Endgame - The different

I'm going to be making a few posts about the end of the semester over the next couple of days - what I've learned and experienced. Don't expect these to be full of happy, shiny people; I'm going to try to be honest about myself here. I'm starting out with neutral territory - things that are just different. We'll get to the bad stuff, though, before we finish with the good. It's always good to have a happy ending. So let's get this started.

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Berlin is different than anywhere I have been before. Hell, Europe is different. There were some things that struck me immediately, others that didn't. It's complicated, of course. I might as well just list them off.

Dogs: From what I can see, nobody loves a dog more than a German. Berliners take their dogs everywhere; down the street, in the park, on the bus, on the train, in a cafe, in a restaurant. It's a universal thing. I've seen chihuahuas and rottweilers, schnauzers and poodles, beagles and dachshunds, great danes and black labs. Of course, I love dogs, so I was plenty happy to see at least three every single dayjust going to school. It was odd at first; dogs may be man's best friend in the US, but they never have the presence that they do here in Berlin. I'd also like to add that a large portion of the time, the dogs are not wearing leashes. You might be thinking "But Geoff, don't the dogs get out of control? Isn't there a safety issue?" No. There isn't. At least, not that I've seen. German dogs are incredibly well behaved; I'm not surprised to see a dog waiting at the entrance of a market for their owner to come back out, or for a dog to be running ahead, around, and behind their owner as they go down the street, with hardly a word from the owner as to where they're going. I've even seen dogs on the trains get up at the departure stop before their owners even realize the same thing. It's uncanny. The only downside to this is that there is dog crap everywhere. The Germans don't pick it up. I assume automatically that every time I step off of the main sidewalk onto any form of grass or slight gutter, I am running my foot through piles of filth. That is the price we pay for our canine friends.

Tipping: There's a fine art to figuring out the tip in Europe. Often gratuity is already added in the bill, so there might not be any reason to do it. Still, my delicate American sensibilities are offended if I levae without giving something back to the waiter/waitress. It's kind of hard to justify at times, since I'm spending comparatively more than usual anyways due to the Euro.

Food: Germans eat a lot of meat and cheese. Wurst, obviously, is a favorite. It's taking a some getting used to for the specifics, but I actually like German food now, for the most part. I'm still a little undecided on the whole "cabbage" issue, although I'll eat it out of politeness.

Transportation: Berlin has a fantastic public transport system that runs to pretty much every corner of the city. It's hands down better than the Metro in DC and the T in Boston for usefulness. The trains are actually so punctual, that you can rely on the schedules posted in the stations if you don't want to look at the electronic signboards. Fantastic.

The people: Germans are different from Americans. Wow. What a revelation. On the whole, they're sticklers for law and order, punctual, and always interested about the details. Germans are so invested in law, that they won't cross the street 80-90% of the time if the signal is red. Try doing that in Boston and you'll get trampled by the pedestrians. They are usually happy to speak English, and often will try to do so even when you want to speak German to them. Germans do not talk or look at eachother much on trains and buses, and don't strike up conversations with random strangers as often as Americans do. I think the only time I actually had a conversation with a German outside of official program events was at a bus stop, when they asked me the time. After giving him the time, I explained that I was American, which was why my German was a bit bad (he looked confused, and I though he deserved an explanation). We spoke for about 5 minutes until the bus came.

Bikes: Berliners love their bikes. Their bikes love them. All over the city there are bike paths that run right down the sidewalk, sometimes crossing into the street. If you're in one of these paths, you'd better move fast, or else you are going to get run down. Seriously, they really don't slow down that much if you're in the way. I can't say that this is like anyplace I've been in the US.

Greenery: Berlin is a green city. There are trees everywhere, even in downtown (and they aren't the scraggly excuses that New York, Boston, or DC has). Furthermore, the Tiergarten is situated right in the middle of the city, providing a massive area for people to bike and run and generally have fun outdoors. The Grunewald is much the same, except that it's an actual forest within the borders of the city. How about that? Germany as a whole is far more concerned with its environment that the US has ever been. After all, there's less space to mess around with.

I think that's all for now. It's pretty late, and I need to get to bed. Keep watching for the next installments; the Bad, the Ugly, and the Good.

Good night everyone.