Personal sociocultural shock when moving to Germany

As a spanish citizen, well to be more precissed as an andalusian citizen coming to Germany for the first time was a little bit shocking.

First of all it has to be mentioned that the fact that has affected me the most is the weather, specially the hours of sun during winter. Here in Germany winter is considerably harder than in south Spain. During this year I have realised that weather is a fact that affects immensely my mood. Nevertheless, a city like Leipzig offers a huge variety of indoor opportunities for entertaining yourself. However, this year with the covid restrictions almost everything was closed and we had to entertain ourselves in our owns’ apoartments.

On the other hand, german society is known for being more sharp and short spoken. I have to say that personally I have experienced this in few occasions. Most of the time, the german people I have been treated, was in a kind and respectful manner. However, it has to be mentioned that in my case that I come from a country in which people are very close ad welcoming, the direct way of expressing that german people has sometimes can be interpreted in a “cold way”. Moreover, german people respect more the personal space while me as a spanish person I am more closed.

Another fact that shocked me a lot during these months in Leipzig is that the huge majority of people they either don’t know english or they just prefer to talk to you in german, which impressed me from an advanced country like germany. I have been in several ocassions that I had to try my best in german, just cause I could’t find someone to talk to me in english or spanish.

In order to continue with the differences that I have faced in my ESC experience, the gastronomy, it has been one of the most different factors that I have had to face where I have found a complete different variety of typical dishes, which I do consider more concise.

One fact that I really enjoy about this country is that whenever the weather is good the entire city is outside either at parks or lakes enjoying the sun and eating ice cream, as well as going to open airs, no matter the age they have.

Finally, it has to be mentioned that this city, in which I am doing my ESC, is completely different from the rest of Germany. It is a very alternative and inclusive city, where you can find all kinds of personalities and styles, a city that continually protests against what they consider unfair and a city full of people from countless different nationalities. For this fact, I consider Leipzig an amazing city to do an ESC.