Little European and American Differences Pt. 1

There a lot of small differences between America and Germany. I knew the big differences before I came over here, but there are always little differences that will make you do a double take sometimes. The first thing I noticed was a lack of screens. All of the windows, except for windows on high floors in very tall buildings, open inwards. Air conditioning is not really a thing here because it doesn’t get hot very often, so they use windows to cool buildings when it gets hot. However, when they open the windows, bugs and leaves and other stuff can fly in because there is no screen to keep them out. I have noticed that this is a European thing and not just a German thing because I have not seen screens anywhere in Europe. I did find a door screen at the German equivalent of a Walmart, which I MacGyvered into a window screen for my room, but I have not seen anyone actually using a screen other than me.

Another thing that is different is the walk signals do not have an obvious button. I could not figure out how to get the signal to turn until I asked a German. She told me that you have to hit the little box to get the signal to turn. You can push the button on the bottom of the box to get the signal to make a sound for people who are visually impaired. I was just very surprised that there was no physical button that you were supposed to press.

When I had to make a presentation to German students, I was surprised when they knocked on their desks instead of clapping. I have seen this a couple times so it was not specific to the one situation. But, I have never seen that in the States.