differences and similarities

So its the end of the second week now and everyday i learn something new and interesting about German culture and language. my first impressions of Germany and the German people i would have to say are the stereotypes that we have of the German people, although i was expecting this. But everyday in my Cross-Cultural class and also in the language classes i have to reassess my ideas of the people and the customs. We do so many things differently in Australia, i am now realising how much of my culture i am not able to wlak away from which i thought i originally could, or rather i realise how much my own upbringing cant be set aside just because im elsewhere in the world and i want to learn about a different culture. For instance here is stuttgart some of the pubs we have been to have a smokers room and others just allow smoking inside everywhere, also in the s-bahn and u-bahn stations it is allowed but not on the trains or on the platforms. Another thing is that the alcohol is seriously cheap and you can buy it off the shelf in the supermarket and then walk around the streets drinking it and its fine! :O something also i have noticed is that becuase its winter they dont get flys here but after cooking a meal it is common place to leave the food in the pan and put a lid on it and leave it there till the next day when it gets eaten, same with juice- instead of putting it in the fringe its fine to leave it sitting on the bench. This is just so incredibly foreign to me its hard to grasp and its something so simple.

The first few days :)

Okay so to start off with I'm going to write in English until my Deutsch improves a bit more. It is the second day of classes today and we have had our first Deutsch class and subject course. So what am i expecting from my time in Germany? for starters i guess that i am expecting to learn a bit about Germany culture, and learn to have the confidence to try speaking German in class as well as in every aspect of my day, for me personally i feel i would like to be able to go into a shop or up to a stranger or for someone to come up to me and for me to be able to understand what they are saying and be able to reply in some form of acceptable German. I understand that this may be too much to ask but this is what i hope to achieve from studying in this beautiful country. I hope to learn about the culture, not the stereotypical idea that i have at the moment but to get a feel for the true Deutsch way of life. I would like to have a firmer understanding of the concepts i learnt last year at UWA, and be able to speak sufficient German, at least enough to have a conversation with others, i suppose that learning new things is not so important at the moment but i expect that i will although if i were to just understand completely what i have already learnt and be able to use it in my everyday life i would be more than ecstatic.  Till next week.

excited!

So excited to be heading over to Germany in only 2 weeks!