All Aboard

Let's face it. Trains in the States suck. Really, they barely exist. Outside the patchy commuter rail net that extends into most major cities, and the incredibly-overpriced Amtrak lines that course up and down the coasts, we don't have a train system at all. I think the closest most American college students have come to dealing with trains on a regular basis was when they had a Thomas the Tank Engine comforter in their crib. In Germany, on the other hand, everyone rides the trains. The Deutsche Bahn can be a little expensive for single tickets, and they apparently have no idea what to do with snow, but they are so convenient that any travel-minded exchange student (Read: All exchange students) will soon acquire an intimate familiarity with the company. Why not, when it is probably possible to get between any two cities in Germany with a short bus ride, a train ride of indeterminate length, and another short bus ride?

The DB boasts a wide variety of train types and ticket packages which you would do well to become acquainted with as soon as possible. As tempting as it is to 'Schwarzfahr' (An invaluable German idiom meaning 'To ride without a ticket'), it is probably a bad idea for train rides of any length. If you are going no more than twenty minutes to half an hour, it's quite likely that you will never see a ticket controller. But they tend to show up without fail anytime you wish they wouldn't, and the fine of 40 Euros or twice the maximum ticket price is definitely not worth paying. (With buses, on the other hand, paying the fine now and then is almost certainly cheaper than buying two or three tickets a day, assuming you can not get a Student Ticket. In four months in Konstanz, I have only been controlled once).

Since you will probably be travelling with friends, you will most commonly be buying group tickets. In this case, a Bundesland Ticket is the best value. There is one for all of the 16 German states, and the price varies depending on the size of the state. The Baden-Wuerttemberg Ticket, for example, costs 28 Euros for a single day's worth of unlimited travelling for five people in any non-express train within the state. If you are going between states, just buy a ticket for each Bundesland you go through, and it'll probably still be cheaper than individual tickets. For weekend travel, the 39 Euro Schoenes Wochenende (literally 'Beautiful Weekend') ticket allows five people to take any non-express train in Germany for one day. I have a friend who is going to use this ticket on Christmas Day to ride with her boyfriend to Berlin; Serious money-savers take note. In addition, the DB often works together with popular attractions to offer deals on train tickets and entry prices. I went to Europapark, 'The most popular seasonal theme park in the world' according to wikipedia, with some friends for only about 48 Euros each.

Take my word for it: you are going to be spending enough time and money on train tickets in Europe, so do your research and make sure you don't pay more than you have to.