Cultural Differences

Hey, today I’m going to tell you about some of the differences between the U.S. and Germany. There are some things that are just different and some things that really surprised me. The first thing that really surprised me is that many people I talked to have never been outside the U.S. But if I think about it now, it’s pretty logical because it takes a really long time to get to another country, Canada excluded. Another reason is that German people can travel between countries of the European Union, which includes 26 countries, without any border control or required visa. From where I live, it only takes an hour to go to the Netherlands, Belgium or Luxembourg. One aspect that is really practical here in Montana is that you can get your driver's license so early, while you have to be eighteen years old to drive alone in Germany, and we use a lot of public transportation. Smalltalk in the U.S. is a big thing, while Germans would look at you with a weird expression on their face when you ask them how their day went. Additionally, Germans are very direct when they speak, which can upset people who are not used to it a little bit. Finally, you can say that differences are important to have a wide variety of personalities, traditions and countries.