In today’s podcast we hear from people who are comparing their life styles in Germany with that in their home countries. However, we will also discuss different beer traditions with a Belgian who gives beer seminars in Germany.
We hear from Ru´a and Francisco, exchange students from Jordan and Spain who tell us how some everyday experiences in a new culture can be a little overwhelming at the beginning.
Then we listen to Filip, the “beer seminarist” from Belgium. He will explain the main differences in beer brewing to us.
In our last part Issa tells about his ideas about Germany before he arrived. He held many stereotypes before coming to Germany and he will admit that some of them were disproved right on arrival.
absolutely hurried
In this part of today’s podcast I asked Francisco and Ru´a about what surprised them culturally when they arrived. Everybody talks about globalization but it seems like even the simplest things, such as doing your shopping in a supermarket are very different in different cultures. Also, we will hear what the best ways to integrate quickly could be and what foreigners miss the most from their home countries.
absolutely alcoholic
In the second part of this episode we listen to Filip Dedeurwarder-Haas. He is originally from Belgium, but has been living in Germany for a while and is married to a German. Perfectly integrated, he seems in a good position to spot the differences between the German and the Belgian everyday culture. However, when it comes to beer, he has preserved his Belgian national taste. Do you have any idea how many kinds of beer people enjoy in Belgium? Filip the Belgian beer teacher will tell us some fascinating facts about different kinds of beer and even rules for drinking them, which are not known to many people. I must admit that after tasting Belgian beers our German beer in comparison does not show nearly as much variety.
absolutely stereotypical
Whether we like it or not: We will all have our preconceived ideas about a new country before we travel there and often we will have to revise them soon. In this last part of our episode we listen to Issa, an exchange student from Jordan, who shares his original ideas and stereotypes about Germany before he came and compares them to the actual daily reality in his new life. He will tell us how his “new life” In Germany affected him and how he found friends among Germans.
By the way, did you know that we are also on iTunes? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment. We would appreciate that!
We’ll also be posting on our Facebook page.
The next show will be coming to you from Denmark with Anne Fox on October 7th. So until then stay tuned.
The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Editor: Yelizaveta Shiryayeva
Assistant: Asif Safarli
I went to Spain for a few weeks to explore before attending a medical conference and it was quite a culture shock. For example, in the USA you can ask questions about the beer and they’ll give you their thoughts, but in Spain, they expect you to know everything first. I guess I got a little too comfortable in the USA!
Loved the story about talking to the grocer! Thanks for the podcast.