German Culture Highlights (905 hits)
Category: NoneRating: -0.71 on 31 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Myself (View user info) at 2006-02-13 12:34:33 EST
Last July I went to Germany with my husband for our honeymoon. It is the first time I have been out of the U.S. My husband is an Army brat and was born in Kaiserslautern, and later spent a couple years living in Lahndstuhl. So we decided to go to Germany for our first trip abroad (We are both avid travelers).
Germany is a beautiful country. In the two weeks we were there we saw as much of the country as we could, and we put about 5,000 kilometers on the car we rented. We saw everything from Neuschwanstein to the chalk cliffs on the northern coast.
During our trip we noticed some of the cultural differences between ourselves and the Germans. I think this is one of the best parts of travel, because these are all the little things you generally don't learn from books. What follows is a list of some things which stand out in my mind.
Pepperoni pizza isn't pepperoni pizza. Even though the English translation on a menu still says pepperoni, it isn't. In Germany pepperoni are means long thin green peppers, while here it's a spicy meat, something like salami. So when we ordered a pepperoni pizza, we were a little surprised with what we got.
Germans prefer their bread hard. I'm familiar with Kaiser Rolls and new that German bread here in the U.S. is hard, but they take it a step further there. Even at McDonald's, the buns are toasted. Not a huge difference, but interesting to note.
There are some niceties of U.S. culture that are missing in Germany. Strangers don't make as much eye contact, and if they do, there isn't the little smile and nod that there is here. True, maybe it was because we were tourists, but I don't think we stood out that much. We even fooled an American soldier into thinking we were German at one point. He thought we spoke very good English.
There are some niceties in Germany which we don't have here. Often, when we entered the room for breakfast, at our hotels, everyone else already there would greet us. Unless making eye contact, we generally ignore people here. The hotel operators were much friendlier than they are here; again, this may be because we were foreign, and all the hotel operators knew we were American.
No free refills! This is perhaps the hardest thing to deal with (especially for my husband) Cokes are small and expensive, and there are no free refills. What's worse is water isn't free either. Of course once we learned this we took to keeping a 1.5 liter of water or coke in the car. I'm not sure why this is. I didn't notice that in some places, all the drinks came from glass bottles, which might explain the cost, but I don't know if that's how it was everywhere.
Food is very different. Of course, I knew there was an emphasis on pork, but I wasn't prepared for the extent of it. I love the herbed butter they put on the steaks. None of the dressing for salads is like it is here. They have some thin white stuff. Yeah.... Well, anyway - Even the French dressing was that way, not at all what we call French dressing here, which is tomato and vinegar based.
Well, if I sit here long enough I'll keep thinking of more things, but I'll stop here. I would be curious to know how things are in Australia and England and anywhere else. I have a tendency to imagine English speaking countries to be quite like us, though I know that isn't the case.
User Reviews
Submitted by no_one (user info) at 2006-02-14 08:42:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
wow, that's a lot of comments all of a sudden. Anyway, I do just want to say that we had Mcdonald's because I got violently sick one of the days I was there, and after that my stomach was to weird to eat things it wasn't used to. So it was steaks and McDonald's from there on in. And look, I'm sorry many of you are taking this so seriously. It wasn't meant to be. Just the odd things. The things you wouldn't normally think of as being part of a culture. Still, it's fun to read your comments.
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2006-02-14 07:40:58 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:36:53 (#)
Ranking: 0
German techno music makes a nice soundtrack for beating up Jews and homosexuals.
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Would have been a -2, but +1 for this review. Too fucking funny Jeanneee!
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-02-14 07:28:18 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-14 07:13:28 (#)
Ranking: -2
Still awful
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True.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-14 07:13:28 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Still awful.
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2006-02-13 22:00:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I've been to Germany a few times, and I have say, maybe you should spend more time there, stay in one spot and imerse yourself in the culture, instead of trying to cram in as many sights as possible. Perhaps then you will be better able to comment on the nuance of cultural differences. There's more than beverages and bread, there are whole museums dedicated to art styles that never became popular in the US and theatre with shows you'll never catch in the states.
Please though, when next you leave the country, DON'T EAT AT McDONALDS!!! You will miss out on the wealth of new strange tasty and unpleasant food that other cultures have to offer!
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (user info) at 2006-02-13 21:50:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
... because I asked someone to check out "The Innocents Abroad" and this may have sealed the deal.
Submitted by Istaros (user info) at 2006-02-13 21:38:31 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
"Submitted by dove666 (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:41:14 (#)
Ranking: -1
How can you write an article about traveling Germany and not mention beer?
Water? Coke? Mcdonalds?"
hahahahahahaha. these are the cultural highlights of Germany, huh? hard bread at McDonald's, no free refills, and lack of eye contact? you're a fucking moron. and look up "avid" in the dictionary; if this was your first trip abroad, you simply don't classify as an "avid" traveller. a travelling aphid, yes. an avid traveller, certainly not.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-02-13 21:17:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ripopotmus (user info) at 2006-02-13 16:43:48 (#)
Ranking: 0
Caulaincourt - have you ever been to Germany? I'm going to guess that you haven't in which case you should shut your fuckin' ballwasher.
