Practical Tips

Public holidays are often associated with religious festivities, the two big ones being Easter and Christmas. Germany's national holiday, Reunification Day, is celebrated on October 3 and commemorates the constitutional unification of East and West Germany in 1990. 

People generally do not work on public holidays, with the exception of emergency services, other basic public services, and public transport. Shops are closed.

Public holidays associated with certain dates

Those public holidays associated with certain dates, such as Labor Day and Reunification Day, are always celebrated on that date, even if it falls on a weekend. In this case there is no compensatory day off on the following Monday.

Public holidays associated with days of the week

Some of the Christian holidays, for example Easter and Pentecost, are associated with days of the week. Their dates vary every year. 

For the excat annual dates, just search "Feiertagskalender Baden-Württemberg" or "public holidays Baden-Württemberg".

State public holidays

Some public holidays are national, but some vary by Federal State. In Baden-Württemberg the following holidays are legally observed:

• New Year's Day (Neujahr), January 1;
• Epiphany/The Three Kings (Dreikönig), January 6;
• Good Friday (Karfreitag), date varies, normally late March to mid-April; Friday before Easter Sunday
• Easter (Ostern) dates varies, starts on Sunday after the first spring full moon
  • Easter Sunday (Ostersonntag), date varies, first Sunday after the first spring full moon;
  • Easter Monday (Ostermontag), date varies, Monday following Easter Sunday;
• May Day (Labor Day; Maifeiertag/Tag der Arbeit), May 1;
• Ascension of Christ (Christi Himmelfahrt), always a Thursday, 40 days after Easter, so date varies, usually in May;
• Pentecost/Whitsun (Pfingsten) a Sunday followed by a Monday, 50 days after Easter, so date varies, usually second half of May or June;
• Corpus Christi (Fronleichnam), always a Thursday, 10 days after Pentecost, 60 days after Easter, so date varies, usually in June;
• Reunification Day (Tag der deutschen Einheit), October 3;
• All Saints’ Day (Allerheiligen), November 1;
• Christmas (Weihnachten);
  • Christmas Eve (Heilig Abend): December 24 is not an official public holiday, but many shops close by midday and people often work only a half day;
  • Christmas Day (Erster Weihnachtsfeiertag), December 25;
  • Boxing Day (Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag), December 26;
• New Year's Eve (Silvester), December 31 is not an official public holiday, but many shops close by early afternoon and people often work only a half day;

The most important (Christian) holidays in Germany, such as Easter and Christmas, each include a second public holiday. Typically, the Monday after the main celebration on Sunday is also observed as a public holiday.

Tübingen is located in Europe’s temperate climate zone. This means that it has four distinct seasons, with daytime temperatures in winter averaging around -5 to 5°C (though they might fall below -10°C in extreme cases), and warm summers with average daytime temperatures around 20 to 30°C (upper 30s during heat waves). So, it can get rather cold in the winter, and quite warm in the summer. 

Humidity levels are moderate, averaging about 80 % in winter and 70 % in summer. Rain can be expected during all seasons, changing to snow in winter.  

Heating

German houses usually have central heating and are well insulated, so staying warm during winter is not difficult. At the same time, this means that homes will stay warm during heat waves as well, as air-conditioning is not common in private homes. 

To learn more about how to keep temperatures at home comfortable, please see the At home section.

Religious Communities

Germany is home to people from a wide variety of religious backgrounds and traditions. The right to freedom of religion is upheld, safeguarded not only by the German constitution but also by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. 

For the religious communties in Tübingen (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist) and their meeting points in Tübingen, find here an Overview of the different religious congregations (German). Please see also religous student groups and explore ComeTogether - Internationals as an interreligious option for Internationals.

Christianity is still the most culturally and socially influential religion in Germany. However, as of 2025, less than half of the population are still members of a Christian church, with this number declining. So, while some people belong to a church or other religious community, many do not. Also among members, religious practice can be irregular.

• The largest Christian communities in Germany are Catholicism and Protestantism (Lutheranism).
• Religious communities do a lot of charity work, run schools, kindergardens and care facilities, including hospitals.
• A majority of public holidays are based on the Christian tradition.

Church Tax 

Several religious communities e.g the Catholic and Protestant ones, have special agreements with the State. They can charge a contribution from their members through the tax system, the so-called Church Tax (Kirchensteuer). When you first register your residency in Germany, you can opt out of it. Students with low income jobs typically do not have to pay this tax at all – even if they are a member of the religious community in a civic sense.

• Mini jobs, which are jobs earning up to 520€ per month (as of 2025), are subject to lower taxes, church tax is not applicable.
• For jobs with monthly earnings up to €968 (as of 2025), you typically don't pay income tax or church tax. If any amounts are deducted, you can claim a refund when filing your tax return.

Religious Education

Even though many people don't actively practice a religion anymore, religious education is a still a subject in German schools. School students are taught separately according to their denomination or can choose from alternative subjects like Ethics.

• Generally, schools in the state of Baden-Württemberg offer Catholic and Protestant Religious Education and Ethics. Some schools offer religious education for other communities, including Jewish or Muslim ones and for other Christian denominations.
• Religious communities whose denomination is not on offer in schools often provide religious instruction on weekends or during after-school hours.

Alcohol

Alcohol is legal in Germany. The drinking age is 16 for beer and (sparkling) wine, and 18 for spirits. While many people do drink alcohol, it is perfectly acceptable to refuse drinking and say so – do not feel pressured to accept alcohol or obligated to give a reason for why you don't drink. 

• Public attitudes towards alcohol are more relaxed in Germany than in many other countries, and it is quite normal to offer wine, beer, or sparkling wine at receptions and celebrations, also in an academic setting. There will always also be non-alcoholic alternatives on offer.
• Alcohol is sold at supermarkets, gas stations, and specialty shops. Most bars and restaurants serve alcohol; cafés sometimes do not.

Smoking

Smoking is also legal in Germany (from 18 years of age), but where you can smoke is quite restricted. This includes e-cigarettes. General regluations apply:

• Smoking in public buildings and on public transport is prohibited.
• Train stations have restricted smoking areas and airports have smokers' lounges.
• Most covered spaces such as shopping centers prohibit smoking. In most of these places there are ashtrays placed right outside the door, and there are no legal requirements for keeping a certain distance from building entrances.

Accommodation - including private flats and apartments - must legally be fitted with smoke detectors for fire safety reasons, so you will likely find yourself smoking outside even when you are at home.

Regulations for smoking in pubs and bars vary between Federal States. In Baden-Württemberg, the following regulations apply:

• Smoking areas: some bars or restaurants have designated smoking areas that must be completely closed off from the non-smoking part of the establishment.
• (Beer) gardens or tents: smoking is allowed in open-air areas such as beer gardens and terraces, as well as in tents at popular festivals.
• Smoking bars: small establishments with just one room can allow smoking, provided that they restrict access to adults (over 18) and do not serve hot food.

Cannabis/Marijuana

The consumation of cannabis or marijuna, is legal in Germany, and restricted under the cannabis controll bill (Cannabisgesetz). The cannabis controll bill legalises adults from the age of 18 to use and possess, as well as cultivate limited amounts of marijuana for personal use. But the legalisation of marijuana sits under strict regulation:

• Adults in Germany are allowed to possess up to 25 grams of marijuna in public, and up to 50 grams of dried marijuana at home.
• Adults aged 18 to 21 are object to stricter regulations concerning grams as well as THC content.
• Adult-only, non-profit cannabis social clubs are also legal, with a maximum of 500 members. Here, marijuana is cultivated in a controlled manner and may be handed out to members for personal use. Cannabis social clubs are also object to special regulations.
• You are not allowed to bring marijuana from outside of Germany into the country.
• Public consumption of cannabis is restricted. Consumption is for instance prohibited in pedestrian zones between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.. Smoking marijunana in the vicinity of schools or kindergartens is also stricly prohibited.

More information on the Cannabisgesetz can be found both on the Government website, as well as on the website of the Ministry of Health (both in German).

Adjusting to a new study culture also means adjusting to a new jargon – and the amount of new terms used on a day-to-day basis can be tricky to understand. Our mini-glossary explains the main terms you will hear on campus, also in Tübingen.

Rooms and Classes

• Hörsaal – Lecture hall, commonly used for large lectures.
• Raum or Seminarraum – Normal-sized classroom. Often used for Seminare and Übungen.
• Lehrveranstaltungen – Classes or courses (for the following list see also Type of classes and ECTS for detailed study information).
  • Seminar – A smaller, discussion-based class with active participation. Comes in different levels of focus areas and different ECTS-awards.
    • Proseminar, PS – The first level of seminars, often broad and introductory.
    • Hauptseminar, HS – The next advancement after Proseminar. Smaller difference in difficulty, but usually not introductory and less broad. More demanding than Proseminar and worth more ECTS.
    • Oberseminar, OS – Last, most advanced level of Seminar. Are often worth the most ECTS, have a bigger workload and are more in-depth and specialised.
  • Vorlesung, VL – Lecture. Larger classes and in general professor-led with less student participation.
  • Übung – A small, interactive class centered on a specific topic or skills development. Requires active participation and regular assignments, but involves less workload than a seminar.
  • Tutorium – A tutorial or practice session led by a tutor (often a more advanced student) to help with coursework and -material. Often accompanying a lecture.

