As yet, I am still without internet. I never would have thought it would be so difficult to get what I consider to be an essential part of modern life! Even so, it’s been almost a week without… and I’m still alive, so I guess that tells you something.
After the initial orientation session (in German… meaning I understood squat), we [the 60 some-odd international students and I] promptly were chauffeured to a wine tasting. In America, this would consist of miniature glasses of a few wines for an exorbitant amount of money. In Deutchland, however, a wine tasting is an event: each table of roughly eight people was given two large appetizers and eight bottles of wine in a period of about four hours. Yes, that is correct. One bottle per person, all paid for by the University. I love Germany.
As is customary, apparently, many of the other international students and I joined some of our “tutors,” the Trier students assigned to help us along throughout the orientation sessions, on a pub crawl in the historic Porta Negra downtown district. Needless to say, the night ended quite late.
This first day set the pace for the majority of days between it and now, the second day of classes. The University has sponsored two other pub crawls and another wine tasting between last Thursday and today, Wednesday, and has plans for more tours and tastings over the next few weeks. If only universities in America thought that was a good idea…
Differences I’ve noticed thus are too great in number to list. In fact, in my background browsing of other international students and their behaviors, I feel that the Japanese students are the closest in pop-capitalist-consumerism-culture. Frivolous lifestyles do not seem to be as popular as the American and Japanese students are used to.
Example: in America, it is common to refer to distance in terms of how long it takes to drive between two places. I live on Tybee, and say to people I’m about 30 minutes out of Downtown Savannah. In Europe, however, distances and times are related in terms of walking. Virtually everyone walks or takes a bus everywhere in some form or fashion… it’s just a given!
In this respect, it’s actually good to walk in Trier… the drivers absolutely terrify me. I have taken two cabs since I arrived, and had I been afraid of insane driving I likely would have passed out. Horns seem to be the most popular component of the vehicle, and drivers do not play around when it comes to gunning out of a red light. I am highly amused with traffic control, too; stop lights literally flash yellow for a second before turning green just like American race tracks, giving the hundreds of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and disliked Opel (General Motors) cars time to launch into green optimally. It makes me wish I had my car here…
Germans are far less concerned with social taboos of America, especially surrounding “having fun,” aka partying, sex, and anything else that Americans tend to prance around in conversations. Political correctness is far less important, and it is common to find someone directly insulting another nationality via generalization in conversation. This is not to say the Germans are being necessarily rude, but that indirect rudeness is not considered half as offensive as Americans would think.
But don’t get me wrong: you certainly do not want to insult a German. The people I have met thus far are extremely proud to be German, and I’ve found it easiest to only argue with them about American policies and culture (a favorite topic) by seeming to be on “their side.” Unfortunately, the stereotypical cultural disasters provided in pop culture surrounding MTV and the like is what represents America to most I have met, although political feelings seem to have eased in recent years towards us.
In saying that, understanding a German’s stance on America is somewhat confusing. On one hand, Germans are proud of being German, and Americans provide them amusement due to our careless and unorganized ways. On the other, however, American culture is the primary subset of German life; I’d estimate 90% of music Germans listen to are top pop hits in America, making most music English.
However, by our standards, they are “behind”; the music playing most frequently on the radio and in clubs is popular music from three months to a year ago in America. In fact, the most popular music I’ve found is American 80’s music and oldies! Everyone sings along, then converses in German… it’s quite odd.
Although I have not seen much television, every German I have seen watches American shows… Two and a Half Men, Trading Spaces, and Jersey Shore are among the many American shows dubbed-over in German, or sometimes even viewed in English. Movies are likewise; I recognize every movie of the ten playing at the city cinema now as American.
The language barrier does not serve nearly the problem to Germans and other Europeans as it does in America. In fact, I am embarrassed to be American due to the fact that almost anyone you run into has at least a basic working knowledge of English. Many surpass even that, which by my standards is impressive by itself, by being fluent in German, English, and often French and/or Spanish!
Why? Because unlike in our egotistical society, Germans are raised learning multiple languages from early in grade school. I spoke to a German in my dorm recently who has taken more years of English than I have, and I’m an English major!
American stores are prevalent in Germany, with many advertising “American” wear and foods. I have found few places (aside from the bars) that get more packed than the McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, and Burger King all located in the city!
Germans tend to live for the day rather than plan for the week, especially in terms of planning meals and events. Wal-Marts do not exist, obviously, and the closest stores to it are similar to large-scale Macy’s Department Stores. Many, many, many shops exist, both German and other nationalities, but the emphasis is on purchasing in small quantities on a regular basis rather than a lot at once.
In fact, one hard to swallow difference is that grocery markets do not have bags to put groceries in after you buy them. It’s not even an option. So, keeping in mind you walk virtually everywhere in the city, you’d better not buy more than you can carry and walk with for upwards of thirty minutes!
In terms of foods, I haven’t the slightest idea how Germans are not larger than the houses they live in. As best as I can discern, Germans live on a liquid beer diet and brot (bread). From time to time, they’ll throw a sausage into the mix.
I’ve noticed that the only thing more popular than being German in Trier is being a German in a bakery; much like we tend to think of a Starbucks being on every corner, there is literally a bakery in sight at any given point in the city proper. On top of that, the breads baked are no run-of-the-mill flour goods; any pastry, bread, grain, sugar, or small sausage-infested sandwich you can think of is up for grabs at all times of the day… and oh do they taste good!
Speaking of time, Trier has a far different understanding of how and when shops and other businesses are open. Open hours are strictly from around 9am to 6pm, with many closing for up to a 2 hour lunch break. So, if you’ve forgotten to pick up something for the evening and it does not involve beer, you’re going to have to wait until the next morning if it’s already after 6pm. And Sundays are even worse; absolutely nothing, save bars and restaurant/bars, is open on Sunday, period.
Alas, I could go on forever… I actually missed a wine tasting tonight (due to the wrong bus… which is easy to do, considering the lines change after 6pm and everything is in German), and ended up studying my Deutsch for over four hours. The first three some-odd weeks of my time here are German language from 9am-1pm, with the afternoons reserved for “formalities” of registering with the University for classes and whatnot, which start in April.
Having zero prior knowledge of German, I’m having a rough time to say the least, but hopefully will at least be able to understand the gist of what the Germans say to me… as well as read enough to get by. However, Universitat Trier offers several classes in English, which will likely be what I “qualify” for after the language placement test in a few weeks.
It’s time for a shower and bed, being that it’s roughly 2:15am here. Savannah is five hours behind Trier, soon to be six come Sunday after daylight savings time hits Germany. Luckily (and quite randomly, today I found a closer set of showers, bathrooms, and a kitchen than those I was aware of. One would think I would have noticed these after being here a week, but… yeah. Everything’s in German.
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Auf Wiedershen!
language-ESL schools are highly involved and devoted in bringing different cultures on a single platform. This is why in all ESL schools one can find a beautiful multicultural environment.
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