The school has already given us a schedule for what we can do. We’re going to museums, factory tours, that sort. So no suggestions for any activities to do or places to go to.
I would like some tips on some things I should know about Germany, perhaps some German phrases I should understand, cultural differences, or laws I need to know. Anything important that I should be aware of?
It will be about a weeklong trip
If you walk through the streets and you think passer-bys are staring at you, they probably are not. There is a cultural difference to be aware of, the german stare.
Here it is completely normal to look at people while passing them, or even look out from a coffee shop or bus at passing people. It might signal Neugierde - interest, or might just be general Aufmerksamkeit - attention of their surroundings. Think of it like a cat acknowleging that you have entered the room by giving you a quick glance.
Please don’t feel like you are being singled out - you will see that everyone gets looked at :)
Oh my god, somewhere I belong.
I’ve only seen the “stare” further north, especially in Eastern Germany.
I’ve only ever seen it brought up about Switzerland (as “Swiss stare”), interesting to hear people do it in Germany too.
Still not entirely sure what exactly people mean with it though. Is it really just about looking at people? Do they not do that in other countries? I’ve always associated a “stare” with something more intense than just that.
I think it’s less about that we are looking at people, but more about the length/intensity of eyecontact in general.
Other countries might consider it impolite to inspect a passing stranger’s choice of clothing or keeping eyelock during a conversation.
Continuous eyecontact combined with a neutral expression might appear condescending or judgemental to foreigners, but that is just my interpretation.
Germans are like cats, got it. Now where did I put my dreamies…
Where are you from? That’s very important if you want to calculate a (cultural) difference ;)
Born in Australia but raised in Hong Kong. I’m from an Asian background, not religious. So mixing those together will be about it.
Then I don’t think you will have much problems.
Germans are very direct and come over as rude very easily. So don’t worry if the seller in the bakery is rude to you, it has nothing to do with you.
Germans like their private space, so try to not invade those. Look around you before you stop somewhere on the street and don’t stand in the way. Don’t play music from you mobile. Don’t put your feet on seats in public transport etc. Try to speak rather quietly, I guess it is not a thing in Hong Kong, but US Americans for example are viewed as loud here.
If you don’t comply with these things, very likely nothing will happen, but you will get the evil German stare and they will breath significantly louder.
So in summary, try to be a normal human being who cares for your surrounding and then you’ll be fine. Germany is a pretty liberal space, even in Bavaria if you are in big cities like Munich.
Hope you have a lot of fun!
I would add: Don’t do phone calls with loudspeaker on
Alright. If someone says “amis” they think you are an american. You can tell them you are an aussie, they might either not care or be cheering. Aussies have a very good reputation (due to their legendary drinking culture) in bavaria
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Insulting people can result in criminal prosecution in Germany. Also giving the nazi salute, repeat nazi slogans (or any such display of anti-constitutional allegiance).
Good advice, no showing middle finger to unfamiliar people, can be fined a few thousand afaik.
How‘s that relevant to what OP asked though? Are you alright in the Head?
Common experience with American tourists, that’s why. Especially young ones. Sad, but true.
Legal drinking age for beer and wine is 16yo.
I don’t think we will be going to a bar on a school trip haha. Good to know though if I go to Germany next time.
Really? Things have clearly changed in the 25 years since my last school trip then. We didn’t go to bars with our teachers, but we had plenty of free time in the evenings, some of which was definitely spent in bars.
Health and safety is heavily emphasised in this trip. For the majority of the trip, we will need to stick in our groups, but we do get chances to explore for ourselves in some areas, but even then, we need to meet up as a group after every hour to make sure everybody is here and nobody is missing.
That’s okay, drinking in bars is a popular group activity 😊
Things you should know how to say (not that it’s necessary, but because it’s nice to know):
- Hallo = Hello
- Tschüss = Bye
- Danke = Thanks
- Dankeschön = thank you very much
- Entschuldigung = excuse me
People commonly use “Ciao” for Bye, and “Sorry” for sorry.
You forgot “servus” which is hello and goodbye. “Pfia di” or “Pfiaz eich” is goodbye “Grüß Gott” or “grias got” is hello
In BW I’ve heard servus but not the others, are these Bavarian dialect? I am not a native speaker.
Baden-Wüttemberg speaks primarily swabian. Just like swabia the region in bavaria. The baden area of BaWü speaks badisch. Also a little bit franconian in the north
Yes “servus” is austro-bavarian dialect spoken in austria and bavaria
Grüß Gott is also literally “greet God”, I.e., may God greet you, if I remember correctly, which I think is a pretty cool bit of trivia for when you’re in Southern Germany.
Yes. It does.
But i must correct you, its not in all south germany or south german cultures/dialects. Swabians and swiss and badner dont say that. Only austrians and bavarians (which are the same. Yes austrians fuck off you are the same as bavarians and are germans get over it)
You’ll be staying a few days? A good way to spend thw eveninga is going to a bar. Next to Belgium, Germany has a great herritage of beer crafting. Certainly somehing to do 😊
The schedule has already been set and is pretty tight. Plus, we have to stay as a group!
If you’re from the USA: don’t come back. Stay.
Not from the U.S., fortunately!
Do not carry any weapons. This is super strict. Even a pocket knife may be a weapon (except a very small one).
When entering a church building, take your hat off.
Also pepper sprays are weapons and illegal
When entering a church? Seems rude.
Aint rude if the fat bishop comes to close to you /j
Just make sure a horse is covering your position.
If you own a horse you’re part of the Schikaria and probably own a second home in Starnberg
Ping me by dm, I can help with local knowledge, ama.
