2. Stay off the bike path! Here in Hamburg and Wedel, on the side walks are differently paved paths, on the left side of the side walk that are designated for bikers. Make sure you are completely aware of this at all times and do not wander off into the bike path only to be yelled at.
3. Transportation looks really confusing and terrible, but its not. There will always be another train and there will always be another bus. Due to the much larger amount of people, transportation is constant. Trains run about every ten minutes and buses usually go from ten to twenty minutes. Its so amazing.
4. Germany is certainly not as dirty as your regular old country. And there's a reason for that. A big difference I've noticed between USA and Germany is that people can actually work together as a community. Litter isn't a huge issue. Everyone cleans up their own space and makes sure to throw stuff away. Drop a bit of cookie on the floor in the train? Pick it up, there's a garbage can five feet away from you. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE RIGHT?
5. Public restrooms and water fountains are scarce. And even if you do find a public restroom, you're probably going to have to pay for it. Always have a water bottle with you.
6. KEEP YOUR CHANGE. Whenever I got change in America, it would be thrown into my change jar so I could later bribe my siblings with quarters to wash my dishes. Here, 2 € and 1 € only come in coins, bills start at 5 €. So, you'll go shopping two or three times and end up with 13 € in change and not even know it. Its highly convenient once you get used to it.
7. Everyone dresses really well. Its rare that you see a girl with sweatpants and no make up on. And even if they don't have make up on or look like they're having a frumpy day (yes we've all had them) they still dress really well to make up for it! Its interesting, and it's forcing me to organize my mornings a bit better so I have time to at least appear decent.
8. Public eye contact is weird. What I'm used to if I accidently make that awkward "too long" eye contact with someone in public, I give a quick smile and keep going on with my day. Here, you just deal with the awkward eye contact, skip the smile, and try not to do that again. If you smile, it may be taken as a flirty hint and that's a bit more awkward than the latter.
9. When you eat at the table, both hands are always on the table. Go ahead, break out a bowl of cereal and try this. Keep one hand on the table, not really doing anything, and the other one does its regular job. Its different right? Usually, you're used to letting your hand sit in your lap and chill out, while your other one does all the work. Its different, but cool, and hard to get used to!
10. Bread and cheese is the essential meal for any time of the day and its awesome.
11. Peanut butter is scarce. Normally, you won't find it in super markets. I'm not sure whether they don't like the taste, or they've just decided that Nutella is way better (because it it is) and have wiped it out. Nutella basically is peanut butter here and I'm certainly not complaining. (but your trainer might) Oh! And make sure to bring Reese's Peanut butter cups with you because anything similar to than piece of heaven is nonexistent here </3
12. Mineral water is the bomb here and is often the substitute for water.
13. Girls, stock up on scarfs, because its the highest fashion. Its so common, its like wearing shoes. Everyone has at least 10-20 and its insane. I only brought two, so my journey to having a full German collection started yesterday with my first German scarf. Yay!
There will probably be a lot more to my Funky Travel Guide, but this is most all of the stuff I have learned within this first week.
Speaking of which, today is the marker of my first week here and it feels like its already been three months. I love it, its beautiful, its wonderful, and I'm looking forward to my year here :) Thank you to Mat, Katja, and Julie for all your help so far!
3. Transportation looks really confusing and terrible, but its not. There will always be another train and there will always be another bus. Due to the much larger amount of people, transportation is constant. Trains run about every ten minutes and buses usually go from ten to twenty minutes. Its so amazing.
4. Germany is certainly not as dirty as your regular old country. And there's a reason for that. A big difference I've noticed between USA and Germany is that people can actually work together as a community. Litter isn't a huge issue. Everyone cleans up their own space and makes sure to throw stuff away. Drop a bit of cookie on the floor in the train? Pick it up, there's a garbage can five feet away from you. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE RIGHT?
5. Public restrooms and water fountains are scarce. And even if you do find a public restroom, you're probably going to have to pay for it. Always have a water bottle with you.
6. KEEP YOUR CHANGE. Whenever I got change in America, it would be thrown into my change jar so I could later bribe my siblings with quarters to wash my dishes. Here, 2 € and 1 € only come in coins, bills start at 5 €. So, you'll go shopping two or three times and end up with 13 € in change and not even know it. Its highly convenient once you get used to it.
7. Everyone dresses really well. Its rare that you see a girl with sweatpants and no make up on. And even if they don't have make up on or look like they're having a frumpy day (yes we've all had them) they still dress really well to make up for it! Its interesting, and it's forcing me to organize my mornings a bit better so I have time to at least appear decent.
8. Public eye contact is weird. What I'm used to if I accidently make that awkward "too long" eye contact with someone in public, I give a quick smile and keep going on with my day. Here, you just deal with the awkward eye contact, skip the smile, and try not to do that again. If you smile, it may be taken as a flirty hint and that's a bit more awkward than the latter.
9. When you eat at the table, both hands are always on the table. Go ahead, break out a bowl of cereal and try this. Keep one hand on the table, not really doing anything, and the other one does its regular job. Its different right? Usually, you're used to letting your hand sit in your lap and chill out, while your other one does all the work. Its different, but cool, and hard to get used to!
10. Bread and cheese is the essential meal for any time of the day and its awesome.
11. Peanut butter is scarce. Normally, you won't find it in super markets. I'm not sure whether they don't like the taste, or they've just decided that Nutella is way better (because it it is) and have wiped it out. Nutella basically is peanut butter here and I'm certainly not complaining. (but your trainer might) Oh! And make sure to bring Reese's Peanut butter cups with you because anything similar to than piece of heaven is nonexistent here </3
12. Mineral water is the bomb here and is often the substitute for water.
13. Girls, stock up on scarfs, because its the highest fashion. Its so common, its like wearing shoes. Everyone has at least 10-20 and its insane. I only brought two, so my journey to having a full German collection started yesterday with my first German scarf. Yay!
There will probably be a lot more to my Funky Travel Guide, but this is most all of the stuff I have learned within this first week.
Speaking of which, today is the marker of my first week here and it feels like its already been three months. I love it, its beautiful, its wonderful, and I'm looking forward to my year here :) Thank you to Mat, Katja, and Julie for all your help so far!
Love love love go get some scarfs!!
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me so much that you're in Germany! I don't know how to explain it except that it just blows my mind!
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a great time and I'll keep reading your blog like a creeper :D
~Bella
P.S. Can letters be sent? Or is that a no-no?
Dear Lord, I must FedEx you some of my hundreds of scarves pronto!
ReplyDelete-Katherine <3