September 6, 2010

              The first day of my 6-week intensive German course.  Oh how exciting.  I had spent the last few days waiting in lines to open a bank account, waiting in lines to get train passes, waiting in lines for insurance that I apparently already had (thanks UMass!), and waiting in lines for a residency permit.  In the process, I met a few other international students while we spent hours waiting together.  Conversation was much slower than I was used to.  Mostly everyone who came to Stuttgart to study could at least speak English, but some were definitely better at it than others.

                My German class turned out to be more helpful than I had imagined.  I was stuck in a classroom with the same 25 people from 13:30 to 18:45 every Monday through Friday for six weeks.  It was okay, though, because I got a good look at other cultures while learning about the country I now live in.  It turns out that the students in my class represent 19 different countries in the world.  We had students from everywhere: Spain, Indonesia, China, Poland, Turkey, Ecuador, Australia, and India, to name a few.  The cultural diversity in my class was also a good learning point for my German.  At the beginning of the course, we learned how to say, “Ich heiβe  (Megan) , ich komme aus  (den USA) ”.  By the end of the course, we were conversing (to the best of our abilities) about what our houses are like in our home countries, and what our favorite traditional foods are from our cultures.

 

              My teacher Michaela also talked with us about German cultural behavior and how it can be very different from other countries.  She told us how the Germans are very direct with what they say and do, and that it is hard to get them to warm up to you.  My German flat mates have shown me that.  We then talked about typical stereotypes from each of our countries; some are truer than others.  The Spanish love to take naps and party, and they’re never on time for anything.  One Spanish girl in my class was late on average 3-4 times per week.  My friend Jake has clearly proved that the Australians love to drink beer and surf.  I’ve learned that Chinese people act so timid because they’re always seeking approval from others.  I also found out that the Japanese don’t share the same parent-child relationship as we do in the US.  Haruna, another girl in my class, said that Japanese parents don’t hug or kiss their children, and they don’t expect their children to show affection towards them either.  Things like this shock me so much since I have never said goodbye to my parents without a hug, a kiss, and an “I love you”.