5 Things Americans Do That Germans Find WEIRD! | Feli from Germany

Germany and the US have a lot in common and when I first moved here I didn't really experience a huge culture shock but there were definitely things that as a German I found really weird [Music] [Applause] hello servos and welcome back to my YouTube channel my name is Philly I'm originally from Munich Germany but I've been living here in Cincinnati Ohio on and off since 2016. about half a year ago I made a video about five things Germans do that Americans find weird but of course this also works the other way around and over the years I've come across a pretty good amount of things that are totally normal to Americans but a weird to Germans and here are five of them hey do you want to grab a coffee with me like right down the street sure let's go what are you doing um getting in the car no like it's literally just two blocks down the road like a five minute walk okay so this is a situation that actually happened to me during my first few months of living in the US and since then I've come to learn that this is way more than just a stereotype Americans really drive everywhere at least that's my experience here in the Midwest where everything is pretty spread out and public transportation is more or less non-existent in bigger cities like New York San Francisco or Chicago that's different but here people really have to drive to get places but the thing is that they even do so when it's not necessary at all like in the situation I just showed you or in this situation that I run into with Ben all the time okay so we just came out of Kroger and we're trying to go to PetSmart next which is right over there like three stores over right and what are you doing mister driving ridiculous and to take this to the next level Americans also run a lot of their errands without ever leaving their car because there's literally drive-throughs for anything I mean I was familiar with drive-throughs at fast food restaurants but then I come here and I see a drive-through ATM like what why wouldn't you just park get out of your car and walk over to the ATM they're a drive-through pharmacies that's also how I've had most of my PCR tests over the last few years just in the car in the drive-through there is drive-through liquor stores most coffee shops have a drive-through and even drive through wedding chapels and funerals are a thing you really don't ever have to leave your car in this country if you don't want to okay I promise I'm not trying to make fun of Americans I mean I do a lot of these things myself when I'm in the US and I've definitely gotten used to doing this the American way over the last six years but compared to Germany and I know I said this in the last video but compared to Germany where walking is a very normal part of life and everything up to a 20 minute walk is honestly a no-brainer it was definitely something I had to get used to and I know that whenever other Germans experienced this for the first time they find it kind of weird as well at first another thing that many Germans are surprised about at first is that a lot of Americans don't speak a second or third language even though they can be a huge career boost but most American schools just don't offer a lot of language classes and students aren't usually required to take more than two years of a second language if that well a good thing that italki exists where you can take customizable one-on-one lessons with certified teachers that fit your schedule and budget you can choose from thousands of amazing teachers for over 150 languages including German English Spanish French Japanese and Mandarin to book a lesson you simply select your language you can also set some extra filters and then you can scroll through all of the teachers watch their introduction videos my name is Vanessa and book your time slot with them there's no long-term commitment here you simply paper lesson German Conversation lessons start at around 5 Euros for example and speaking second language isn't only fun but it can also increase your salary by 10 to 15 plus it can help you stand out in job interviews and it might unlock your dream job in another country that's why italki offers dedicated business lessons for job interviews meetings and presentations with teachers that are industry experts by the way 19 hours on italki equals one whole College semester of language lessons just sign up to italki with my link in the info box below and boost your career and with my code 85 you'll even get a five euro discount when purchasing a 10 euro lesson so 50 off oh my friend just said she's at this party and we should come do you want to go sure sounds great let me just get changed real quick in your car yeah just one second wait you had all of this in your car already yeah you know just in case and you have makeup in there yeah don't you my car makeup okay this one is pretty closely related to my first point but it just had to be on this list because guys it's not an exaggeration when I tell you that Americans live in their cars which you know makes a lot of sense considering that they drive everywhere and therefore spend a lot of time in their cars but what I was used to from Germany was Cars looking somewhat like this most of the time maybe there'll be like a couple shopping bags or a blanket or a dog leash or something in the car but that's about it for most people while in the US I've almost never met someone who didn't have half of their closet and half of their belongings in their car you need a screwdriver they'll have one in their car you need a folding table for an event they'll have one and when I say they live in their cars this also includes that some Americans will literally bring their coffee mugs and cereal bowls into their car and eat and drink while driving and I'm not just talking about to-go cups with a lid that's standard in the USA anyways and I think the ability to eat a burger and fries while driving on the interstate is ingrained into every American's DNA but Ben for example literally brings regular cups and mugs with Coke or coffee into the car which makes me so nervous every time and one time when I got into my friend's car and it smelled kind of weird she just said oh yeah I accidentally spilled my cereal in here this morning and I think the milk is starting to smell she's also someone who will eat noodles with chopsticks while driving and she's not alone with that in this country disclaimer of course they're also Americans who have a very tidy empty car and who never eat in their car but it is something that I have seen a lot here and it was definitely kind of weird to me at first okay so we need Mayo pickles and milk okay let's see here's Mayo [Music] pickles and here's the milk what do you want whole milk one percent or two percent [Music] this is one of the things that I literally mentioned in one of my very first videos ever on this channel everything is bigger in this country the streets the cars the houses the stores the drinks and even groceries and if you keep in mind that this is the size of a milk carton in German stores this is one liter you'll probably understand that a full gallon which is close to four liters seems a little excessive to us but of course a lot of this goes