Kapitel 2 Kultur

I enjoyed reading these articles shedding humor on tidbits of German life. The famous German complaint reminds me of American culture. I connected their complaints to conversations I hear and catch myself saying when the blue bus is a little late.

The stare-down was something that I've never seen before. In the U.S., it's rude to stare someone down. This German habit kind of reinforced the stereotype that Germans are all harsh and scary. In a historical context, the stare-down makes sense.

I admire the way that Germans tell it like it is. They don't waste time beating around the bush to ensure that no one is offended. I'm sure that their lives are a little less complicated because they're not filled with silly customs about "being polite".

I never realized that so many Americans came from Germany. My grandma immigrated here from Germany when she was 12, which is why I took German. I guess there are a lot of grandchildren like me.

I thought it was really interesting that their universities are broken up by areas of study. I suppose there are technology based universities and liberal arts colleges here too. Their different universities are like all of the schools that make up U of M.