Moving to germany!

Sapsorrow

Hi, my partner and I are planning on moving to germany in the next year or two so I can do my masters over there. We were thinking of Berlin, munich and dresden in particular. Been looking on the internet all afternoon at property rental sites and can't find anyone who caters for people on lower budgets.
We wouldn't like to end up paying more than 600 a month, because I'll be in college and so will only have one persons wages to live on.
Anyone know how we should go about looking for flats in the mean time to get an idea of what to expect?
We would love to live in a house within commuting distance to these cities as we have a lot of pets and like to garden, anybody have any info on doing this? Is it a lot more expensive, is public transport good and which towns are nicest?
Also what is the minimum wage over there and how hard would it be to get work with little or no german? (I'll be a qualified nutritional scientist and my partner has plenty of factory gardening experience).
Lots of questions I know, answers to any of them would be great!
Thanks!

BrigR

Hi! Trying to answer a few of your questions. All 3 cities you mention are very nice, but which one offers the university course you are looking for or which one has the best reputation for your course? When it comes to rents I think Dresden and some areas or Berlin- mind you, only some! might be cheaper than Munich. That used to be the case when I was still living in Germany. I think that you should find a flat within your budget, a lot of appartment blocks will offer you part use of a communal garden, some landlords will be delighted if you are willing to take over the garden. Generally you need the landlord's permission for keeping dogs. Cats are generally tolerated. You should try and do some German language courses as soon as possible. German is quite hard to learn and people at your workplace will expect you to be able to communicate. You'll have to go through an interview. I'll try and find some links for you re renting!
Good luck

BrigR

Try www.immobilienscout24.de
They do an English language page.
www.jobscout24.de
for job ads
Hope this helps a bit. Most websites I found were only in German. For renting a flat try immobilien and Mietwohnung

Sapsorrow

Thanks you so much, I actually have a little german left over from the leaving cert so I plan on taking classes now once the college year starts again, it's more my partner I'm worried bout as he hasn't a word and as you said it's a tough language to get to grips with.
Another place I was thinking was meissen, as it owuld be an easy commute to dresden and maybe it would be possible to afford a house there outside the town with a good garden, do you think this is likely or would all the houses within a commutable distance be very pricey?
Last time I lived in an apartment I swore never again as I'm a real country bumkin and I hate to do it to my pets.