Life in Germany 2
In this article, I am going to speak about German society, culture and language, viewed by eyes of a student from abroad who temporarily lives here. If you don't know much about me, check my previous article “Life in Germany: Politics & Economy”, where I introduce myself. So, let's start.
German folk has a long history. There were always some formidable tribes northern from Roman Empire — these tribes were exactly what later formed multiple kingdoms across the Holy Roman Empire, in the territory of modern German State. These kingdoms existed throughout the long medieval period, to different times being either independent, or added to some neigbour countries forming an empire, such as Carolongian Empire in 8th century AD. What's interesting, is that there was no single state formed until the german folk was united by Bismarck in 19th century.
The new mighty country rose on the horizont of Europe — Prussia. It was destined to become a great power, so that even much earlier established rulers, such as French Empire, would have some worries about it, same as British Empire or Swedish Kingdom. And that's exactly the point: when the world was already divided and you're one whose part of a common pie is considerable, you don't want any new, potentially dangerous competitor to rise. Thus, relationships in Europe become slightly tensive from that time on, and one day it all led to WWI.
I won't go any deeper into history, I guess events of 20th century are more or less known to my readers. Obviously, historical issues are of great matter for what forms later nation's culture, traditions, mentality and, eventually, how they identify themselves and are identified by other nations in the global society. And so the purpose of this small excursus was just to provide you a kind of background, so you are able to make your own conclusions. However, before you draw your own, let me gently offer you some of them first.
There are many stereotypes out there about Germans, exactly as in case with many other nations. From my experience most of them turn to be true, suprisingly. First of all, Germans are indeed organised, be it one single citizen or nation as a whole. Just look at how they vote, and you will see that it is much different from that what happens in other countries (for example, in my homeland country Ukraine). People do not tend to think only about their self-interests according to their social group, but for what is good for nation at big.
For example, on political elections seniors may choose someone who plans to increase retirement benefits, and students — who decreases student tuition fees and will thus reduce student loans needed for college degree. If you understand economics, you may know that it's rather unlikely that one political candidate will propagate for both of these measures — you have to have money created somewhere, not only coming out from the state budget. Nevertheless, Germans appear to be more ready than other nations to forgo some of their short-term interests to win in the long term.
Next, they really tend to have rather serious attitude to most of things, which also enables most of them to achieve great results in their life and career. They are also quite ambitious, in general, and for sure goal-oriented in their plans for the future. There is also one more interesting thing: it all can't come at no cost to them, of course. There will surely be some days in a year or moments in life, when each German is partying like crazy. Usually, as I've encountered, it appears either on vacation or while abroad: to not let one's reputation fall, apparently.
However, there is one occasion in the calendar year when everybody is looking for some bottle with specific type of alcohol: it's world's biggest beer festival, called Oktoberfest. It's organised yearly by government in the late September till usually first days of October, and always at Theresienwiese inside the bavarian capital Munich. The entrance to the area is free; there exist some strict rules regarding what you might take with you, however, and the event is guarded and imperceptibly watched by the police. So you will almost surely be safe all the time, except something really extraordinary occurs. Whether or not you like beer or not, be sure to include this event into your travel plans when visiting Bavaria: you will be able to see the “sensitive part” behind local characters.
Now, as you know more about the state and its citizens, you may be willing to make your own inferences. Before that, I would like to mention one last thing: people here are very logical in their approaches to mostly everything. If you ever happen to travel across this country, you will undoubtedly notice how grey most of the cities are: there are not many colours whatsoever. Instead, the focus is on functionality. It may be similar with a relationship: compatibility over beauty. And, of course, language: it's just as precise and structured as the folk which speaks it from the birth.
