The first article, "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching, and Moaning" talked about how everyone in Germany loves to complain. When a train is only a few minutes late you will hear people whining and complaining. if the train is on time they will usually find something else to complain about like the food or other people making too much noise on the train. People in Germany that everything is going downhill; the government, their sports, taxes are too high, etc. What they fail to realize is that if you think about it, they are better off than people that live in the United States. The article warns you that if you ever decide to go to Germany you need to prepare yourself for a lot of complaining. 

     The second article, "The Germanic Stare Down: Watcha Lookin at Granny?" talks about how people in Germany have a starring problem. Whether you are shopping or sitting on a train, there will always be someone starring at you with a very serious face. This "Germanic Stare Down" consists of two parts;  "the first, a rather creepy kind of Big Brother-esque surveillance; the second, a glaring gaze that feels like an ocular challenge but is pretty harmless." The older people in Deutschland are usually the ones caught starring. People that do this had a reason to due to historical reasons and wanting to protect the public from potential danger. To stop this stare-down, you can stare back at the person and you will probably get them to blink. 

     The third article, "Brutally Honest: Have You Gained Weight", talks about how the human interactions between people in Germany and England or the US is very different. In Germany they would rather you tell the truth than lie to be polite. Personal invitations from another person are always taken for what they mean in Germany. There are no hidden meanings to what someone is inviting you to and whether or not they actual want you there. In Germany yes means yes and no means no. Germans do not get easily offended if you turn down an invitation because you don't like something or don't want to go. They like it better when people are honest and they have no hard feelings. This directness can be seen as a good thing but there are also consequences for example, you may be asked why you don't like something or why you don't want to go somewhere and you have to be honest because most times you will get into a debate about it.

     The fourth article, "By the Numbers: An Obsession with Statistics" talks about how Germans love their statistics. They know what the population is, the size of the country and other stats. Many Germans can list these statistics off in their sleep. They do this because it gives them a feel of where they come from. Germans tend to be very well informed about things going on in their country. Having all this knowledge about whats going on around them, Germans are able to talk intelligibly about many vast topics and they will most definitely expect you to join in and know what they are talking about.

German Immigration to North America:
      - Over 57 million Americans have claimed to have German heritage.
      - Germans are the largest single ethnic group in the U.S. 
      - They celebrate their ethnic heritage every year on October 6, German-American day
      - You can still find people that speak German like the Amish who worship in High German
      - You can still find German restaurants, bakeries, bookstores, German-speaking churches

Types of universities in Germany:
      - Universities only granted advanced degrees to a limited number of students in a limited number of fields
      - Different Universities founded:
            - die technische Hochschule: institutes of technology, for engineering and technology-driven fields with an emphasis on research
            - die Fachhochschule: special colleges with an emphasis on applied professions in the field of business administration, design, engineering, health and human serves, information sciences and social work
            - creative performing arts academies such as die Kunsthochschule, art academies, and die Musikhochschule, music conservatories