tenehemia

Because Michael Keaton is a fucking ninja.

Interestingly enough, I knew a guy (an American from New York City) who I met when I lived in Berlin last year (I'm also an American), who was doing a very similar thing.

It's somewhat challenging for Americans to stay in Germany (or anywhere in Europe) for more than a few months on a visitor's visa. The way he was managing it was that he was staying on a school visa. However, he wasn't actually attending university. Instead, he was "preparing for university" - which meant having to take German language courses a couple times a week.

However, it was entirely up to him (up to a certain point, I'm sure - he'd been there at least a couple years when I met him) when he felt he was done with his "preparations", at which point he could choose to start attending university.

Mind you, Germany wasn't giving him money during this time, merely allowing him to stay. When I applied to get an extended artists visa to stay in Germany, I had to supply a lot of financial information proving that I had at least €10,000 available, as well as a steady income and had secured private German health insurance (which is very expensive).

What it comes down to is that, if you're an American trying to live in Germany, the government wants to make damn sure that you aren't living off of their welfare in any way at all.

Just thought you might be interested in the perspective of someone else who had to find their way in Germany, but from a very different starting point. Prost!

shut up and take my money

Abe Lincoln is also my favorite. Absolutely anyone I know named John has been told "listen to your woman, John!" at least a hundred times.

Also, as long as an individual libertarian has clean drinking water and safe roads, they really don't give a fuck about anyone else having the same.