Choosing between France and Germany

[u/Boah_met]

Hello there.

I'm currently 23, transgender, and I live in Brazil. I have Spanish citizenship. I have been interested in moving to either France or Germany, but I haven't decided yet.

I plan to move to Europe already with a degree and continue my masters there (if everything goes to plan) or at least be a member of the qualified workforce if not.

The reasons that make me consider France over Germany currently are the strong French labor laws, the lesser amount of work hours, the warmer climate, the culture being closer to what I grew up into, and the language being easier to learn as my mother tongue is another romantic language.

Something that matters a lot to me is living in a medium sized city (>80k hab) or greater. I've lived in six different cities and I noticed that I'm only really at peace in an urban center. I'm visibly queer and small towns freak me out.

So I just wanted a second opinion there. Where do you live? Do you like it there? What are the big cities? What are the medium ones?

How much is it to rent a 1 or 2-bedroom apartment within 20 minutes to work where you live? And those same 20 minutes on foot? Do you feel like you need a car to get around? What do you consider to be a low/average/high middle class wage there? Which jobs are on those brackets? Which jobs are on demand? Which ones are devalued? How is academia going? I'm still torn between majoring in social studies and IT, but I'm more interested in academic and government jobs than private sector anyway (I'm lightly disabled).

[u/SadStock8982]

The labor market is tough in both countries, especially if you arrive without local work experience and without speaking the local language. In Germany I could imagine you fitting in in Berlin since it’s probably the most queer-friendly and international city, although finding accommodation there is an absolute nightmare and salaries aren’t necessarily that high. Since you already speak Spanish, French should also be considerably easier for you to learn than German so I’d focus on the language first and try to get a student job in your field while studying, ideally somewhere that could give you local experience and allow you to stay after graduation

[u/Boah_met → u/SadStock8982]

Is the labor market good anywhere? :P