Blog Posts for International Co-Op

     As I’m settling into Germany, I’m leaning a lot about German culture and how it differs from the states. In terms of cuisine, traditional German food is a lot of meat. As a vegetarian, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the vegetarian version of the meat dishes I’ve tried, including schnitzel and bratwurst. I’ve also found the German supermarkets have a lot more variety in terms of meat substitutes. There are vegetarian versions of a lot of traditional dishes and they even have vegetarian deli meat! Outside of meat, there are a lot of pickles and potatoes. I’d be remised to mention potatoes without mentioning how much I love German potato salad. Potato salad in the US has never been my favorite as it’s very creamy but the potato salad here is often vinegary instead. This version is so good and offers an acidic bite that pairs perfectly with all the meat consumed.
     Understanding German traditions/ customs has been a bit of a learning experience for me. One norm is that you have to make strong eye contact with every person and say Prost when you’re cheersing people. I often have to remind myself to do this and to hold the contact for a longer time than I’m used to. Additionally, I’ve observed that Germans generally wait until everyone arrives to start eating and they do not leave the table until everyone is finished. Although I think this is polite in the states as well, it is not as strongly enforced as it appears to be here. They also always use silverware when eating. I had no idea how often Americans eat with their hands until I made the conscious effort to eat most things with silverware instead.
     In terms of my German progress, I’m still improving but I feel that my progress has slowed since the beginning. When I first arrived, I was forced to learn a lot of German, on the fly, and very quickly. I had to figure out the public transit system and announcements, understand polite phrases and when to use them (ex: Mahlzeit, which is a greeting used at lunch time), how to order in stores, and much more. Essentially every situation I was in had a large learning curve and was completely new to me. However, as I’ve gotten into a daily routine, I find myself confronted less with these differences / new situations. Of course I’m still learning a lot every day, I’m just learning less than I was. I also find it really odd because I can understand the gist of conversations now without directly translating every word. I’ve heard people mention this when you become more fluent in a language, but it feels weird to experience firsthand. As a result, I also think my ability to read situations and context in general has drastically improved.
     In terms of holidays, it seems that a lot of the holidays by me revolve around drinking. Specifically, I was able to experience Karneval in Cologne. This local holiday has religious origins but is a long season culminating into one large celebratory weekend. To celebrate Karneval, people dress up in costumes, drink at local bars, watch parades (many with political statements), receive free candy and flowers, and dance to music meant to elicit pride for the city of cologne. Although the aspects involved in this holiday are similar to holidays in the states, the overall event feels very different. There are also celebrations for Labor Day. These celebrations involve giving decorated may trees, drinking, watching the towns may tree to ensure it isn’t stolen by another town, stealing another towns may tree, etc.