History

The Celts are believed to have been the first inhabitants of Germany. They were followed by
German tribes at the end of the 2nd century B.C. German invasions destroyed the declining
Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. One of the tribes, the Franks, attained
supremacy in western Europe under Charlemagne, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in
800. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), Charlemagne's lands east of the Rhine were ceded to the
German Prince Louis. Additional territory acquired by the Treaty of Mersen (870) gave Germany
approximately the area it maintained throughout the Middle Ages. For several centuries after
Otto the Great was crowned king in 936, German rulers were also usually heads of the Holy
Roman Empire.
By the 14th century, the Holy Roman Empire was little more than a loose federation of the
German princes who elected the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1438, Albert of Hapsburg became
emperor, and for the next several centuries the Hapsburg line ruled the Holy Roman Empire until
its decline in 1806. Relations between state and church were changed by the Reformation, which
began with Martin Luther's 95 theses, and came to a head in 1547, when Charles V scattered
the forces of the Protestant League at Mühlberg. The Counter-Reformation followed. A dispute
over the succession to the Bohemian throne brought on the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648),
which devastated Germany and left the empire divided into hundreds of small principalities
virtually independent of the emperor.
Location and Geography
Germany is in Western and Central Europe, with Denmark bordering to the north, Poland and
the Czech Republic to the east, Austria to the southeast, Switzerland to the south-southwest,
France, Luxembourg and Belgium lie to the west, and the Netherlands to the northwest.
Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. With
Switzerland and Austria, Germany also shares a border on the fresh-water Lake Constance, the
third largest lake in Central Europe.
German territory covers 357,021 km2, consisting of 349,223 km2 of land and 7,798 km2 of water.
It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 62nd largest in the world.

Weather

Germany’s climate is moderate and is generally without sustained periods of cold or heat.
Northwestern and coastal Germany have a maritime climate caused by warm westerly winds
from the North Sea; the climate is characterized by warm summers and mild cloudy winters.
Farther inland, the climate is continental, marked by greater diurnal and seasonal variations in
temperature, with warmer summers and colder winters. The Alpine regions in the extreme
south and, to a lesser degree, some areas of the Central German Uplands have a so-called
mountain climate. This climate is characterized by lower temperatures because of higher
altitudes and greater precipitation caused by air becoming moisture-laden as it lifts over higher
terrain.

Population

With about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European
Union. One of the core principles of German life is organization. German people pride
themselves on being highly organized, both in their professional and personal lives and in
maintaining a balance between the two. In Germany, work and personal lives are generally kept
quite separate, and therefore if you are invited to a dinner or a social gathering with colleagues,
it may not be appropriate to try and use the occasion as an opportunity to continue discussing
business.

The Arts

Germans have made tremendous contributions to classical music, and the traditions of famous
German or Austrian composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig von Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler live on today.

With their penchant for precision and engineering, it is not surprising that Germans have a
strong tradition of printmaking by woodcut and engraving. There is also a strong representation
of all phases of architecture — including Romanesque, Gothic, Classicist, Baroque, Rococo and
Renaissance — represented in cathedrals, castles and public buildings. One well-known example
of classic German art is the Brandenburg Gate, a former city gate that is now used to symbolize
Berlin's unity.

Holidays and celebrations

Germany celebrates many of the traditional Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter.
German Unification Day on October 3 marks the reuniting of East and West Germany and is the
only federal holiday.

While the country’s big beer bash is called "Oktoberfest," its starts each year on a Saturday in
September and ends 16 to 18 days later, on the first Sunday in October. The tradition started in
1810, with the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-
Hildburghausen, according to the city of Munich.

Places of interest

Germany is the seventh most visited country in the world. The most popular destination is Berlin,
one of the most fascinating capitals in Europe. Many of Germany’s other major cities have proud
histories as independent city states or as capitals of kingdoms in their own right. But the tourist
attractions in Germany are by no means limited to the cities and many other great attractions
can be found in every part of the country. The country is well known for its diverse tourist routes,
such as the Romantic Road, the Wine Route, the Castle Road, and the Avenue Road.

Germany's most-visited landmarks include e.g. Neuschwanstein Castle, Cologne Cathedral,

Berlin Bundestag, Hofbräuhaus Munich, Heidelberg Castle, Dresden Zwinger, Fernsehturm
Berlin and Aachen Cathedral. The Europa-Park near Freiburg is Europe's second most popular
theme park resort.

Transportation

Germany is one of the busiest transportation hubs in the contemporary world. Every minute,
hundreds of international flights, trains, buses and ferries depart from cities and towns all
around the country. The internal system of transportation is equally busy, providing fast,
frequent and reliable links between all of the country’s major attractions. There are many ways
to travel from place to place in cities and throughout the country – be it by bicycle, bus, or rail.
This makes it easy to take weekend trips to other cities, the countryside, the mountains or the
sea, or even venture across the border and visit other countries in Europe.
Universities

Universities in Germany offer plenty of choice, including some of the most prestigious
institutions in Western Europe. Germany’s highest ranked university in the QS World University
Rankings 2016-2017 is Technische Universität München (ranked 60th in the world), followed by
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (joint 68th) and Ruprecht-Karls-Universität
Heidelberg (72nd).

Beyond that, every major German city you can think of has at least one university ranked among
the world’s best. A total of 15 German universities make the world’s top 250, and 31 are included
within the world’s top 500. This establishes Germany well within the world’s higher education
elite.

In addition to world-class universities, Germany also offers high quality of life, relatively low
tuition fees, extensive support and scholarship schemes for international students, and decent
post-graduation employment prospects. So it’s easy to see why so many choose to study in
Germany each year.

In which university you would like to study and why?

Ronaldo: I would like to study at the Technical University of Berlin, because it is one of the most
prestigious universities in Germany. Is the best option because in this country is the possibility
of a quality education.