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Category: german culture

5 German Christmas Traditions You Will Want To Try Out This Year

5 German Christmas Traditions You Will Want To Try Out This Year

Living in Germany as an expat, the holidays seem to hit pretty hard. Among all the warm lights and smells of cinnamon, the distance from family can be felt more than ever. Traditions surrounding the holidays are different, foreign, and even clash. Good luck trying to explain the multi-day appearances of the various German Santa-like figures AND Santa himself to a toddler. I’m gonna have to make a chart to keep them straight myself. But anyway… While I do miss…

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Sweets or Something Sour? Our Halloween in Germany

Sweets or Something Sour? Our Halloween in Germany

Now that both of our kids can walk and put up with some degree of shenanigans, we decided to do the full Halloween thing this year. Halloween is a holiday that was non-existent in Germany 20 years ago and has been slowly gaining popularity over the past few years. I’m not sure how it got started here officially, but I’m sure it had something to do with all of the American media (TV and movie) influence here, where Germans watch…

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You Do WHAT With Your Garbage?! 40 Ways That European and American Homes Differ

You Do WHAT With Your Garbage?! 40 Ways That European and American Homes Differ

Ever wondered about what it’s like to actually live, not just vacation, in Europe? Ever checked out details on an AirBnB rental or watched House Hunters International and been curious about more details? Besides a higher price tag, a reputation for charm, and an electrical current to fry your hairdryer from home, there are lots of interesting differences between European and American homes. You may not notice some of these right away, but they do impact your day-to-day life and…

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8 Brutal Daily Reminders That You’re Living in a Country Once Ravaged by World Wars

8 Brutal Daily Reminders That You’re Living in a Country Once Ravaged by World Wars

In a lot of ways, daily life in Germany is comparable to life in the States. Living standards are similar, the basics are readily accessible, status quo exists, and people love to complain about the weather. Then, when you least expect it, baaaam – you are confronted head-on with some brutal reminders that you are living in a country that was ravaged by two world wars on its own soil, both of which it sorely lost. These are very strange…

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Not Germany’s Ugliest City – A Traveler’s Eye View of Neumünster

Not Germany’s Ugliest City – A Traveler’s Eye View of Neumünster

Expat life and the traveling mind go hand in hand. We’ve already traveled and experienced something new, and then have probably caught the travel bug (assuming the move was voluntary). Expat life is however, not always about travel – it’s more about spending lots of time somewhere new and learning the in-depth, cultural stuff that you would never know while skimming through a city in a few days or even a few weeks. As a foreigner living in another country,…

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8 Tips for Acclimating & Adjusting to a New Culture and Life Abroad

8 Tips for Acclimating & Adjusting to a New Culture and Life Abroad

Adjusting to living abroad is a process, not unlike dating, if you think about it! First, you look at your options, then make a decision to try an option out. It is exciting at first, everything is new and you try new things. Then the honeymoon phase wears off and you realize the strange or annoying habits, and then comes the critical point: are the pros worth the cons? Is your heart in it? If the answer is yes, then…

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Top 10 Normal & Surprising Questions Asked Most to an American Living Abroad & Cultural Assumptions

Top 10 Normal & Surprising Questions Asked Most to an American Living Abroad & Cultural Assumptions

Since I did not move to Germany as a small child, the second I open my mouth everyone can tell I am not from here. Some people are nice enough to say they find my accent charming (really? An American accent?) or amusing, and usually I get asked a series of questions, varying based on how audacious the Asker is feeling. I am always flattered that someone is interested in getting to know me and where I’m from (a privilege…

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The Sun Shines Brightly in Eppendorf

The Sun Shines Brightly in Eppendorf

I had an appointment in Hamburg the other day and since it has been so warm, sunny, and summer-like (yes, 70° and sunny is pretty much borderline spring/summer in Northern Germany, ha) here, I couldn’t resist a mini stay-cation. The kids were at my in-laws’ place for the afternoon and my appointment was over in no time, so I got to have some downtime and enjoy that part of town like a tourist! A very relaxing thing to do –…

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Let’s Decorate the Easter Tree and Blending Cultural Traditions

Let’s Decorate the Easter Tree and Blending Cultural Traditions

There’s one German tradition that I actually thought was a joke or just done ironically, and that is this: Hanging eggs on trees, bushes, plants, etc. at Easter time. It still kinda seems a bit silly to me from an outsider’s perspective, like What, you have to decorate at Easter too? Is this like equal rights for all? Like closure for the Xmas tree? What does it mean/symbolize, anyway? Is the Easter bunny expected to hang eggs in trees, with…

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In the Beginning: Arrival in Hamburg

In the Beginning: Arrival in Hamburg

I will never forget my first evening in Hamburg. I still have this image burned into my brain: I had booked a room at the youth hostel at the harbor for a night or two around my audition day for the conservatory. The hostel is perched on a little hill directly at Landungsbrücken, the main S-bahn train stop for harbor visitors. As I sat eating my dinner while gazing out over the harbor from the floor-to-ceiling hostel dining room windows,…

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