Studying German-speaking cultures has definitely changed my perception of Germans, whether for better or for worse. All the interviews and stories in the interactive definitely portray a message that Germans are just normal people that do not all conform to any specific stereotype, which is always good to really understand about foreign cultures. However, the generalities that I was taught through this class were that Germans tend to be less materialistic, very concerned with maintaining good relationships with their close friends, not friendly on first meeting, and somewhat elitist. But a lot of the interviews trying to warn you about the apparent, but not actual, rudeness of Germans were so effective that it actually made me not want to go there – which is saying something because I’ve already been there and I loved it. Also, a good friend of mine is German and he doesn’t conform to any of the stereotypes – he’s incredibly friendly to everyone, will start up conversations with people on the street, and he’s pretty bad at keeping up with old friends – which makes me doubt the validity of what we’ve learned about their culture. But I guess that just shows how you cannot rely on a set of stereotypes, because they won’t hold true for everyone. I think it’s very important to learn the social customs of other places, so that you know what is seen as polite and what is not. I’m glad I now know things like if you make eye contact with someone on the street and they don’t smile, they’re not being rude, that’s just normal behavior. Also, studying German helped me view Americans from more of an outside perspective – which made me appreciate the politeness and friendliness, but also made me notice the superficiality more, which encourages me to try to be more sincere to people.