Blog two: Culture Shock

 

So the last two days have been long, especially today.  Yesterday (Monday) we went into the Goethe Institut to pick up our course information and have our interview to be placed in relevant courses.  This did not take very long and was quite boring.

Afterwards we went to a cafe, where I stupidly ordered a fish panani....  I had to go back and order something else and gave Yaser the Panini to eat.  It might pay for me to brush up on food vocab (Lebensmittel).

We wandered around the altstadt.  I had my first experience with a beggar.  I was taken aback that they came up to you and started speaking with their hands out for money.  I just looked confused and walked away.  Beggars are everywhere.  It was quite different to see them sitting on the ground with their bowls out just expecting people to give them money.  In New Zealand people actually busk for people’s money, ie they work for it, even if it is pittance. 

The altstadt is full of the high end brand names and is very expensive!  I walked down Neuer Wall, and just looking in the windows was too much for my wallet.  It is the most expensive street in Hamburg with Louis Viutton and the likes inhabiting its cobble stoned path.

The Christmas Markets are already up, and they look amazing!  The Markets in the city square in front of the town hall were the best.  The atmosphere was relaxed and cheerful.  Just seeing people milling around and not rushing or being stressed was quite a change for me.

The biggest culture shock for me though was the supermarket.  The supermarket we went to was tiny, and the products were so different.  The meat is fresh from the butchery, it’s not packaged at all.  The aisles are small, it’s hard to buy packaged bread, little peanut butter, and most of the health and beauty items you have to buy from the apotheke (chemist, which is non prescription).  The most eye opening part though were the checkouts.  The cigarettes are on full display, the cashiers do not speak except to bark out how much the transaction costs, get frustrated when you put your credit card in wrong, you have to buy your bags and pack them yourself. 

 

Cyclists don’t wear helmets, the street crossings don’t make noise so you must pay attention to the lights, and people can just walk out in front of traffic and expect cars to stop for them.

One last culture shock so far is that Europeans have no sense of personal space.  People walk right by you and bump you and what not.  People clap you on your shoulder when you barely know them.  It’s awkward because I know back home in NZ people would never do that. 

 

Today was also the first day of course.  Afternoon classes suck, by about 3:30 I’m a zombie and find it difficult to concentrate.  But alas I made it through, except for the mountain of homework that was assigned.  I’m also the only New Zealander (no surprise there, really).  And everyone keeps asking me how I’m finding Germany, Hamburg, how my flight was and what the differences are.  The more I think about the differences, the more I realise there are far too many to describe.