u/Iloveadg

Buenas. Me da curiosidad saber si hay alguien acá con pareja de otro país (y de cual) o si por lo menos estarían abiertos a eso y que opinión tienen al respecto.

Yo estoy hace 7 meses en pareja con una hermosa chica de Rusia, con quien en unas semanas nos vemos por tercera vez. Algunos días son difíciles por la distancia y siempre extrañamos el afecto físico pero por lo demás estamos muy contentos y enamorados.

Hello, I just arrived in SPb and went to a bank (Avangard) to exchange some USD into Rubles. The lady working there refused because they weren’t in the best condition (However they’re not damaged or anything, just tiny flaws from use).
Are all banks in Russia this strict when it comes to exchanging USD? Please tell me if there is any other place where I can exchange it, I don’t mind if the rate will be slightly worse but I am a bit desperate, I was able to exchange some bills but it won’t be enough for the rest of my stay.

I need to vent, and I’m hoping someone here has some advice because I’m about at my breaking point.

I (28M, EU citizen) moved here in Dec 2022, started from the bottom, learned the language, and just finished my Ausbildung this past February with a grade of 2 (my theory/practical grades were solid) after three years with tons of sacrifices, living in WGs, just surviving and without ever receiving a cent from the state. I did everything "the right way." All through my training, I was promised that once I finished, I’d be a skilled worker in high demand and salaries would be easily 3k+ brutto.

Fast forward to July: I’ve sent out hundreds of applications and haven’t gotten a single real lead. It’s been 5 months. My ALG barely covers my rent (especially after living on 800€ net for three years), and I felt forced to apply, against my will, for Bürgergeld a month ago but I’m getting complete radio silence from the Jobcenter.
Money is getting tight at this point. I feel like I did everything I was told to do: became a skilled worker, learned the language, integrated, stayed out of trouble and yet here I am, arguably worse off than when I started. Is this just the state of the market right now? Am I doing something wrong, or is this just how it is?
Do I need to start looking elsewhere in Europe?

I’m genuinely considering just applying for warehouse/cleaning jobs at this point just to have an income, but it feels like a slap in the face after the effort I put in.

EDIT: since a lot of people seem triggered by saying “German dream”, I want to clarify that with it I didn’t meant to live rich like a king, just working my way up the ladder and to afford a normal life.

EDIT 2: thank you all for the comments. For the good ones and especially the toxic ones. I guess it makes me be more convinced that I should seek my future elsewhere outside the country, somewhere where effort is rewarded as it should be.

I (28M) and my gf (24F) have been talking since January and officially together since May. We have met only once and will be meeting a second time in a few weeks from now.

We have never had any “spicy” conversation or anything close to sexting besides the innocent kissing and hugging stuff. It’s not really that I’m dying for it since we always have a lot of other topics to talk about but I am wondering if it’s not something we should’ve discussed by now. I’m her first relationship so I’m guessing she is unfamiliar with such convos, I don’t really want to force it and make her feel uncomfortable if it’s still too soon but at the same time I don’t want to keep waiting and maybe make her think I’m not interested.

For all other LDR couples out there: when did you first have intimate talk, be it sexting, photos, on video or whatever.

Hello everyone, a bit of context: I (28M, EU citizen) arrived in Germany in December 2022, and last February I finished my Ausbildung in Mediengestaltung Digital with an overall grade of 2. Since then I've been unemployed and looking for a job.

As many of you are aware, the job market is rough right now, especially in the IT/creative area, and with AI tools becoming more capable the chances of landing something feel even slimmer. I kind of feel like I'm in a rut and honestly a bit disappointed with how things turned out after three years of sacrifice and hardship, living on a salary that barely covered my rent, I should be harvesting the fruits of my labor, but here I am living off unemployment benefits and not doing much productive.

But I digress. I never really felt fulfilled with the classic office job, staring at a screen 40h/week, and the whole corporate world in general so this might actually be an opportunity to pivot into something new. I've been seriously considering switching to a trade or a blue collar job.

So I wanted to ask: what are my options? Given that I already have a finished Ausbildung, is there a faster route back into the job market? I wouldn't mind moving to a different city in Germany (in fact I'd prefer it, as I'm looking to leave Berlin for several reasons)

I've heard of the Umschulung and the Bildungsgutschein but I'm not sure if those apply to my situation or how to go about it. I've also considered something in construction or even Triebfahrzeugführer (train driving). I just wouldn't want to go through another 3 years of barely surviving financially but maybe with a finished Ausbildung and support from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit there's already a faster route available.

Any advice or personal experience welcome. Danke!