Kultur 4

Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay Off the Bike Path!

Biking is a normal occurrence in Germany, even if you are in a large city. Contrary to the U.S., biking through a large city is not completely impossible, and actually happens extremely frequently. This article makes sure you know that when walking (or biking) you should be on the lookout so you don't get into a biking accident (also that a bell is a necessity). Also, if you want to bike too, renting a bike isn't difficult at all!

The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse

This article points out another large difference between German and the U.S., especially compared to a college town. In Germany crossing the street when you aren't supposed to rarely happens. Here in Ann Arbor, people cross the street whenever they feel like it (even if a car is 10 feet away). If they were to do this in Germany, the author makes it clear that the annoyed BMW driver will accelerate and come as close to hitting you as possible. Crossing the street when you aren't supposed to is no joke in Germany, and doing so can get you yelled at by a parent or even worse their son/daughter.

Illogical Logic: The Right Answer in Germany May Be the Wrong One

This article expresses the importance of asking questions, especially when at a train station; it also talks about the extreme logicalness of German. The author lays out a scenario where you buy a cheap train ticket and ask for the next train only to later find out that this ticket is not actually valid on the you are currently sitting on. This equal a problem and spending more money. He makes sure that whoever reads this understands what/where their train ticket will get them.

Fare-Dodgers Beware: There’s No Such Things as a Free Ride

This article also expressed the need to know about your tickets. Differing from America, getting onto transportation before paying is quite normal in Germany, but getting out of a sticky situation (suck as not having a ticket) is much harder. The author makes clear that saying you're a tourist or acting like you forget won't help either, and say that most Germans are much for giving loopholes. The main message I received is, before boarding any transportation you should make sure that you have to correct ticket.

Disorderly Germans: Playing Chicken on the Einbahnstraße

Being OCD is said to be very common in this article. The main point of this article is to say that orderliness is necessary when visiting Germany and that you should most likely know what EinbahnStraße means.

Brennpunkt Kultur

Seite 123 - The Goethe-Institut is an organization that offers classes all around the world. There are 136 sites within 92 different countries throughout the world. These institutes allow students to travel to them and study or have an internship while living in an enriched environment. 

Seite 145 - Rad fahren is an extremely popular hobby and mode of transportation in Germany. About 80% of Germans own a bicycle and usually ride them to places that are 5 kilometers or less away. Riding a bicycle is much easier, cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and all around healthier than driving a car. It is especially nice for college students!

Seite 150 - Riding on trains is used much more in Germany than America because of the size of the country. Also "mit der Bahn fahren"  is easy to use and not very expensive. The Bahn connects small and larger parts of the country and the passes are easy to get. Passes for non-European people are easy to get too, even if you plan to be traveling for a while.

Seite 157 - Obtaining a drivers license in Germany is much more work than in America. There eare multiple tests to pass, and even once you do this, there are more tests to be able to have a passenger. Getting a license is also  an investment because it costs around 1000 Euros. And once you pay to pass all of these test the gas is really expensive as well.

Seite 159 - Frankfurt is located in the center of Germany and plays a large roll in the financial aspect of Germany as well. It holds die Bundesbank, die Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, das Europäische Währungsinstitut, and die Europäische Zentralbank. It is also famous because Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born there. Surprisingly over 40% of Frankfurt's residents are immigrants. There are also many sites to see throughout Frankfurt.