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Learning about Germany and the German-speaking culture there increased my understanding of diversity and alternate points of view. I feel like I experienced so many new opinions about how the rest of the world sees Germany and the United States. The difference in basic cultural interactions in Germany, like saying hello to someone in the street and stopping to tell them about how your day has been, rather than saying “What’s up?” and moving on, just shows that Germans seem more literal and sincere than Americans. Many of my old thoughts, for example that Germans are cold and mean people, have been changed. I feel like Germans are more to the point, whether the point is good or bad, instead of dark. Germans also are more kept to themselves than Americans and have higher standards for friendship. I appreciate that because I feel like people in America can get away with pushing people to the side in shallow “relationships” that have no value whatsoever. America seems so superficial now, and people seem to have more visible ulterior motives. Germans put more of an emphasis on relaxing vacations and serious down-time, which I can definitely appreciate. I feel like we always have to be doing something in America. There are, of course, other aspects of German culture that I don’t favor as much. I think the service industry in Germany has a negative attitude. German culture is a bit silly sometimes. I still have trouble understanding how the Germans are so paranoid of air-conditioning, closed doors, and the wind. I view foreigners in the United States a bit differently now. Sometimes I wonder if they are taught all the ways of America’s culture before they are thrown into it. I am also a bit more patient with them as far as social interactions go. I have learned to speak German very well. I never had any German instruction or knowledge before my two semesters here and I am incredibly impressed by how much I have learned. I found German grammar to be a bit tricky, and almost like backwards-talk sometimes. Other than that, German seems to have many similarities with English. Vocabulary wasn’t incredibly difficult to learn because so many German words sound like their English counterparts. German has changed me because I feel like I have more doors opened to me now, especially international ones. I want to make German a life-long language and continue speaking, reading, writing, and learning as often as I can. There are plenty more questions I have concerning the German culture and language, and I would like to explore these in the future. One example is the origin of the genders of words. I’ve also wondered about some of the expressions in Germany over the course of both semesters. Two expressions that stick out are “schwarzfahren” and “schwarzsehen.” Riding black, or illegally, and watching TV black, meaning that one has not paid their TV tax are interesting translations. I wonder if there is any racial meaning behind these words. There are many more saying like this that I believe can tell more about German culture. Hopefully I will be able to visit Germany soon and investigate.