A 27-year-old American moved to Germany to medical school: “I feel happy here”

While Eric Roberts She was a high school student who grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, she participated in a two -week exchange program that delivered her to Munich, Germany. At the time, she did not know it, but this experience would form the rest of her life.

Fast forward to 2016, when Roberts was a freshman at the college, studying biochemistry with a preliminary orientation on Massachusetts. Even when she worked on a bachelor’s degree and attending medical school, she felt unfulfilled.

“I was a young adult who wanted to experience the world and all that came with him,” she says CNBC. “All the places where I toured in high school promised diversity, public and personal growth, but reality felt different. I decided that I needed to look for my own problems if I wanted to realize it. I just didn’t feel that I was worried about the future.”

At the same time, Roberts began to think about what life would actually be if she went to another school, in particular to Germany.

Unlike the US, in Germany, you do not need a bachelor’s degree to attend a medical school. Instead, students enroll in a six -year program divided into three stages, with exams held after each.

Most German state universities are either free or offer less expenses compared to other countries.

All these factors continued to influence Roberts thinking. She considered that this step would be her best option because she could become a dermatologist without longer learning.

Roberts started collecting German again after a brief high school classes.

“I tried to challenge myself and meet people from all over the world. That’s not what you will definitely get in the States if you are not in a major city,” she says. “I feel that Europe is doing better work on the treatment of young people in a way that gives you responsibility, so you are under younger, and you know what to do compared to the states, it’s more waiting for you 21 years, and suddenly it breaks.”

Roberts tried to discuss a visit to a medical school in Germany with his dad, but he rejected the idea. He wanted her to graduate from the USA. But when Roberts finished his freshman 3.9 average score, her dad changed her mind and gave her a green light to continue her studies in Germany.

“My dad looked like, ‘Okay, if that’s what you think is really the right direction. You will try a typical route, and if it still feels you need to go and find out, then sure you can try, “she says.

Roberts completed his freshman at the college in 2017 and registered at a language school where she also planned to live and settled in Germany.

Just a few weeks after the registration, Roberts got on the plane and headed to Germany. She lived in a hostel at a language school less than a year before moving with her boyfriend to the family. Such a life agreement ended when they parted. She moved to a common apartment with two other people where she lived for about a year.

In the end, Roberts landed in an apartment with roommates and lived there for five years. When she first moved, she paid 565 euros or $ 648 a month. As long as she moved, her rent was 659 euros per month or $ 751.

Today, Roberts lives on its own, but it is not comfortable to disclose what to pay. Instead, it shared that its total cost outside the rent is 749 euros or $ 859 a month.

According to the documents, the CNBC considered, these monthly costs include 230 euros per products, 144 euros per health insurance, 24 euros for the gym, 28 euros for a mobile phone and 38 euros for transportation. She also pays 85 euros for training at a medical school and usually spends 200 euros, going out to eat or hang up with friends.

“Taxpayers allow you to keep public universities so low, so I will be able to return my share properly as I work here,” Roberts says.

Roberts noticed that while living in Germany, it structures its days, has healthier eating habits and overcomes things much less.

“I think he came from my experience in Philadelphia the desire to be truly individualist and see how people exist here in the universe, so as not to try to do what I was balanced,” she says.

“(This) I force me to confront the one I honestly tell me the world around me, I have to be.”

Roberts has been in Germany for almost eight years, she says she loves security, access to good food and availability. Being there, also forced her to learn to adapt.

“Recognizing the environment in which you are and the rules that dictate that the environment is really important for understanding how to succeed,” she says.

“What I have definitely noticed is how slowly over the years I have adapted German culture. I grew up here so much. I grew up in the person I am now.”

The Roberts family is mostly all in us, so moving back will always be an opportunity, she says. But as long as she can see herself in Europe for a long time.

“I wouldn’t have thought 10 years ago that I would live in Germany for as long as mine and how it all worked as it is. I couldn’t predict where I was now 10 years ago,” she says.

“I’m not trying to predict a strictly predict where I will be 10 years old today, but now I feel very happy here and I have seen me staying here.”

On April 23, 2025, the transformation from the Euro to USD was made using the Oanda conversion factor from 1 euro to 1.14 USD.

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