Kapitel 2 Kultur Assignment

     I found the articles for this chapter's kultur assignment very interesting, and I enjoyed reading them and learning about some new aspects of German culture. Some of the things that I read about seem pretty strange or foreign to me, like the supposed fascination with statistics and that staring at people is apparently a normal occurrence, but that's probably just because I'm so immersed in Anglo-American culture and it's the only culture I've ever really lived in. Other aspects of German culture highlighted by these articles seem interesting or even refreshing: I like that honesty and openness is valued and practiced. The bluntness would probably take a while to get used to, but I think it would be interesting.
     However, in contrast with the article about how Germans complain a lot, I think that complaining about things is universal to all cultures. All cultures have things that they like and dislike about where they live and how they live, and it seems like cultures everywhere do their fair share of complaining. Maybe Germans take it to a whole other level (I've never been or lived there, so I wouldn't exactly know).
     I'm curious as to whether or not I'll encounter these aspects of German culture if I end up studying abroad in Germany this summer. Some things seem like they'd be nice and I'd be interested in experiencing them in comparison to American culture, and other things I'd rather not experience. For instance, the notion that my neighbors would potentially be watching my every move and the instance in the article about people calling the police on people parking illegally seems kind of like a huge invasion of privacy and like it would be pretty annoying. I guess there's only one way to find out!