back to the size of this country and how spread out things are and when people have to drive half an hour longer to the next grocery store it makes sense that they'd prefer buying things in bulks so they don't have to go to the store as often but being from Germany where it's normal to go to the store more frequently to buy fresh food I'm still a little confused why someone would need a huge jar of pickles or a giant jar of peanut butter or a full tub of mayo and why these American onions are so damn big thank you guys so much for coming over I haven't made this dish in so long especially not for six people just grab a plate and help yourself thank you how long did this take you oh like all day and you want us to eat it from paper plates with plastic utensils um yeah I mean I just don't want to do the dishes but you have a dishwasher okay this one might not bother all Germans as much as it bothers me and I know I've brought this up before but I will just never understand why so many Americans use disposable dishes in situations where in my opinion it's really not needed like at their own home and I've seen this throughout different socioeconomic classes and scenarios from college students using disposable dishes for dinner even though they do have real dishes in the cabinets to entire families using disposable dishes on Thanksgiving or Christmas now of course plastic and paper plates do exist in Germany but and I think this applies to other European countries as well we pretty much only use them in situations where using real dishes really makes no sense at all like for a picnic in a park or maybe for a kid's birthday party where the children might be walking around with their plates or a huge cookout where you might not have enough dishes but if I have the option to use a real plate and real silverware I'll personally always prefer that because eating from a soggy paper plate with a wobbly plastic fork and a knife that doesn't cut can really ruin the whole eating experience for me especially when you've spent a lot of time cooking I don't understand why people then take away from that with serving the food on a plastic plate and holidays are honestly the very last occasion that I'd ever use disposable dishes for like if anything that's when you take out your best dishes in Germany which I know a lot of families in the US do as well but as I said I've also seen a few different families use disposable dishes on holidays and the explanation is usually either that they don't have enough plates for a big group or because they don't want to do the dishes after already having done all of the cooking which I generally understand but in most cases when I see this done it's groups of 10 people or less or even just one single person on a regular Tuesday night and I know these households definitely have enough dishes for that and I've also only ever seen this done in households that had a dishwasher which is a very standard kitchen appliance in the US and I personally just don't really see how putting dishes the dishwasher is that much more work than putting them into the trash can to be honest so this is something that I've always found weird and I know that other Germans and other Europeans do as well will I still like you if you serve Christmas dinner on a paper plate yes of course but it is something I still have to get used to good morning guests what do you want for breakfast um do you have some bread of course here you go no not toast like actual bread wait what do you mean this is bread okay last but not least we have to talk about bread as you might know Germany is known for the quality and variety of its bread but here in the US this is what people consider bread of course you can't find German style bread if you look for it but it's not the standard and if you do find some good bread it's usually really expensive but for the most part this is what you'll get in the US when you ask for bread and honestly there's simply a communication issue between Germans and Americans here because this to a German is tosport it's the type of bread that is super soft and that you put into a toaster to make it crunchy we definitely have that too but it's not all we mean when we just use the term brought that will usually refer to something like this like a sourdough or or when we say which means bread roll we mean something like this but those are also different from your typical American dinner rolls they're crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and definitely not sweet like a lot of the bread you'll find in the US like when you go to a nicer restaurant here for example where they'll give you a bread basket for the table it might look pretty good at first like cut up baguette but in a lot of cases it's also really soft and oddly sweet now when a German looks for bread in an American store it'll usually go somewhere like this [Music] simply put this is considered a sponge in Germany not bread okay just kidding I mean half kidding because that is really what most Germans think of but of course that was put a little harshly it's not like Germans don't understand the cultural difference and the difference in food preferences and you will even find specifically labeled American sandwich bread in German stores and people do buy that but to us Germans it's definitely weird that what we know as toast bread is just considered regular bread in the U.S and I think a lot of us also find it a little weird that there doesn't seem to be any demand in the U.S for what we consider good bread what else goes to your mind when you think of things that Americans do that Germans or people from other countries might consider weird let me know in the comments below and of course I also have many more things on my list of weird things that Americans do and I think I have even more things on my list of weird things that Germans do so let me know if you want me to publish a part two for that I hope you enjoyed this and I hope my American viewers don't feel attacked too much I'm sure there will also be a lot of comments from Americans saying that they totally don't do these things because as always in my videos these are all generalizations of course and the things I mentioned in this video don't apply to every single American or every single German if you like my content don't forget to subscribe to my channel activate the notification Bell hit the thumbs up button and make sure to also follow me on Tick Tock Instagram and Facebook for more content this is how you can support me and my channel if you want to and with that I hope I'll see you next time cheers [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Feli from Germany

Views: 299,549

Keywords: USA, America, Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Kulturelle Unterschiede, Deutschland, Amerika, Kulturschock, USA vs. Germany, Comparison, Expat, Living abroad, Move to Germany, Move to Europe, Life in USA, U.S., Deutschland USA Kulturunterschiede, Unterschiede Deutschland Amerika, Feli from Germany, USA drive thru, Americans drive everywhere, Peanut butter huge jar, Big sizes USA, Americans weird, Disposable dishes USA, American bread, German bread, Deutsches Brot, Brot in USA

Id: sRLI0T7PV10

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 02 2023