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No but there is more difference of culture between two american states than the few stated above. Surely there is more to Germany, or any other place, than coke and refills.
Submitted by Gollygoshgirl (user info) at 2006-02-13 21:03:04 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Oooh, but wait, there's more! *waits*
Submitted by Hairsphincter (user info) at 2006-02-13 16:46:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I am an Australian who went to school in Germany. I am an "avid traveller" having lived in the middle east and spent time in Africa, Asia and North America
I would hazard the comment - there are more differences in German and American cultures.
But I think some of your countrymenz have already illustrated that.
Viel Gluck.
Submitted by ripopotmus (user info) at 2006-02-13 16:43:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Caulaincourt - have you ever been to Germany? I'm going to guess that you haven't in which case you should shut your fuckin' ballwasher.
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2006-02-13 15:55:16 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
You're lucky to have made it out of Germany alive.
They have a history of incinerating and/or conducting medical "experiments" on retards over there.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-13 15:31:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-02-13 15:19:30 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:22:20 (#)
Ranking: 0
German Cultural Highlights with no shitzer videos?
Blasphemy.
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dammit, indo, ya beat me to it!!!!
although, y'know another wierd thing Germans do? If they open a can of something, like soup, after they pour the soup in the pot, they'll wash out the tin can BEFORE they throw it away.
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Holy shit I may be german!!!
I do that, if you don't take out trash that often cans will stink. Germans probably have some kind of clean can fetish though, canderflaggan or something like that.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-02-13 15:19:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:22:20 (#)
Ranking: 0
German Cultural Highlights with no shitzer videos?
Blasphemy.
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dammit, indo, ya beat me to it!!!!
although, y'know another wierd thing Germans do? If they open a can of something, like soup, after they pour the soup in the pot, they'll wash out the tin can BEFORE they throw it away.
Submitted by cuberat (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:59:12 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
You are the reason the rest of the world thinks all americans are ignorant fat fucks.
Well, you and GW Bush that is...
Submitted by mikethescottish (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:49:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It always intrigues me how inoffensive and relatively banal posts like this can raise the ire of Uber.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:22:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
German Cultural Highlights with no shitzer videos?
Blasphemy.
Submitted by ubetidid (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:15:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
did you take any photographs? why didn't you post them?
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:05:37 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Well, you could've fooled me. With a title like 'German Culture Highlights' I'd have expected more than bitching because you're a tight cunt.
Funny that.
Submitted by no_one (user info) at 2006-02-13 13:04:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, I guess I could have told you about the things we actually did. I can do that some other time if you like. However, my intention here, was to just note the odd differences between here in the U.S. and there. I'm sorry if you missed that.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:59:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I was in Berlin recently actually, and noticed something too! The bread wasn't hard. They just gave you stale bread because you are stupid, and at the age of 22, with a college-level education, you still can't write properly.
Submitted by retrospect (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:56:40 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
wow, thanks for that riveting play by play of a foreign culture.
*different dressings
*hard bread
*mcdonalds?????
i hope you only paid four dollars for your trip because the acount you gave was worth about that much.
i learn more about germany from ggogle earth than i did from an actual person... great!
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:54:25 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:53:25 (#)
Ranking: -2
All that culture and you come out with horse-shit like 'No Refills?'. Stop choking on cock.
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hahahah
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:53:25 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
So money's been tight. Airfare isn't cheap.
Sounds like you should have read up before you went and realised that Germany is a seriously expensive country. Fucking idiot.
All that culture and you come out with horse-shit like 'No Refills?'. Stop choking on cock.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:50:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I have a tendency to imagine English speaking countries to be quite like us, though I know that isn't the case
Dont expect free ANYTHING in Britain, customer service doesnt exist here.
Also, did you find the Germans really did have no sense of humour? I did, theyre just strange.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:49:26 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
So we decided to go to Germany for our first trip abroad (We are both avid travelers). """
-- It's your first trip but you are both avid travelers?
No free refills! This is perhaps the hardest thing to deal with (especially for my husband) Cokes are small and expensive, and there are no free refills. """
-- You americans...the fact that you can't drink a barrel of pop is the hardest thing to deal with? Eeew!
So you traveled to Germany and all you did is compare american beverages & food versus german's? WOW!
Submitted by no_one (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:48:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes, well I am an avid traveller. I'm just 22 though and just graduated college in may. So money's been tight. Airfare isn't cheap. And sorry Dove666 I don't drink beer.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:44:30 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
So we decided to go to Germany for our first trip abroad (We are both avid travelers).
Admittedly the U.S. has a great deal to offer, but you can hardly class yourself an 'avid traveller' if you'd never been abroad.
Submitted by dove666 (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:41:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
How can you write an article about traveling Germany and not mention beer?
Water? Coke? Mcdonalds?
Submitted by PokeyPecker (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:39:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I can't believe you got someone to marry you.
I can't believe how fucking ignorant you are.
I can't believe I have to call you "countryman."
I can't believe you have managed to survive as long as you have.
I can't believe nobody has raped you with Leroy, the coked up serial killer from Compton.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
I can't believe you're still alive.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2006-02-13 12:36:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
German techno music makes a nice soundtrack for beating up Jews and homosexuals.
So I'm told, anyway.