Study Structure and Course Organisation

• Vorlesungsverzeichnis – Course catalog, usually available in the ALMA database.
• Modul – A course module, often consisting of multiple lectures or seminars.
• SWS (Semesterwochenstunden) – “Weekly hours per semester” for a course; a 2 SWS course meets for 2 hours per week.
• CP/ECTS-Punkte – Credits points assigned for a class based on workload, see also Recommended workload for exchange students.
• Studienplaner mit Modulplan – “Study planner with module plan” essentially. The study planner in ALMA provides an overview of the course/degree program. Relevant for a few exchange students.

Student Administration

• Matrikelnummer – Student ID number, used for administrative purposes, personal identifier of each student.
• Immatrikulation – Enrollment, receiving official student membership at the university. See Enrollment for the process.
• Rückmeldung – Re-enrollment, the registration for the next semester when you are staying for more than one semester. See Re-enrollment for the process.
• Exmatrikulation – Termination of enrollment, the official withdrawal from the university. See Termination of enrollment on how to deregister. 

Exam and Academic Work

• Hausarbeit – A term paper or writing assignment.
• Essay/Aufsatz - An essay or short writing assignment.
• Klausur – A written exam.
• Nachklausur – A make-up exam for students who missed or failed the first exam.
• Referat – A student presentation.
• Bestehen – Passing a class, an exam or term paper.
• Durchfallen – Failing a class, an exam or term paper.

Student Life and Essentials

• Kommilitone / Kommilitonin / Kommiliton*innen – Your fellow students in the same course or degree program; from Latin commilito, and referring to university student peers in German-speaking countries.
• Mensa – The university food hall, also translates as refectory.
• Fachschaft – The student council representing a specific subject area.

Administrative Terms & Paperwork Basics

• Fakultät – refers to a central unit of the university which covers several related departments. Internationally, Fakultät often corresponds to terms such as school or college
• Immatrikulationsbescheinigung – Certificate of enrollment. Often needed for administrative purposes. See the Certificate of Enrollment FAQ on how to find it.
• Learning Agreement (LA) – Relevant for Erasmus / CIVIS exchange students, a plan specifying the student's courses for their exchange stay. Also available as Online Learning Agreement (OLA). See Learning Agreement for details.
• Schein – Course certificate, not used anymore for exchange students; official proof of academic performance for a single course, often as paper version.
• Semesterbeitrag – The semester fee that students must pay to be or remain enrolled. See Semester Fee for the current amount for exchange students.
• Transcript of Records – Document listing all courses and grades, crucial for exchange students transferring credits. See Transcript for the typical procedure.

Common Abbreviations

• UB – short for Universitätsbibliothek, university library.
• Bib – a quick way to say Bibliothek, library.
• Ersti – short for Erstsemester, a first-semester student.
• N.N. – an abbreviation of the Latin nomen nominandum (“a name to be announced”); e.g. used in the course catalog when the lecturer for a class has not yet been assigned.
• ÖPNV – short for Öffentlicher Personennahverkehr, local public transport.
• Öffis – a quick way to say Öffentlicher Nahverkehr, which implies again the local public transport.
• Bota – short for Botanischer Garten, the former botanical garden on Wilhelmstraße, now as park a popular meeting spot for students during the warmer months.

When looking through the details on your classes, you might notice the extra information next to the time stamp: c.t. and s.t. These abbreviations indicate different start‐time conventions. So, how do they work?

c.t. and s.t. are abbreviations meaning “with time” and “without time”. This indicates whether the class starts with or without the so-called academic quarter – an extra fifteen minutes. The terms abbreviate the Latin terms cum tempore and sine tempore (with time and without time). 

With time indicates that the class starts with the extra fifteen minutes: A class starting at 10:00 c.t. starts at 10:15! Without time, s.t. indicates that the class begins precisely at 10:00, on the hour.

This also has effects on when the class ends. Starting fifteen minutes later normally also means that the class ends fifteen minutes earlier, at quarter to! A standard one-and-a-half-hour class could look like this: 10:15-11:45.

