The third week has come running at the speed of light. Aber alles in Ordnung ist.
Es ist ein bisschen Komisch. I haven't felt that way since I was in school, going to class everyday, meeting the same people, being guided by a "teacher" on how to do things. It is unusually fun, very different from going to uni and having massive projects that mostly include "connecting up electric circuits".
I think I have started getting used to the Stuttgart. The difficulty comes from the fact that I am surrounded by a completely foreign environment, totale fremde Leute mit anderen Sitten und Gewohnheiten. But everything is really exciting and I can't wait to be able to understand what every Ad means. It's funny, but whenever I learn a new word, I tend to see it soon after, which is actually the fuel that keeps the learning process interesting.
Cross-cultural class was very interesting. Our teacher normally tells us about the German culture, while comparing it other cultures, like Australian/American/Asian/Arab. This helps us see, why some cultures are occasionally described as not "normal" or "weird" (which is almost always relative to one's description of Normal).
One of the things mentioned today was a dialogue about two fruits, a peach and a coconut. The coconut resembles the German culture and its people, having a very hard shell making it hard to reach the centre (The german stereotype of the unfriendliness and coldness). While other cultures resembles a peach, it's rather soft, and very open to outsiders. I found this conversation very interesting, because it made me realise that my host nation has a different way of establishing relationships. i.e The outer shell is broken into through time, once a person have lived here for a while and have established friendships.
There must be hundreds of different "fruits" and combinations of fruits that could describe the hundreds of cultures and sub-cultures out there, but I thought giving two examples really stressed the idea and showed the sharp distinction that people normally see.
Ciao for now.
Es ist ein bisschen Komisch. I haven't felt that way since I was in school, going to class everyday, meeting the same people, being guided by a "teacher" on how to do things. It is unusually fun, very different from going to uni and having massive projects that mostly include "connecting up electric circuits".
I think I have started getting used to the Stuttgart. The difficulty comes from the fact that I am surrounded by a completely foreign environment, totale fremde Leute mit anderen Sitten und Gewohnheiten. But everything is really exciting and I can't wait to be able to understand what every Ad means. It's funny, but whenever I learn a new word, I tend to see it soon after, which is actually the fuel that keeps the learning process interesting.
Cross-cultural class was very interesting. Our teacher normally tells us about the German culture, while comparing it other cultures, like Australian/American/Asian/Arab. This helps us see, why some cultures are occasionally described as not "normal" or "weird" (which is almost always relative to one's description of Normal).
One of the things mentioned today was a dialogue about two fruits, a peach and a coconut. The coconut resembles the German culture and its people, having a very hard shell making it hard to reach the centre (The german stereotype of the unfriendliness and coldness). While other cultures resembles a peach, it's rather soft, and very open to outsiders. I found this conversation very interesting, because it made me realise that my host nation has a different way of establishing relationships. i.e The outer shell is broken into through time, once a person have lived here for a while and have established friendships.
There must be hundreds of different "fruits" and combinations of fruits that could describe the hundreds of cultures and sub-cultures out there, but I thought giving two examples really stressed the idea and showed the sharp distinction that people normally see.
Ciao for now.
Hey Sarah,
ReplyDeletethe cross-cultural class does seem sehr interessant. It is so true about the German stereotype being cold and unfriendly, and the comparison to the coconut is really interesting. However, I have found most Germans really friendly and helpful.
Sounds like you are having a good time though!