Some Strange Country – Leipizg Fall 2022

Some Strange Country

Germany is a different country. Europe is a different continent. These are obvious statements, right? Most folks understand this concept from a pretty early age. At least, they think they do. I certainly did. I believed that I knew just how different Europe and Germany were from the US, and that it would make me resistant to the dreaded “culture shock” of studying abroad. That, however, was pure, blind, inexperienced hubris. 

Okay, hyperbolic assessment of my own character aside, I really wasn’t prepared for just how strange the countries of the EU really were to a red-blooded American like myself. For those of you who have not discovered the musical delights of bluegrass, and particularly the band Crooked Still, the title may just seem to be a humorous musing on how different the cultures of Europe are. It is, at least in part. It’s more than that, though. No matter where I’ve gone in Europe over these past three months, whether in the countryside, the cities, and the in-betweens, I’ve been struck by how differently it’s all done here. Take eating out at a restaurant, for instance.  Everyone everywhere takes time when they’re eating out. There’s no waiter rushing to flip your table and waiting to pounce and ask how the food is just as you’ve taken your first bite. There’s no problem with taking a quarter of an hour to look through the menu and another half hour to talk after the meal is over. There’s food and (ACU-appropriate) drinks aplenty, typically fresh and fairly local. 

That’s just one example, though. One of the strangest things I’ve encountered here in Germany especially, is how people interact with one another, particularly strangers. As my fellow-traveler Judson Voss can tell you, folks just don’t smile back on the street. Friendship, and friendliness in general, are treasured things here in Germany. In the States, we spend them as our national congeniality pleases- liberally! There’s hardly a person I won’t smile or wave at as I pass them on the street in the States, stranger or no. If I were to do that here in Germany, I’d get some strange looks for the most part. Some people might even assume I’ve got a scheme or something strange going on to be smiling at strangers like that. Of course, I don’t say this as an indictment of Germans. They’re not mean-spirited people at all. Strangeness, as in not being close to someone or something, is the norm here. 

Honestly, that’s been something that I’ve reflected on a lot during my time abroad, this strangeness of being abroad. What I’ve slowly come to realize is that strangeness has a lot to do with distance. Germany may seem a strange place while you’re sitting in Texas, or Oklahoma, or California, or wherever you are. The Germans might seem to be a strange folk, especially as I’ve described them. But just take a little flight, find yourself a seat next to a local, and you might find out that the country you’re in isn’t so strange after all.

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