Public Transportation!

Yeah, this topic totally deserves an exclamation point.

I think public transportation is awesome. I can't drive, but even if I could, public transportation is just way more awesome. It's cheap, you can do other things while on the way (as opposed to while driving, reading while driving is frowned upon generally), it's better for the environment, and, well, it's awesome. Plus you are less likely to die, I think.

Sadly, in America, we apparently do not believe in public transportation.

Okay, big cities have buses and trams and trains and subways, but almost anyone who doesn't live in a big city is just out of luck. Sorry.

That's not the case in Germany, or most of Europe, where even the tiniest towns are connected to the world by public transportation. I get get anywhere I want to go in Bremen on public transportation, no problem. It's awesome.

That's probably what I miss most about Germany: public transportation.

Plus, public transportation provides some awesome people-watching opportunities. There are some very interesting people in the world.

German public transportation is interesting in particular, because of the way you pay for it. You buy a ticket, and validate the ticket when you get on. No ticket barriers. On some buses, at some times, you have to show your ticket to the driver, but that's never the case on trains/trams/subways. There are ticket inspectors, and your likelihood of running into one varies depending on what exact transportation you're using, but it operates mostly on the honor system. You pay a fine or go to jail if you're caught without a ticket, but most Germans would never think of not buying a ticket.

My German friend says that's because you're supposed to buy a ticket, and it would be really embarrassing to get caught without one. Most Americans would stand more by my logic, that if you ride public transportation regularly, the expected amount in fines you'd have to pay, adds up to less than if you bought a ticket every time.

Luckily, this isn't an issue for us in Bremen, because we all have semester tickets for students.

But it's an interesting cultural observation, I think, that an honor system like this actually works. (It's not just Germany, but also a lot of the rest of Northern Europe.)

Just, food for thought.

Things I Miss In Germany

I'm in the US right now, at home, but in January, I'm going back to school in Germany. I'm considering what I miss in Germany--some things I can bring with me in a suitcase, but some I can't. Here's a few:

• Good Mexican food. I mean, there are "Mexican" restaurants, but I'm used to good stuff. One deal-breaker? No Mexican restaurant can be good in my mind unless they serve hot, homemade tortilla chips and fresh-tasting salsa. As opposed to stuff that comes from a plastic bag and a jar. 
• String cheese. Is this weird? Probably. But for some reason, I really like this stuff, and haven't ever seen it in Germany.
• Nighttime. I mean, obviously nighttime exists in Germany, but you can't do much at night. There's not much open at night. I mean, bars, obviously, and döner shops (um, semi-Turkish food), and the McDonalds in Bremen is open on Friday and Saturday nights all night, but most everything is closed. Versus, at home, I can think of, a whole lot more that's open at night, besides bars (because I'm not old enough to be hanging out in bars in the US). Stores and restaurants and lots of things. Being a night owl, I prefer American hours. 
• English books. Of course, you can find a few English books in German bookshops, but just the bestsellers most of the time. And you can order books online, but there's something I love about just spending time in a bookstore and browsing and seeing what catches my eye! 
• Twizzlers. Don't judge, please.
• Goldfish crackers. Ditto. 
• Being able to do things for myself. I need a lot more help with everyday errands like going to the bank or post office or cell phone store in Germany. It's frustrating sometimes. 
• Television. In English. I mean, there are some English programs, and I can watch most anything online, but channel-surfing isn't really something I can do in Germany. Not that I do it much in the US, but I miss being able to!

And of course, I just miss home. My friends and family and dogs and sleeping in my own bed. But that's a given.

And there are things in Germany that I'd like to have in the US, too! I'll write that list sometime.

Squared Paper, College Ruled, and Fountain Pens, Oh My!

I’m American, but I go to school in Germany, and I’ve noticed a few differences in writing supplies between the two countries.

All through high school, I wrote my class notes in cheap spiral notebooks from Target, you know the type, with college-ruled paper. I didn’t bring any with me to Germany, because I figured, cheap notebooks must be available everywhere! And, sure, they are. But not college ruled. I found only two kinds of notebooks at Marktkauf, the German equivalent of a Wal-Mart or Target: lined notebooks with paper closer to what we call wide-ruled, and notebooks with squared paper. Nothing college-ruled in sight! I chose squared paper, because I have small handwriting, and I have to say, I now actually prefer to write on squared paper. The lines are more my size than even college-ruled paper.

After some discussion with a German friend, we figured out a theory as to why college-ruled paper doesn’t exist in Germany: students are taught to write with fountain pens. I had never in my life used a fountain pen; in America, there are artsy, old-fashioned, or elite people who might use them, but we use cheap ballpoint pens, or pens with gel inks or whatever (or pencils, but I’ll get to that in a minute), not fountain pens. The vast majority of Americans (myself included at that point) would have no idea how to use a fountain pen, but for a German student, it’s normal. They all have correcting ink for when they make a mistake with fountain pens, too! To my German friend, it was unthinkable that one would turn in any sort of official assignment written with the kind of pen that comes in a package of twenty for less than three dollars at any discount store–or, God forbid, written in pencil!

They even write math in ink, and when I did find some pencils at a stationary store in Germany (a chain called McPaper, for some reason), none had erasers. None. Okay, maybe one over on the end, but 99% did not have erasers. In America, fancy artist pencils may not have erasers, but those that the average person writes down grocery lists or scribbles calculations with certainly do! Again, I turned to my German friend, who said : “Why would those pencils have erasers? Pencils with erasers are for children.” Which, in my opinion, is a really interesting statement. It says that in the German mindset, they can’t admit to the fact that they might make mistakes and have to correct something. They do have erasers, separate from the pencils, but those are not so readily available: those do not have the reminder that one might make a mistake staring you in the face as you write. I guess. Apparently, admitting that we’re all human and make mistakes is not the German thing to do.

I still don’t know why squared paper is a normal writing paper in Germany, though. I guess because schoolchildren use it a lot, definitely because it’s easier to do math on, and possibly the teaching of handwriting is made easier on squared paper, the same way we use paper with a dotted line between every two solid lines to teach handwriting in the States.

It’s interesting–something I always thought was universal, stationary, turned out to be far from that!

Originally posted on one of my older adventures into blogging, which I'd prefer not to link to, but trust me, it's not plagiarized--email me if you want verification!