Life in Germany
Starting University: Your First Steps
From orientation week to building your own timetable — what makes the move into German academic life go smoothly.
- Orientation before lectures start
- 1 week
- Who builds the timetable
- You
- The semester's course catalogue
- VVZ
- Course registration deadlines
- Strict
Orientation before lectures start
Who builds the timetable
The semester's course catalogue
Course registration deadlines
Orientation Week (O-Woche)
The introductory week for first-semester students (Erstsemester) usually runs the week before lectures officially begin. Attendance is not compulsory, but the critical administrative information is given here.
Campus tours
You learn where the faculty buildings, the libraries, the Mensa and the offices that matter actually are.
Meeting people
You meet the other students in your department and the senior-year tutors assigned to guide you.
System introduction
How to use the university's online platforms — course registration, exam sign-up, email.
Social events
City tours, campus picnics and game nights: this is the week the first friendships are made.
Choosing and Planning Courses
German universities rarely hand you a ready-made timetable. Students build their own schedule from the degree regulations (Studienordnung).
Vorlesungsverzeichnis (VVZ)
The list of every course offered that semester, reached through the university's own portal (LSF, STiNE, HISinOne and similar).
Types of course
A Vorlesung is a large lecture, a Seminar a small discussion group, and an Übung or Tutorium a practical session.
Registration windows
Belegungsfristen are strict. Within the stated dates you must register separately for the course and for its exam.
Modulhandbuch
The document listing each module's content, credits and prerequisites. Read it before you build your schedule.
Useful in Your First Semester
A few practical things that make campus life easier.
- Find out which zones your semester ticket actually covers.
- Set up your library account and campus Wi-Fi (eduroam) in the first week.
- Join your department's student council (Fachschaft) — past exam papers live there.
- Put the exam registration dates in your calendar at the start of the semester.
Every university runs its own system
Life in Germany
Follow the university start in your journey
Your Dreemli journey lists the university-start stage, the registration dates and your first-semester tasks for your own case.