Talking Politics

Last night, when I was trying to finish my paper, my host brother Florian and his friend decided to talk politics.  It was a heated conversation in some parts, but I found that the issues that I feel are important, they also felt that they were important.  It changed the way I felt about Germans and politics.  Before talking to them last night, I felt that Germans wanted to only talk about American politics with me.  Also, when I try to talk with them about their opinions on American politics, they sound like they are reading the headlines from CNN, and that beyond knowing that something happened, they have no real opinion of what happened beyond what the news tells them.  For example, most Germans I talk to want to talk about the upcoming presidential election with me, and most say they support Obama.  But when I ask what about Obama's policies do they support, I usually would get the typical "He represents change" or "He is a nice guy" which, to me, sound like phrases that can be read from any newspaper article title.  I just felt that they wanted to be confrontational about it, just to sound like they keep up with what happens in America, and that was very frustrating to me.  Last night, however, was the first time I felt that I was able to learn what some Germans actually believe politicians should be doing.  I didn't agree with everything, but most of what they were saying I agreed with.  I was happy, because it has been nearly 4 weeks since I arrived in Germany and I had yet to learn what Germans actually believed, rather than what they heard on the news!