Kultur 6

      The first Article, Sex, Smut, and Schock, talks about a popular magazine in Germany that gives the latest scandals and tabloids on celebs and politicians. Just as Americans (specifically teen and middle aged women) pour over gossip magazines, Germans pour over The Bild for the latest gossip and scandals. One of the factors that make this magazine a best seller is it's blatantly sexual images. According to the article, these images are almost always on the front page, and it takes alot to bump them off (even Chancellor Angela Merkel wasn't enough to change the front page). The real important news is usually included in The Bild as a mere afterthought, which makes this magazine a tabloid more than an informative resource.

     The second article in the Kultur text basically explained that meekness has no place when trying to get a-hold of someone. In Germany the door is always closed, and to contact the person inside, one must be assertive, confident, and enter with a smile on their face. None of that meek, tentative, sorry-to-bother stuff that is considered normal in North America.

     The third and final article talks about the intense waste and recycling system in Germany and still continues to be a topic of debate in parliament today. There is a place for everything, and can leave foreigners confused as a result. You got to hand it to Germany though, They are doing a GREAT job being environmentally friendly.

     The Brennpunkt Kultur text for this final Chapter discusses student housing. In Germany, there are not nearly as many dorms to accommodate the University Students as there are in North America. Rather, only 12-13% live in residence halls, while 18% live with their parents. 66% live in apartments, and only 1% live in rent rooms or private homes with families and 5% live in co-ops where cleaning and cooking duties are shared.

    The second Brennpunkt Kultur text discusses Tübingen. This University draws as many as 25,800 students with its dynamic and educational Institution. The location of the University is also incredibly beautiful, boasting a town-hall, a castle, and half-timbred houses. The University also was the first in Germany to reopen it's doors after the collapse of the Nazi government in 1945. Now, it works towards international relations, and even has a partnership with the us at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor.