the longer I've been gone the more I miss just being able to see my friends and family in Germany on a more casual basis if you will because now whenever I visit there's just never enough time and most people only get to see once every time I'm home so I could definitely see myself live in Germany in the next few years in fact that's kind of what Ben and I are planning but throughout this whole story up until now nothing was really planned my motto has always been let's see and I just always listen to my guts so even I don't know how the story will continue and when with that thank you guys so much for all of the support you've shown me in the last few years since I started my YouTube channel I hope this was somewhat interesting for you and as I said I hope that I could maybe even help those of you who also want to come to the US and if you have any more follow-up questions about my story of moving to the US just let me know in the comments below and I'll try to include as many as I can in the Q a video I'll also be sure to link those two videos about my green card journey in the info box below and of course if you like this video don't forget to hit the Subscribe button you can also activate that Bell to make sure that you don't miss my next video and make sure to also follow me on Instagram Facebook and Tick Tock for more content if you want to support me you can leave a tip via the super things button underneath the video you can join my patreon community for more behind the scenes insights or buy me a coffee on kofi.com thank you guys so much for watching and I hope I'll see you next time cheers [Music] thank you

Channel: Feli from Germany

Views: 65,314

Keywords: USA, America, Munich, Cincinnati, Culture Shock, Deutschland, München, Amerika, Kulturschock, Ohio, USA vs. Germany, Expat, Living abroad, Life in USA, Going to College in the US, International student, exchange student USA, American exchange student, Exchange semester USA, University of Cincinnati, Verband deutsch amerikanischer Clubs, How to move to the US, Getting an American Visa, Move to the US, How to get a Green Card, Green Card Lottery, how to move to the US, work visa

Id: 75Eaw0_iQdI

Length: 27min 23sec (1643 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 31 2023