In America we take a lot of things that are luxuries for granted when we really shouldn’t. For example the air conditioner, it’s something that most Americans can’t live without or won’t live without. Being in Germany has made me realize little things like that. In both hostels that we have stayed in and all the restaurants that we have been to have been lacking air conditioners, or are they. Germany’s weather is a little on the spontaneous side, meaning one minute your sweating and the next your freezing. The air conditioner in American is a “necessity” but we really don’t need one. If we did as they do here we could cut down on our green house gas output and our electricity bills.
There are several cultural differences that I’ve observed that may seem to not be major but turn out to be a big deal. For starts the trash situation. Back home its normal to throw your trash in the first trash can you see, whether it glass, paper, or plastic, or even leftovers. Here if you want to throw anything away you need to know what trashcan you need to use. There are four different trash cans, one for food, glass, paper, and everything else. It took me about a week to get the hang of separating the things in my hand just to throw it away. There is one thing that I will give them credit for, they have found away to motivate people the recycle. They charge a fee for the bottle that your drink comes in, but you can get that money back if you bring it to these machines. You simply just put the bottle in, and you get 15 or 25 cents for it. If American is serious about going green they will adopt this way of motivating people to recycle.
Another on that I am still not quite catching onto is the restaurants. Unlike in America where the waiters will be at your table every five minutes to see if you need a refill or to see if everything is ok. In Germany you seat yourself; the waiter will bring you a menu and leave. When you are ready to order you call them over and order your drink and you food at the same time, but you better not drink it all before you food gets there, because there are no free refills. When they give you your food they disappear until you call them over to get the check. When you are paying they ask you if everything was ok and they don’t take you money off to some corner where there is a register they give you your change at the table, and you’re not expected to leave a tip. But to make things easier and them you round up to the nearest amount.
When one walks down the sidewalks of Magdeburg you have to be very aware of your surroundings because you never know when you will hear the little bells ringing. But when you hear these bells you better move out of the way because you will be run over by a bike. This has to be the most bike friendly place I have ever seen. Unlike Spartanburg where if you lucky you get at little lane on the side of the road, here you get an entire lane to yourself on the sidewalk. I still catch myself wandering mindlessly into the bike lane until I hear the little bell.
They promote a healthy life style by making everything accessible to bikes and pedestrians. I feel that Spartanburg should do the same and put a sidewalk on every street with a bike lane on the sidewalk so that people will have more opportunities to get out and be active.
Finally, they are really dog friendly. I went to a restaurant and was enjoying my meal then I look at the table next to me, and there is a dog under the table in a nice Italian restaurant. Everywhere you go here there is a dog, even in places you don’t expect like a tattoo place. I was walking down the street on the way back from school and I looked into a tattoo and piercing place and I see a dog just lying on the lobby floor. If that was in America that dog would be at home or tied up outside. I haven’t seen any overweight dogs here, and now I know why. Everywhere you go someone is walking their dog.
I feel that the cultural difference between Germany and the United States are amazing. It makes one look at the way we do things and realize that there are more efficient ways of doing the simplest of things such as recycling. We don’t do it that often as we should, but here they have made what we would consider a chore second nature.
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