Oh and except if you behave like a total lunatic even missteps would be fine since you’re visiting. I wouldn’t worry too much.
Maybe public transport. Always have a ticket ready, we’re like Indiana Jones in the Zeppelin scene regarding that.
no ticket? that’s a paddlin.
Dont try to even speak german with bavarians. While there barely are any real bavarians in munich, bavarian dialect is uncomprehensable unless you grew up there. Swabian even more so.
If your school is going to the deutsche museum, i am sorry to say, the big and main exhibitions are all closed due to renovation. Munich people are…strange in the sense of they may seem nice but arent. The oposite of berlin where people are unfriendly but actually friendly.
BE QUIET AFTER 20:00! aka 8 pm. Its quiet time and you can and might be fined for disturbing the quiet. This also goes for all of sunday. Shops also close at that time. DO NOT THROW AWAY BOTTLES they have pfand. A deposite that you get back. If you dont want to carry it around put it next to a bin.
The English Garden, has nudists areas so if you have a problem with that, best to avoid.
If someone tells you ‘Schleich di’ that means ‘go away’ and you should do that
“Cultural differences” Well every place is different. Do not confuse all of bavarians as bavarians, franconians and swabians are NOT bavarians.
If you happen to be in Augsburg, do NOT MENTION MUNICH! Munich is hated and seen as a black hole that only takes and also seen as a infecting overtaking invading force. Fuck munich.
Dont get your hopes up to get weed lol Yes its decriminalised but you cant buy it anywhere (due to conservatives blocking cannabis clubs), and so you can only self grow it. And only you may smoke it not give it to anyone else.
But you will defenetly smell it every now and then :)
Edit: i assume you perhaps will go to the dachau konzentration camp. You probably know. Be respectful. If the guide tells you ‘the showers were build but luckily never used’ bullshit, they were used lots. One guide tried to tell me that as a kid
I will be going to the Deutsche Museum, actually. If some of the exhibits are closed, hopefully the others are interesting too? If not, we at least have other cool stuff to do.
Will aim to be quiet and not disturb others. I’ll be using a reusable bottle, so no worries about that.
I will not be doing weed, or any sort of drugs, alcohol, etc. That stuff messes up your body pretty bad and I don’t ever do it normally, and I definitely don’t intend on doing it in a school trip.
The exhibitions of the museum are 80% closed. They build a small exhibition building next to it which has a few of which only really the printing, computer and encryption, photography and video tech, physics, spacetravel, and planes are really of interest imo. You can look it up on their website.
Yes they have an enigma machine in the computing and encoding exhibition. Also a huge old printing press machine. Like the once that took up entire halls to print news papers!
Ig the little robotics and renewable energie systems exhibition is neat. But i personally miss the farage cage and the Z3, the submarine and ship exhibitions of the main building.
Its just so cool. You walk into a museum looks like an old uni and on the left there is a huge SHIP and above it entire war planes and below A WHOLE SUBMARINE! And on the right a huge stair case with a huuuge oil painting! In the main building you really can get lost hahaha.
The renovations take until 2028 if i remember correctly. Really worth a visit when it is done renovating.
May i ask what other sites you will be seeing?
Lol Wtf. In Munich the culture is very mixed, there is regular German. At the countryside maybe you can’t understand their German.
Augustiner Beer is so good
Fuck the hoffbrau Haus they are rude as fuck
Bicycle tour is a nice way to get oriented
Avoid the boiled pig knuckles or crispy pig knuckles. No idea how drunk you have to be to eat those.
Also, the beer house bathroom sinks are for vomiting.
You’ll visit BMW (Rollys-Royce, Mini), I expect.
If you notice a picturesque brick tower in the vicinity, that’s a Hochbunker from WW2. There’s more than 1 around there.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Hochbunker_in_München
Munich was not bombed very much, on account of being so far inland. Nevertheless, the hill you can see when you’re at the BMW museum, consists of the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in the war. It was turned into a park for the 1972 Olympics. The terrorist attack that took the lives of most of the Israeli Olympic team mostly took place nearby. If that’s of interest to you, you could watch Spielberg’s Munich.
You may notice cars with an unusual look (see photos here). Those are prototypes. You can see a fair number of these (BMW & Rolls-Royce) in the area. In German, they are called Erlkönig (elf-king) after a poem by Goethe.
Don’t ask why all the pamphlets are blank between 1939 and 1945…
If you can and are interested, visit their Hackerspace. Be careful, beers are big and strong especially in Bavaria.
From where?
I have friends there, have fun
Good advice.
Once you get there, skip you teacher surveillance asap and go ask for political asylum? ;)
More seriously:
Anything important that I should be aware of?
Not knowing you, it’s a bit difficult to suggest anything. I mean, I doubt you’re concerned but I’ve witnessed US citizens (I fancy your from the US?) complain that people in France (my country) were speaking… French, like for real. So, be aware that Germans will most likely speak their native German. And, yep, a lot of them do speak English, like us French do, just don’t expect all of them do.
Some EU citizens, from Germany too, are getting quite tired of US accelerated devolution into a dumbified mob-ruled country. Your POTUS insistence on insulting and threatening almost every single EU nation is also not helping much. So don’t be surprised some people may not be that welcoming to begin with. Edit: take that as an opportunity to show then they’re wrong.
If it’s a week long trip, don’t allow your school to say all you should and should not do in Munich (see? I did not suggest anything you should visit) ;)
Not from the U.S., no. I grew up in Hong Kong under an Asian household!
My bad!
Then, you mostly need to be aware that Germans are quite often on the reserved side of things, on first sight at least…
