Upon arrival 

When planning your arrival please bear in mind that it isn’t wise to arrive on the weekend, be- cause banks and offices are closed, even the transportation is more difficult. Shops mostly do not open at all on Sundays. You should also try not to have only banknotes in large denomina- tion on you, because they may be difficult to exchange.

If you do not have any accommodation for the first nights, you can go to a hotel or the youth hostel. Details of these can be obtained at the Tourist Information Schwäbisch Hall. www.schwaebischhall.de ; phone: +49 (0) 0791751 246

The youth hostel is located just 5 minutes on foot off campus and offers a relatively cheap overnight accommodation with breakfast: About 23 €. You need an international youth hostel pass with a photo (12 €) – this can also be issued in the youth hostel itself.

Further information: www.jugendherberge.de/jugendherbergen/schwaebisch-hall

phone: +49 (0) 791 410 50; info@jugendherberge-schwaebisch-hall.de

• Rooms in the student dormitories „Wilhelm-Meister-Weg 2-14“, Goethe-Institut Schwäbisch Hall:

Their rooms are fully furnished, right in the city center for 480 € and 50 € deposit (special price for students of our faculty who stay for only 1 semester). You can contact the accommodation manager of the Goethe Institut, Mrs. Regina Klenk directly for more information: klenk@goe- the.de , via phone +49 791 97887-14, or also visit their website: https://www.goethe.de/ins/de/ en/ort/swh/unt.html.

• Rooms in the student dormitory „Wilhelm-Meister-Weg 6, GWG Schwäbisch Hall:

Rooms are furnished but a mattress and bedding must be purchased by yourself and also taken with you when you leave.

Rent is around 290 €/month with a 340 € deposit. The room must be rented for a full 6 month period, starting on September 1st – Frebruary 28th , or March 1st – August 31st. It is not pos- sible to leave earlier.

Website: www.gwg-sha.de/wohnen/studentisches-wohnen/wilhelm-meister-weg-6 (you need to translate the website)

For more information, please contact: Mrs. Martina Fröhlich, Tel.: 0791 97044-16, 
martina. froehlich@gwg-sha.de, Marktstraße 4, 74523 Schwäbisch Hall

For other options you can have a look amongst one of the following alternatives:

(Please, note that as a rule of thumb, apart from the first month’s rent, you usually have to pay between one and three-month rent as a security deposit before you move in.)

• Fully furnished studio apartments – the newly inaugurated student residence:

I Live – Campus Living Schwäbisch Hall: apartment complex just 4 mins off campus: Book your studio comfortably online via the following link: https://www.i-live-sha.de/en.html

• Rooms in shared apartments can also be found in the following websites:

http://www.wg-gesucht.de/en/ is the most popular website for students looking to share apartments. It also provides the service in English. (Search for „Schwäbisch Hall und Umgebung“)

http://www.studenten-wg.de is a search tool for shared accommodation in Germany.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/719070784788134/ is a Facebook group for stu- dents looking for accommodation in the Schwäbisch Hall region.

https://kleinanzeigen.vs.hs-heilbronn.de/ is a database set up by the university for private rooms and is also used widely from people in Schwäbisch Hall. You can change the language to Engllish on the top right corner. Continue top left “Login Form” by i nserting your username (Benutzername) is: 111111 & your password (Passwort) is: incomings133 (please don’t change the username or password!)

As a non-EU citizen, if you are studying in Germany it is absolutely necessary to have a Ger- man current bank account and also a blocked bank account, which will prove your financial situation. Most banks offer a free current bank account for students. You will also get a bank card. With this card you can withdraw money from the ATM machines as well as pay at stores where they accept Girocard payments. To pay you need your PIN number or a signature. Sometimes small shops do not accept paying via card or they require a minimum purchase amount e.g. over 10 €.

So it is necessary to always have some cash in your wallet.

For Campus Schwäbisch Hall students, our partner bank is Sparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, Reifenhofstr. 16, 74523 Schwäbisch Hall, to open an account it is neccesary to book an appointment via info@sparkasse-sha.de, or phone +49 791 754 0. Your buddy will assist you.

As a student, the Semester-Ticket will give you great access to public transport:

• If you would like to purchase the Semester-Ticket, visit the Student Union in Building A, Room 001 during the first week of each semester. You can also purchase the ticket at the HNV Customer Centre (Kunden-Center) Schwäbisch Hall at Am Spitalbach 20. Present your HHN student ID card or your enrolment document. It is 190 € and valid for one semester across all buses, trains, trams (Stadtbahn or S-Bahn in the entire areas of the HNV and KreisVerkehr Schwäbisch Hall networks.
• Even if you decide not to get the Semester-Ticket, you will still be able to ride buses for free in the city of Schwäbisch Hall (entire Zone 510) by presenting your student ID card on business days after 7pm, and all day Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
• More Information under: https://www.h3nv.de/fileadmin/pdf/tarif/semesterticket-info.pdf
• If you do not want to buy the Semesterticket but need to travel sometimes, we recommend getting the Bahncard from Deutsche Bahn for travellers aged 26 and under. 25% and 50% discounts on flexible and saver fares within entire Germany.

For as little as 34.90 for one year with „My Bahncard 25 (50)“. For more info check out their site: https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/bahncard/bahncard.shtml?dbkanal_007=L04_ S02_D002_KIN0059_FLYOUT-ANGEBOTE-BAHNCARD_LZ01

Or the trial Bahncard for as little as 17,90 € (August 2021) for 25% discount on all ticket rates for a period of 3 Months: https://www.bahn.de/p/view/bahncard/ueberblick/ probebahncard.shtml

• If you want to travel low budget and large distances within Germany and Europe, you

can check out Flixbus company for cheap large distance connections:

https://www.flixbus.com/.

Another low budget option: the Deutschlandticket (49-Euro-Ticket). It is a monthly subscription (always needs to be cancelled by the 10th of the month and you can travel all of Germany, taking any transportation except ICE high-speed trains: https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/deutschlandticket

For groceries, there are Rewe which is right next to the ZOB (central bus station) on Salinen- straße 35, ALDI on Auwiesenstraße 17 and bio Ritter, right in the city center on Johanniterstra- ße 4, just to name a few. A pharmacy with international service can be found at Spitalbach 21. In the Schwäbisch Hall city center along Spitalbach, Neue Straße and in the Kocherquartier, you will find several bakeries, cafes, pharmacies and eateries as well as drugstores Müller Drogeriemarkt, dm, or clothing chains such as H&M or C&A. You will find a price list for several items in the Appendix (Section 6.4) as a guide.