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30
Things About Germany That Might Surprise Or Even Horrify Americans, As Shared By This Woman
While most of us have a basic understanding that people in other places live differently, it can be hard to grasp what that looks like until you’ve experienced it. Often this means no small amount of culture shock as it redefines what it means for something to be “normal.” So it’s not surprising that the internet has all kinds of content just showing people some of the differences.
Content creator Laura Love went viral for sharing some examples of life in Germany that might sound truly unhinged to Americans. We reached out to her via email and will update the article when she gets back to us.
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It can be easy to forget that the way some folks live is just so vastly different
German woman Laura Love shared her observations of things that might be pretty surprising to Americans
Image credits: flickr (not the actual photo)
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: lauraloove
You can watch the full video below
Watch on TikTok
There are a few clarifications to make
Image credits: Ingo Joseph / pexels (not the actual photo)
It is important to clarify that some of the things she says in this video are not entirely true. For example, Germans are not, in fact, given three years of maternity leave, the minimum by law is 14 weeks. Certainly, there might be a company here or there that could have a significantly longer leave, but three years is almost unheard of.
For example, the longest maternity leave by law is in Bulgaria, at 410 days. That is, quite noticeably, almost two less years than three. That being said, the US has no provisions and can only offer unpaid maternity leave, according to Federal law. Incidentally, German law sets the minimum paid time off for workers at 20 days a year.
Similarly, while “coffee and cigarettes” are a stereotypical European “breakfast,” the Germans are actually not at all unique by EU standards. The EU and German average is 24% of the population being smokers. This would suggest that the average German is either skipping their cigarette breakfast or just eating something else.
On the other hand, many Americans are often surprised that in most places around the globe, you do bag your own groceries. The very idea of a cashier doing this rather easy task for you is practically unthinkable in Europe or really anywhere else. However, stores being closed on Sundays is more specific to Germany and other Central European countries, as well as Chick-fil-A restaurants in the US, for completely different reasons.
It’s not rocket science to say that different countries have different norms
Image credits: mali maeder / pexels (not the actual photo)
All that being said, you can’t really blame a person who has only lived in the US for probably having a good deal of culture shock when moving elsewhere. Remember, there is a pretty clear difference between visiting as a tourist and actually living somewhere. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the feeling of “I could live here” when you are staying in a hotel and only visiting the nicest parts.
Buying groceries is one thing, but learning even how the garbage works can be a lot more time intensive than one might first think. For example, Germany in particular is famous (or notorious) for its pretty strict recycling laws. There are strict fines for non-compliance and various sub-rules for things like Christmas trees.
This is all to say that if you are feeling a bit “insulted” take a step back and remember that millions of people all over the world have changed their place of residence. Going through some degree of surprise is normal, indeed, “culture shock” is to be expected. And if you get offended at the idea that folks in another continent think they live better than you, you should probably work on your self-esteem issues.
People shared their thoughts and observations
What do you think ?
Floeckchen 1 month ago
Would be interesting where she lived in germany because a lot of things she said just don't apply here. Also some of the "facts" are just plain wrong!
Petra Peitsch 1 month ago
Yaps ... let's speak about BW, the Baden part of it. Small things: cashiers are not rude, just acting normal with halo-have-a-nice-day. Who TF needs more after a shopping? There is iced coffee without vanilleeis. Milk is refrigereted, just the UHT-types are not. Eggs are not because we are not overbleaching our eggs over here. And yeah, eggs are NOT diary. Restaurants are always want to sell-sell-sell, but if you are going in one asking for a glass of tap water, they'll give you, without any charge. You can't deny tap-water from anybody, by law. And there are so much more things OP got not really right ... but Germany has it's own regions with own customs, and I don't know, from where she is coming from...
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Fack Suckerberg 1 month ago (edited)
50% of these "facts" are just completely wrong, outdated, exaggerated or imprecise. Maybe she would need to live 30 more years in Germany at different places to tell you "how Germany is". To list all the mistakes I would need to write a whole PDF.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
I looked at her TikTok page (where Bored Panda stole this list from) and basically all she has on her "profile" is a links to her baby registry where you can buy baby products for her (I guess she's pregnant?) so - makes me wonder if she IS German, but still pulled a lot of these "facts" out of her áss in order to get clicks and make people buy baby stuff for her. I also watched some of her videos and she has... basically no accent. She sounds American to me. She even says "y'all" a couple of times. Makes me wonder how long, exactly, she lived in Germany after she was born. 3 years? XD
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Fred L. 1 month ago
Different German person here. Rents are not stupidly cheap, neither in comparison nor in general, like everywhere else they depend on location and other variables. The same kind of greedy idiots ruining things over there are working on ruining things over here. Meanwhile ground beef is not a rare thing, even though traditionally pork and thus mixed is more prominent. And there actually is iced coffee (beside the ice cream float we call iced coffee over here), you just need to go to a coffee shop, or a larger supermarked (particularly in summer).
Caro 1 month ago
Right. And rents are rising, salaries are not. And we are lacking affordable flats and houses, especially in regions where most people want or need to live: in or around cities where companies have their seats and where you can find jobs. Especially people with low and middle income have massive difficulties the pay their rent or find and alternative place to live.
Load More Replies...
Floeckchen 1 month ago
Would be interesting where she lived in germany because a lot of things she said just don't apply here. Also some of the "facts" are just plain wrong!
Petra Peitsch 1 month ago
Yaps ... let's speak about BW, the Baden part of it. Small things: cashiers are not rude, just acting normal with halo-have-a-nice-day. Who TF needs more after a shopping? There is iced coffee without vanilleeis. Milk is refrigereted, just the UHT-types are not. Eggs are not because we are not overbleaching our eggs over here. And yeah, eggs are NOT diary. Restaurants are always want to sell-sell-sell, but if you are going in one asking for a glass of tap water, they'll give you, without any charge. You can't deny tap-water from anybody, by law. And there are so much more things OP got not really right ... but Germany has it's own regions with own customs, and I don't know, from where she is coming from...
Load More Replies... Fack Suckerberg 1 month ago (edited)
50% of these "facts" are just completely wrong, outdated, exaggerated or imprecise. Maybe she would need to live 30 more years in Germany at different places to tell you "how Germany is". To list all the mistakes I would need to write a whole PDF.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 month ago
I looked at her TikTok page (where Bored Panda stole this list from) and basically all she has on her "profile" is a links to her baby registry where you can buy baby products for her (I guess she's pregnant?) so - makes me wonder if she IS German, but still pulled a lot of these "facts" out of her áss in order to get clicks and make people buy baby stuff for her. I also watched some of her videos and she has... basically no accent. She sounds American to me. She even says "y'all" a couple of times. Makes me wonder how long, exactly, she lived in Germany after she was born. 3 years? XD
Load More Replies... Fred L. 1 month ago
Different German person here. Rents are not stupidly cheap, neither in comparison nor in general, like everywhere else they depend on location and other variables. The same kind of greedy idiots ruining things over there are working on ruining things over here. Meanwhile ground beef is not a rare thing, even though traditionally pork and thus mixed is more prominent. And there actually is iced coffee (beside the ice cream float we call iced coffee over here), you just need to go to a coffee shop, or a larger supermarked (particularly in summer).
Caro 1 month ago
Right. And rents are rising, salaries are not. And we are lacking affordable flats and houses, especially in regions where most people want or need to live: in or around cities where companies have their seats and where you can find jobs. Especially people with low and middle income have massive difficulties the pay their rent or find and alternative place to live.
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