[Rick Lee]

I would definitely do it. At the very least, you could use the money in your European account to pay for your own purchases in Europe with no fees at all. I don't think it really matters if you go to a large int'l. bank or just open up a passbook account at any local Sparkasse in Germany. It's not like you need the ATM card or many of their services. Note of caution though. When I was going to school in Germany I had built a considerable savings account there, working for about 6 mos. When I went to close my account before heading back to the U.S., I learned they had a fee for closing your account. It was something like 10-20 DM in those days, probably a lot more now. So I just withdrew all but about 5 DM and left.