Beware, it can be a problem to have a foreign bank account, maybe even containing your money in a different currency.  Why is that a problem?  In order to carry cash around, you will need to pick it up at an ATM somewhere, and as a student with a limited budget, the fees and currency exchange rates can get quite annoying (and hurtful for your wallet).  Therefore we suggest two main solutions:

1. You get yourself a bank account in your home country that has good partnerships, including free cash withdrawals with German banks.  If you do that, bear in mind that the German partner bank should have as many ATMs as possible.  Just because you can withdraw money without fees from one bank does not mean that this will work for all of them.
2. The second option is to get a German or, even better, an international bank account, for example N26 or Revolut.  The German bank account option is slightly more complicated because you need to provide a lot of documents (see here).  Getting one of the fintech start-up banks is the best option, especially because they are targeting students that travel often.  This means there’s the frequent need to convert currencies and use different banks to get cash.  That being said, make sure you have an EU phone number otherwise you will not be able to access your account (we learned that the hard way!)