Fahreschule – Driving School

Coming from the state of GA, with no reciprocity, our drivers licenses were no longer valid in Germany after six months (mid-January for us).

{Smart car I rented after passing my exams}

Some states offer full reciprocity and others offer partial. (Don’t get me started!) But not GA. So I had to start from scratch to be able to legally drive again as well as to use the thousands of drive share cars throughout the city, which require an EU license.

Since Dave is working full time for Welcoming, I took on the job of getting a German DL.

My first step in getting a license was to spend an entire Saturday in Erste Helfe (First Aid and CPR) class and pass an eye exam. After getting a signed and stamped paper verifying I had passed both, I could move on to the actual driving school.

Luckily, my friend Sarah had researched schools and found one that taught in English. So in early September, our journey began.

{Fahrschule App}

In a nutshell, I sat through 21 hours of theory class and studied for 23 hours on the Fahrschule theory app to prepare for the test that required a 90% or above to pass. In addition, each question had three possible answers where one, two or three of the answers could be correct. I hadn’t been so nervous in a long time, but luckily passed, even aced the exam, the first time. Yes, I was proud. And cried for joy at the testing center as soon as I was told I had passed.

Next up were the practical lessons behind the wheel as well as the driving exam. I started with two 80 minute drives in a tiny Mini Cooper with my instructor Quintus (who pronounced vehicle as vee-HIGH-ickle).{Car shares and IKEA have been key as we are now starting to furnish our next apartment from scratch}

Next were the mandatory drives. I drove on the Autobahn, on three hundred year old cobblestones through country villages, in the city and at night over the course of three drives. One was 2 hours long, one was 4 hours long and one was 5 hours long. Luckily, Quintus is a smoker and needed periodic smoke breaks, which gave me breaks from driving. And the five hour long drive included lunch together near a giant lock system called Schiffshebewerk Niederfinow near the Polish border.

{Schiffshebewerk Niederfinow}

I have to admit that I really enjoyed these country drives through the former East. I saw forests, a former Stasi prison, summer lake resort towns and old villages.

Finally, I prepared for the exam with three 80 minute drives around the area where the exam would take place. The drives through the city of Berlin with an instructor who seemed more than happy to point out moves that would cause me to fail the exam (and there were many) were stressful.

To be ready for the exam, I had to know how to parallel park, to back into a parking spot, how to do an emergency stop, when to follow the right of way rule (not as easy as it sounds), how to negotiate streets along with trams as well as where certain features such as where the hazards and fog lights are.

On March 6, the odyssey ended when I passed the driving exam my first try. Hooray!

{My German DL}

Since then we have enjoyed using the car shares around the city!

{Detour past the Reichstag on our way home from IKEA}

{We are all appreciating our new freedom}