Week 1 - Unity and Justice and Freedom!

I can't believe our first week in Germany has already came and went, all be it a short week, but we did leave Texas a week ago tomorrow. These first few days being fully immersed in a new and different culture has really been an eye opener to many great differences. The Germans are not forced to recycle, but everywhere I've been all residents work together to recycle by separating their rubbish into different recyclable containers. Granted there is reward for recycling plastic and glass bottles, .25 and .08 euros for each. Public transportation is much more efficient and a great majority of the population use bicycles for transportation. You have to pay up to as much as 1 euro to use the bathroom in public areas. Most of the Germans enjoy carbonated water...I don't understand this one at all, why not drink a soda if you're going to something with carbonation? Their healthcare system shares great positives and some negatives when compared to our system.

The difference that hit me the hardest, because it's something I have never thought about is that Germans cannot have the same kind of pride in their country as Americans can have in their country. Americans have been lucky when it comes to global predicaments in that we have always, for the most part, been on the right side of the coin. We have been looked on as a global force for good, and have always come into great conflicts to eliminate oppression and ruthless leaders. The German history is forever scarred by the events of the Second World War while under the rule of the third reich and Hitler. This devastating part of their history has limited the extent to how much pride they can have in their country so much as to not being able to sing verses in their national anthem due to the meaning implied during the war.

On a different subject, I am a big food fan and all of the wurst and schnitzel is amazing. The beer is good too! My host mother is an amazing cook and even though I don’t understand everything that I am eating she helps explain it to me. I have always enjoyed fresh fruit and all of the open air markets here have an outstanding array of delicious fruits. I have been told the currywurst is sehr gut by many people but I have yet to try it. Also, Olivia showed us to the 50 cent pizza shop which is a nice cheaper option when compared to much of Bonn. I want to save a lot of the traveling experiences for another blog, so tschus!