No Dorm, No Problem? : An Exchange Student’s Hunt for a Room in Munich

Every autumn, exchange students arrive in Munich with a suitcase and a study plan, but many arrive without a house. Munich, Germany’s most expensive city, has far more students than dorm beds, and for short-term students the private market can feel almost closed. Yiwen, a master’s student from China, is spending five months at LMU. Like half of the students from her home university, she did not get a dorm place. We talked about scrolling housing ads until 4 a.m., landlords who avoid short-term tenants, and why she still believes everything will end well.

How long will you stay?
I’m at the Faculty of Biology from October to February, so five months. At home I study pharmaceutical chemistry, but LMU’s pharmacy faculty doesn’t accept exchange students, so I argued a bit and applied to biology instead. My program is taught in English, which mattered because I don’t speak German.

What was your first reaction when you learned you didn’t get a dorm?
Honestly, I thought it was crazy. A friend who did an exchange in Hamburg told me exchange students always get a dorm. Finding a short-term flat abroad is hard enough, and without German it’s even harder. I just couldn’t believe that email.

Where did you search for a room?
Everywhere. I used WG-Gesucht, and I even paid someone on a Chinese second-hand app to post ads for me on Kleinanzeigen, because I had no German phone number to register. Nobody answered. I scrolled Red Note every day for sublets and asked friends of friends. Rooms were always already gone, and once we even met a scammer.

Did you feel treated differently as an international or short-term student?
Yes. On Kleinanzeigen, people rarely replied once they saw I was foreign. Many landlords, even Chinese landlords in Germany, told me they don’t rent to anyone staying less than a year. Some student apartments only accept tenants for nine months or more. I wrote emails to argue, but they all said no.

How did you finally find your place?
Through WG-Gesucht. I messaged more than ten landlords and two replied. One had three empty rooms in the same building, so my friends and I rented them together. I think he was happy to fill them at once. Now I live in a four-person flat in Laim. The landlord is German and manages the building professionally. He was very kind: when we had no German bank account yet, he let us pay after we arrived.

How much do you pay, and was it worth it?
My room is about 20 square meters and costs nearly 1,000 euros a month. Dorm students pay around one third of that, so I spend more carefully now. But I had spent two weeks scrolling ads until three or four in the morning, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought: how many times in life do you get to go abroad? The location also helps, between the old campus and the biology campus in Großhadern.

Was moving in difficult?
Surprisingly smooth. We agreed in the morning, and he sent the contract that afternoon. The deposit was one month’s rent, which feels fair, since some places ask for two or three months. He also quickly gave us the document for the address registration.

Do you think Munich’s housing problem is structural?
Yes. Everyone I know who missed the dorm had the same difficulty. I even saw a story about someone flying a banner from a plane with their phone number, looking for a flat. It’s a landlord’s market. Honestly, as a landlord I would also prefer someone stable who stays for years. I understand it, but for half-year exchange students it’s very unfriendly.

What advice would you give future exchange students without a dorm?
Start searching as early as possible, and ask older students. If you arrive in spring, you might take over a room from someone leaving. You will feel anxious. Arriving with two heavy suitcases and no home is terrible. I was so worried I even asked a friend to read my fortune. But if you can come, you will find something. As I like to say: everything will have a good end, and if it is not good, it’s not the end.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.