Kultur 4

Okay, the German people need to decide what I can expect when I get their because all this conflicting Kultur is getting pretty confusing. Should I expect the rule obsessed Germany that has a transit system that features no jaywalking and an honor system train (really I can't believe that)? Or should I expect the Woodstock era naked Germans who want everyone to just go buff to the beach? Germany to me seems to be a contradiction wrapped in a metaphor for the difficulty of understanding a foreign culture. That being said I liked a lot of what I learned in these articles particularly the bike one. I think if we had dedicated bike paths in the US a lot more people would bike as their mode of transportation. I would bike more now if I wasn't so afraid of being run off the road or the occasional driver side door swinging open. Leave it to the Germans to just put bikes in their place and leave it at that. I however did not like how specific I will have to be when ordering train tickets. If the German idea of customer service is selling me the wrong ticket I am going to have to stay on my toes. After reading these articles (like all the others we have read so far) I am excited to someday plan my own trip to Germany some day soon and experience it for myself. I especially am interested in trying to find more differences between the former Eastern and Western parts of Germany as the reunification of the country is a fascinating topic to me.