Additional Information

Although some of the information on this page might seem obvious to you, older Ph.D. fellows - especially those who had never before been to Europe or Germany - drew our attention to some of the following items:

• German punctuality: It might be a stereotype but there is a true core to it - at least as far as public transportation is concerned. Despite occasional delays, public transportation in Germany is usually very much on time and bus/tram/train conductors are unlikely to wait for you even if they see you running towards their departure station. Many a Jacobs student has wondered about this lack of flexibility. Please bear this in mind unless you want to wave goodbye to your train before waiting for half an hour for the next one.
• Contracts and cancellation periods: The German legal system lacks the flexibility regarding contracts and cancellation periods that some of you might be used to. If your telephone contract gives a three months cancellation period you will not get out of it before then. Release payments are usually not accepted so be careful what you sign. If in doubt: Try to get help from a German native speaker.
• Garbage separation: Recycling is important in Germany and if you are not separating your garbage you might get fined or - maybe worse - your garbage might be left.
• Mail: Make sure your name is on your postbox or your letters won't get to you.
• Doctors: Most of you will have a German public health insurance that covers most treatments and some preventive medical checkups. Still: Make sure to ask your doctor or your health insurance BEFORE a treatment starts whether it is covered or whether it causes additional costs for you.
  Most doctors will not be available on Wednesday and Friday afternoons - not even for making appointments. If you need to see a doctor, you probably need to pay a 10€ fee (Praxisgebühr) unless you were transferred by another doctor with whom you paid 10€.
• Bicycle lanes: As mentioned earlier, Bremen is a cyclists' town. In Germany, bicycle lanes are usually part of the pedestrian sideway, not of the road, and often recognisable by their red flagging. Don't walk or stand on this part of the sidewalk unless you want passing cyclists to ring their bells at you.
• Winter time / summer time (AE: daylight saving time): All member states of the European Union and a large number of other countries advance the clock one hour during summer. The last Sunday in March marks the beginning of summer time, the last Sunday in October marks the shift from summer to winter time.

• BIGSSS is a two-university institution supported by Universität Bremen (UB) and by Jacobs University Bremen. It has three founding institutions: UB's Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS), the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) at Jacobs University and the Jacobs Center for Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development. The GSSS has a long-standing tradition in Graduate education and its fellows became members of BIGSSS when the latter was founded in 2008. They are situated at UB which means that a large number of fellows is located there whereas only original BIGSSS fellows are situated at Jacobs.
• Most members of Faculty belong to either UB or Jacobs and have their offices at their home universities.