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I've never lived in Hamburg but I've visited and speaking from a German perspective, many students and young adults looking for flatmates use WG-gesucht or similar local sites but WG-gesucht is the most widely used as far as I know: https://www.wg-gesucht.de/wohnungen-in-Hamburg.55.2.0.0.html Looking for housing can be a hassle because when you look for flatmates, you usually do not correspond with the landlord directly but with potential roommates and they can sometimes be hesitant if they don't get to meet you in person. But then again, you can also be lucky if your request and background intrigues them. Good luck! As for activities: Hamburg has a great public transport system and if you're matriculated at the University you get to use it for free so the entire city is basically open to you. Nightlife is great and edgy if you want it to be. You have the North Sea right in front of you so you can go to the beach and there's the harbor and they have great museums and such. In terms of mentality: People in North Germany have a reputation for being reserved and somewhat rough by comparison but don't let that perturb you. They're actually really lovely. I hope you have a great time there & enjoy the city and the university!

Congrads!!! Happy dancing along with you! That's such a great feeling! Fingers crossed for you!

I pretty much had my heart set on the US but if it hadn't worked out this time or maybe next season, I would've looked at Germany too. I never had to though because--I don't know how familiar you are with the German PhD application system--the whole thing is vastly different. You basically have to wait until you have your degree in hand, write a dissertation prospectus, (which doesn't happen until the second or third year in the US), find a supervisor (Doktorvater/-mutter) who's willing to take you on based on your proposal, which is not very difficult because you tend to take care of funding yourself and then you're basically stuck with this supervisor and maybe one other Doktorvater/-mutter. Tuition is not an issue because we don't have any and so you basically only have to figure out your living expenses. Some, very few people have something comparable to GA-ships that include the option to teach your own independent course, some people get external scholarships from institutions or political parties, many people work regular jobs next to writing their dissertations or rely on mon and dad, and lately some schools have started to launch interdisciplinary graduate schools in the humanities that offer funding, but those spots are coveted too. That's it in a nutshell, a very, very simplified notshell. Overall the entire PhD process tends to be a lot less structured than in the US which is one of the reasons why I prefer to do my doctorate in the US, but there's also advantages to the German system such as the fact that you don't have to take classes before you start writing your dissertation, which is good for those who know exactly what they want to write about, and you generally have a lot more freedom. Basically, no one will hold your hand, but no one will hold your hand... If you're highly intrinsically motivated to work on your stuff, it can be great but it can also be very isolating because you're not necessarily involved in everyday life at your institution and it depends on your professor how much they promote communication between their doctoral candidates. Some do, some don't, some try and fail. Mostly it's just difficult to gauge the entire thing from the outside whereas in the US I find everything fairly transparent by comparison but well, that's subjective...

Well, it's always difficult to gauge chances, especially such a long time in advance, but I'll give you my two or three cents because I'm coming at it with a kinda similar perspective but reversed biography. I'm German (about to graduate with Staatsexamen) and got my Master's in Comp. Lit. in the US in 2012. I applied for English PhDs last year (8 rejections) and this year and also for one Comp Lit PhD program this year. I got into the Comp Lit program and I'm really excited about that although I would probably consider my interest in American Lit as stonger than in German. I'm sure that me being a native speaker and applying for Comp Lit and my American MA contributed to this acceptance but there's always other factors. My perspective, maybe my delusion, was that me being German makes me kinda exotic (yeah I know, but well) and I imagine in your case, your non-traditional bio will in the very least make you interesting to grad programs and isn't that what we want. Having 2 MAs will hopefully show them that you can stick it out too. Another tidbit about my bio: All in all, I took somewhat longer to complete my German degree as is often the case here (I also had to work and stuff but I also genuinely enjoyed studying...) and Maryland at least doesn't seem to mind If you're not set on what kind of program to apply to, I'd definitely go for Comp Lit or German in your case. Fewer spots, yes, but I imagine your degrees from a German-speaking uni can give you an edge. Also, the German grading scale translates into a pretty decent GPA. http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_Germany Good luck!

Ui, I second this! I'd love to know how the open house went because I couldn't fly in for the occasion but I'd still love to know what people's impressions were like. On Monday, I talked to Prof. Jelen in her position as Comp Lit director to talk about possible classes next semester and that made the whole thing so real

I officially accepted my offer to attend the PhD Program in Comp Lit yesterday! I doubt I'll be able to attend the open house unfortunately and my contact hasn't said anything about it anyway. Still, I look forward to meeting you guys in the summer!

Thanks, guys! That's very helpful and I'll definitely get back to you sometime later in the year if I have questions which I certainly will. At the moment I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row

Aww, thank you so much! I'll definitely take you up on that offer at some point. At the moment I still desperately need to sort out my thoughts so I don't randomly break out in cheers anymore ;D

Thank you! My thought precisely! Well, I wasn't really thinking, more like shaking, but YES! Also, I've taken the next hurdle in this whole process. It's morning here and the email's still there. It wasn't a hallucination...

Thank you! And you too. Looks like you have your work cut out for you choosing a program from that truely impressive list or as we say in German, die Qual der Wahl

YOU WERE RIGHT!!! ALL'S GOOD! Wyatt's Torch, I'll see you in Maryland next year, baring injury, mutilation or that the other program which I do not want as much as this one gives me a much better offer!!! I wish I drank to celebrate! Now all that's left is running circles around a tree in the streets and have people think I'm out of my mind. Thank you guys again for all the encouragement. It's really really helped me calm down before this...

Thanks guys, that's very encouraging! I wrote "I'm most definitely still interested" and something about being honored if I were accepted but the wait is unnerving because I'm so excited. Wait and see... I hope they don't make me wait the weekend.

On Monday I got an email from University of Maryland's very small Comp. Lit program, saying that I've emerged as one of their "most serious candidates," going on to say that "Before we make you an official offer" (which is what I'm holding on to at this point), they'd like to know if I'm still interested in their program and inviting me to ask questions. Initially I was really encouraged and excited and I still am because it's a great program and I'd love to go there but because I haven't heard anything since then, I'm now questioning if maybe they've merely narrowed down the pool and are trying to weed out people who've already accepted other offers. But then again, I've never heard about programs doing something like that or basing their decisions on such a request, granted being an international applicant my experience is fairly limited. Have you guys heard of or experienced anything similar?

Thank you, I really hope so! And I was really confused as to whether that was customary too. I'm kinda thinking/hoping that they just asked about this before sending me an official offer because maybe funding me is more expensive because I'm an international student or it's generally a hassle to make offers only to have people not accept. Btw, there was another line asking me to respond whether I'm still interested in attending or not, so I think that's the seriousness of the application she was referring to; I just didn't want to copy-paste the whole email, but for clarity's sake I just edited it.

I got a message yesterday from UMD's director of Comparative Lit and initially I was simply over the moon to finally get a positive response and because I love the program. I still am, but now I feel like I'm kinda in the same boat as you guys although it's not even anything resembling a waitlisting: "Based on your application, you have emerged as one of our most serious candidates. Before we make you an official offer, however, we would very much like to know how seriously you are considering your candidacy to our program. Can you please respond to this e-mail informing me as to whether or not you are still interested in attending the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland?" I wrote back that I'm most definitely still interested and that I didn't have any further questions at the moment but now I kinda wish I'd asked how long they think the determination process is going to take. I'm pretty sure asking would've been a bad idea but I just really want to know if I got all excited all too soon. The in-betweenness feels like torture and ironically enough my writing sample actually celebrated in-betweenness. I think I'll have to revise that somehow