The quarter system dates back when church ringing was the general method of keeping time. When the church rang, students were given 15 minutes to make it to class. It has remained a typical aspect of study culture in several European countries.

E-mails are still primary means of communication in German university life – for topics from applications and admission to course planning and meetings with professors to name just a few. Compared with other systems, you may find e-mail correspondence in Germany, especially in academia, a bit more formal in tone and structure than you are used to. Below are a few suggestions to help you navigate these conventions.

For more information on common customs in Germany, see Cultural Hints.

E-Mails in English versus German

Writing an e-mail in English requires less formality than writing in German. In English, a common greeting phrase is the simple Dear […] with either first or full name for both formal and informal matters. If you want to sound more formal, include the title (Prof. or Dr.) and last name.
While many people in Tübingen and beyond are comfortable communicating in English, they may be accustomed to a rather formal address in e-mails, influenced by German etiquette. To be on the safe side when writing e-mails in English, you can 

• start with Dear [Title] [First Name Last Name] or Dear [First Name Last Name].
• If the person replies on a first-name basis, feel free to do likewise.

English still showcases only one form of address, you. In German, you also need to differentiate between the formal Sie and informal Du, and there are more types of greetings to keep track off! 

Forms of Address in German E-mails

When writing an e-mail in German to a course instructor or someone else, a relative formality is often the norm – at least when first making contact. Emails in Germany should at least include:

• a greeting phrase, and
• a common sign-off signature, in German often something along the lines of Mit freundlichen Grüßen [your full name]. For E-Mails in English use something like: Sincerely, Best wishes or Kind regards.

The phrase Sehr geehrte Frau  […] / Sehr geehrter Herr […] with the person's last name is a common way to start off an email conversation in German. Titles are especially common in academic settings and are often part of a formal address – for example, Sehr geehrte Frau Prof. [Nachname] or Sehr geehrter Herr Dr. [Nachname]. If the tone is slightly less formal, you can use Liebe Frau […] or Lieber Herr […] instead.

In general, once a conversation has started, successive emails might be less formal in tone.

It might appear a tricky ground to traverse, but just mirror what the professor or lecturer is doing! Start off formal in your email, and if the lecturer responds back more layed back, match them!

To-The-Point

Second, e-mails are often straight and to the point. Sticking to the subject at hand is common. Don’t be surprised if your detailed e-mail gets a brief response that nevertheless covers the key information you requested.

Courtesy

Third, it is common for replies to take a few working days, lecturers and others often juggle busy schedules and/or may need time to gather information before they can reply. Resending the same message too quickly (for example, the next day) can actually slow things down. So sit tight and your reply will arrive in time! 

If you still have not received an answer after about five complete business days – and you’re understandably worried your e-mail might have been lost – feel free to send a brief, polite reminder. And during holidays, vacations or business trips, automatic out-of-office replies will let you know when to expect an answer.

Presence and Absence Policies for Classes

Firstly, it generally differs between faculties and sometimes even between subjects whether students are required to physically attend each and every class. If such a policy exists, the lecturer of each class usually mentions their policy regarding illness and absence in the first class session.

As a guideline, unless you were informed differently: Regular attendance is expected in most courses – large lectures being the main exception. In many classes you may miss up to two sessions without reporting or consequences. From the third absence on, however, you should notify the lecturer and supply a valid excuse, such as a medical certificate, exam conflict or compulsory field trip.

Excessive absence may not be accepted by all lecturers. Missing a class more than two times may lead to failing that class. Please double check to be sure! 

Reporting in sick

To report sickness in a required-attendance class, email your lecturer that you are unwell. If it is the third time that you are or were absent and your lecturer accepts this absence – even if you were not sick the first two times – you usually have to include a valid reason, e.g. a medical certificate. The lecturers might report back to you with information on how you can catch up after being absent. If not, make sure to ask them or student peers what you missed.

If you are unable to take an exam due to illness, inform your lecturer as early as possible – clear and timely communication helps to avoid any issues with the exam. To keep your chances for a make-up exam, you usually need to submit a medical certificate (Krankschreibung) to both the lecturer and the examination office. Without it, you might lose that chance and risk failing the course.

See Medical certificate on how to obtain the necessary Krankschreibung. 

Students with Disabilites and Special Needs

Exchange students with chronic illnesses that may lead to more frequent absences in classes, please check out the additional guidance on adjusting study conditions to ensure you receive the necessary support.