An American Abroad

Luckily, going back to Germany for me will not be a total "culture shock". For one, I have been before, but two, America and Germany are not the most different in terms of culture. For instance, Germany is a pretty low context culture. This is what I am used to in America, and also what I operate well with naturally in my own life. I have also heard that timeliness and structure is fond among Germans. This is something that is also one of my strength. I think that there is always a time and place for everything, as long as I have planned it before hand. So, I recognize while I may find this a common thread in Germany, I may have to attempt to more leisure and unplanned festivities when I travel elsewhere while abroad.

So, in terms of strategies to better understand the host culture, I think it is all about the people you decide to participate with. I come with my understanding, and the people I meet come with theirs, but ultimately to break down walls we must listen and try to understand each other. I understand that this will be a combination of getting to know some people in great depth, but also to make sure I talk to a large variety of Germans from different areas. While, some generalizations are good and useful, I am excited to build real friendships that help me learn about culture. Because culture is built into the lives of people.

On that note, I understand that culture is also built in to me, because of where I was raised. So, I have a couple of "American" characteristics that I think are important to accept and bring to the table. (Not saying, as of now, that they are good or bad, but just patterns I know about myself) Americans are very individually oriented. Each individual's perspective and way of living are unique. Americans are also always over consuming. And this lies in many aspects of life. We over consume food, objects and maybe most importantly (especially for me) time. I think that my time always has to be filled with a "something next". And this keeps Americans perpetually busy with now down time. This is probably the biggest thing of all I wish to work on while abroad. To quote myself, "There is a time and place for everything." So, there must also be a time for relaxation, friendship, and sabbatical.

So, along with that, other skills I want to learn are being a good communicator. Have positive and deep friendships that are not your typical, American, surface level interaction. In terms of social and political beliefs I do not think I will have any trouble because I probably align more with young Germans than young Americans in the south. But, still being able to openly engage and learn about not just American issue, but global issues is high among my priorities because it will lend itself to helping understand culture.

I have my cultural norms and so do you, but to know people we have to try to understand their norms.