In 10 weeks I have learned so many interesting and amazing things about German culture and the cultures of the other German speaking countries. I never would have thought that our cultures as Americans, and that of the Germans or the other cultures that speak German would be so similar. They live off humor and have a different sense of humor than we do. The German people are just so incredibly fascinating and they are such a friendly, and very welcoming group of people. They have a more mature sense of humor but at the same time the people seem to have a nice classy feel about them. They make Germany seem like a very fun and exciting place to go visit and seems like it would be a good time.
In Germany during Karneval they make floats making fun of their politicians and other political aspects of even other culture! That is very similar to what we do here. We don’t always use floats to do it that way but we use satirical TV shows such as The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live. The humor may be different but it is humor based on the same type of things and that makes us very common in that regard. Both our cultures eat together as a family at dinner but it seems more likely in our culture that we do not get to spend that much time eating with our families that the German people do. They are much more friendly at public places. They let complete strangers sit next to them and talk to them without a second thought. There is nothing wrong with that but it is definitely something we do not tend to do in America. Both of our cultures are very family oriented and love celebrating the holidays together.
The German speaking countries have a lot more in common than just the fact they all speak German. They are all in a close area together and anything that usually affects one can have an effect on the other surrounding areas. They all have the same problems between them. They have gas price issues, debates about laws involving worldwide and controversial issues like abortion. They are all similar to each other and to an extend a lot of the western world in those aspects. Outside of Germany the other countries do not tend to get involved in the major conflicts that are happening with Iraq and Afghanistan. They have a very close connection with each other since WWII even if it was in a forceful way. All in all they all have a very nice feel about them and have that welcoming free willed European vibe that we read about in America.
Within 10 weeks of studying German culture I have found that my eyes are more open to learning how they live their day to day lives, how they celebrate holidays and just all about them in general. I did not really have an opinion about the German culture in a negative or a positive away before these ten weeks but the one that I have now is a fairly good one. I may not agree with how graphic some of the floats are at karneval with it being a family event but I am also pleasantly surprised to see how family oriented they really are. They just invite strangers to do things with them, while in America that is a very rare thing to see. Also in a strange way it is nice to see that even though the horrors of WWII will never be forgotten, that the rest of world does not hold them accountable any longer and they are just normal people like everyone else.
