Berlin, den 6. Oktober
So in light of all the wonderful America news that fills all my social network feeds, I decided to list my experiences here in Germany and my experiences in the states. I have lived in Germany for a little over a year now, about one year and three months. I have learned a lot about the country in this time. Now I am no professional, but what I can do is voice my opinion and if someone is interested they can educate themselves on what I have experienced. Now I would be lying if I tried to say that I had ,,culture shock'' because they are both western countries and have a lot of similarities, but also plenty of differences. One of the biggest thing I have noticed that sticks out to me is simply the german lifestyle in comparison to the american lifestyle. I find personally that the german, or european lifestyles in general are much more laid back and slower paced than what I had in america. I find this vital in the sense because I feel that americans tend to forgot the sweeter things in life and when life slows itself down one can appreciate the smaller things. For example, in america people go shopping for weeks at time to limit the time spent shopping for food; In germany, people shop almost on a daily basis and live off of buying only what it needed to get by for the next day or few days. Here they dont stress on trying to get everything done at once but rather go with the flow, and that personally makes for a good trait in a lifestyle. Furthermore, the germans take pride in families and more specific: their children. This country has an incredible education system that has had them ranked much higher than the states for decades now. In america, we go to Elementary school (1-5 grade), Middle school (6-8), High school (9-12) and then we have the option of a 2 or 4 year post secondary education, which comes with a heft price tag in average around
$22,261(16.426€) for public and private at
$43,289(31.931€). For a native european or even an expatriate, those costs are absolutely mind boggling. In most of europe, including germany, public post secondary schools are free of cost with a fee of about
€1.000($1,355) a year for the student fee
including public transportation. In germany, primary school is a bit more complicated: they start with ,,Grundschule'' from ages 6-10 then from there there is a possibility of five different schools, but the main three are: Gymnasium, Realschule, and Hauptschule. Gymnasium is the highest ranked and is made to prepare student for further studies in a university. Realschule is the next step below and prepares students the technical route, and also in some cases the university route, and Hauptschule is for the technical route. This area is extremely complex and I am not so well educated there so I will leave it at that. In addition to the differences before, I also wanna state that germany has a much better form of welfare to help its citizens when facing the welfare system in america. In germany they have job security because an employee cannot be simply fired without cause. The country is deep in Bureaucracy so for everything you do there is a signature from both sides and that gives you a hard copy of evidence to support yourself.
IF someone would be fired then they can apply for ALGI(Arbeitslosengeld I) and after that is exhausted, ALG II(Arbeitslosengeld II). ALG I is the first resort, and is pretty much your taxes you paid the government coming back to you. Once that is all used up and you are still unable to find work you can then apply for ALG II or also known as, Hartz IV. Hartz IV will take over in most cases your housing costs, transportation costs, and living costs. As I grew up in Florida, my father had some tough times financially and as he seeked help everyone there was no help to be found. The most he got was food stamps and when he asked for help with the rent then told him that the american system doesn't easily support that. From that moment on, I have always been bitter towards the american government. I must say that the diversity and the entertainment for a daily basis is much better in america due to its large size and the reputation as being in the ,,show business''. The german TV shows and movies simply suck! In comparison to size, america definitely takes the win here seeing as I do not think it is possibly to drive from point A to B here with it lasting over 9 hours in driving. Public transportation is 100x better here than america, with exception to New York City of course. In Berlin we have the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, bus, Metro, trains, and even ferries! I cannot name any american city that I have visited with such an intensive network. Flying around europe is hassle-free and cheap, with flights rarely going over
80€(108$) roundtrip. One can fly from Berlin to: Paris, London, Brussels, Rome, Zurich, Budapest, Prague, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinski, Dublin. Barcelona, and so many more amazing cities in all under three hours with most being an hour and a half flight. To me, that was a very important benefit. Now let me talk about the food, my favorite topic! I cannot really say one country is better than the other but what I can say is that the food is much cheaper here. The main thing I love is that one can find almost any regional cuisine they can think of within a 30 minute trip here in Berlin. America also has plenty of endless amazing eateries but most take a bit of a drive. I could go on for hours over differences but I do not wanna bore my audience, so, if anyone would like to know my opinion on anything else just ask. Both countries are beautiful and have plenty of pros and cons to them. I have only listed my opinions and experiences in this post so I apologize if anyone is offended by what I have written, it is not in my honest intentions. I wish everyone a wonderful sunday. For my american folks, enjoy your football games today and for my Berliners and other germans, enjoy the rest of your evening because monday is right around the corner.
mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Cory
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