Things I Have Learned in Germany

In two days, I will mark my two year anniversary of living in Germany. For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to decide what Germany has come to mean to me in that time. But that has turned out to be an esoteric question that I have had difficulty in answering. Instead, I started thinking about what I have learned since I came to Germany.

The first and most obvious thing that I have learned in Germany is the language. I came here not speaking one word of German, but prepared to learn it. While I would not claim by any means to be fluent, I have certainly come a long way. It boggles my mind to think there are immigrants here that have lived here for years without learning the language. I have often wondered, "How can someone come to a foreign country and NOT learn the language?" But I have also learned that if one doesn't make a concentrated effort to do so, it certainly is possible.

I have also learned about Germany itself: culture, politics, geography, history, and a host of other things. I admit that I knew little about Germany before coming here. I now know how the German system of government is supposed to work, where Disney's inspiration for the "Cinderella castle" came from and where it is, where the source of the Danube is, what the highest peak in Germany is, and that Germans eat french-fries with a fork, just to name a few.

I have learned a great deal about how my country, its culture, people, and politics are perceived by Germans. I think it could be best described as a love-hate relationship. There are things about America(ns) that Germans love and just as many as they hate. And the funny thing is, most of the time I agree with the things they hate and the things they love, with the exception of their American musical taste. They have a fondness for some good bands, but mostly, for some strange reason, it is the bad ones that they love.

And of course I have learned all about the little quirks that differentiate living in Germany with living in the U.S.: mandatory health care, the metric system, the Euro, the autobahn, the advantages and pitfalls of public transportation, 110 vs. 220 volts, the 24-hour clock, apartments with no closets and rarely built-in appliances, the list just goes on and on...

But the most important thing that I have learned about living in Germany really has very little to do with Germany at all. The most important thing I have learned by living in Germany is not only that I have been successfully able to do it, but that most of the time I really enjoy it.