Sidewalks and Strasses

Most of the discussion in "Stay off the Bike Path!" and "Crossing the Strasse" centered around the general German stiffness for rules and regulations. It seems from the articles that many things that would seem overly stringent in America (tickets being given for crossing the empty street at 3:00 AM, the concept of the 'honor code' used on public transportation) are commonplace in Germany due to their cultural acceptance of the rules.

During my time in Germany i noticed many of the observations presented in the readings. I was especially enamored with the bike lanes on the sidewalks. I would occasionally wander into the lane while walking down the sidewalk, only to be instantly grabbed and pulled back into the pedestrian zone by one of my native friends. It didn't take me very long to realize that if I was going to be in their town, I had to play by their rules. The same was true of crossing the street. People do drive very fast, and crossings can often be dangerous, but I was still shocked when we would be waiting for that little man to turn white with not a car in sight. It was especially incredible because many of the people I had met in Germany were so much like me (and like American college students) in so many ways.

I'll only comment on the nudity articles by saying that it is 100% different in Europe, and that it's almost impossible to explain to someone who hasn't been across the Atlantic. I can't quite understand where the stigma came from, but it is incredibly strong throughout the entire US. And it's too bad too, because Spring Break could have been so much more fun...

It is interesting that there is such a largely incorporated bike path system in their cities. I think that it is a great idea for all major cities to focus more on non-motor powered modes of transportation. I didn't, however, find it that surprising that the cyclist are seen as being "aggressive" because that's just normally how any avid cyclist is when it comes to rules of the road. I did find it quite interesting how the author stressed the obedience of the German people to pedestrian traffic signal. I for one am not too conscientious of pedestrian traffic signals and prefer to go when i see an opening. I wonder how long i could get away with that in Germany. I did find it interesting that even something as simple and straight forward as buying a train ticket can come with complications. The Honors system that German's use for their public transportation seems too good to be true. Apparently it is the way the author put it, saying that they definitely still check tickets and that there can be so many complications in even buying your tickets. I thought it was kind of funny that Germans have a support group for messy people; " Anonyme Unordentliche (Slobs Anonymous)". I also thought that their system for educating young people how to drive was very strange. It made me wonder if i would even want to bother getting my license if i lived in Germany.

Kultur 4- Cameron Carpenter

The first article was very interesting. Although I knew that a lot of people in Europe like to bike places. I also knew that they just went on the street or side walk and don't have their own lanes like many place over here. Mein Opa hates them, aber if one got in his way I would like to think that he would move. So to hear that many Germans would move is extremely surprising. I'm not particularly surprised that the drivers don't stop for pedestrians, although it is so different from over here, especially Ann Arbor in which one can cross any where and assume even with out looking they will be fine. Over there and even in larger cities over here drivers really get the right away and if a walker gets in their way it will most likely be their funeral. Its very funny that the Germans are so logical that if one asks for a ticket then asked for the next train and the teller will tell you the next train not if it is yours or if your ticket is valid for the ride. The idea of a free meal in our culture is quickly disappearing, however when we see a chance to get one we almost never turn down the opportunity. I we saw a train with no turn styles we would probably hop on that train whether or not its going where we want. To see that in Germany they buy tickes no matter what. It kinda reminds me a parking tickets, one may get away with not paying fr a while, but soon your luck will run out and you'll pay a lot more in the end. First off I love the Idea of Slobs Anonymous. The Idea of two one way streets running into each other seems crazy, but I'm sure the Germans thought of a way to make it work. They are the most organized people and this just furthers proves it.

Kultur 4

Ich finde es interessant that Germans travel most places on their bikes; however I think it is an excellent idea. This is most likely one of the reasons that Germans are in better shape than Americans. Americans hop in their cars to drive down the street and Germans ride their bikes for their exercise.

I kind of laughed at the idea of the "little red dictator" who tells you when to cross the street. Generally in America we can cross the street whenever or even J-walk and not get in trouble, but in German if you cross the street when you are not allowed to a person can get in a lot of trouble. This is even more interesting because in Germany in generally seems that roads are not too busy because most people don't drive cars.

I think that German form of logic is inconvenient because those kinds of mistakes can really ruin a persons day. I think that the Germans, being rude people, do this on purpose. This also goes with the no free rides because people make mistakes and the German culture seems to not recognize mistakes. So I guess the article was recommending that you double check everything you do in Germany because if you are caught without a ticket or something you will have to put up with the circumstances even if it was the slightest mistake.

I like the fact that Germans are very organized. I wish America has a slobs anonymous class!

I find it funny that Germans think being nude in public is ok and that Americans are uptight because they think it is wrong to be nude in public because for almost anything else Germans are the uptight ones.

I like how in Germany people cannot get their license until they are older, and in fact most people never necessarily need to learn to drive because there are other better forms of transportation that Germany has to offer.

Kultur4 - Joe Oliver

Ich finde die Kultur articles für transportation/public transportation sehr interessant. Ich komme aus ein Stadt mit nur Autos, aber in Ann Arbor ich fahre Rad und Bus. So going between these zwei Städte, ich notice the differences in the way die Städte operate. Ich liebe Ann Arbor am Redford (mein hometown) denn it is easier, "greener," and actually sometimes faster to get around. When I'm home, it's shocking how far away things are because it is assumed wir haben ein Auto. In Ann Arbor, everything is very close together because fewer people drive. But that ends basically as soon as you are out of the downtown areas. Even in meinen Wohnung (which is almost in Ypsilanti), more people have cars and stuff is farther apart. When I walk through the lot to the bus stop, Ich muss walk down a car path in the parking lot und avoid cars. There are still problems mit the public transport in Ann Arbor but I find it much preferable. Reading the Kultur articles, it seems Deutschland has it more figured out than we do here.

The bike baths in die Straße in Ann Arbor are inconsistent and not clearly marked, so ich liebe hören that the ones in Deutschland are color coded or otherwise differentiated from footpaths/roads. I even looked it up to see what the article meant and found this. Another petty problem with getting around Ann Arbor is the so called "Zebra crosswalks" (as the Deutsch Kultur article sagt). They're pretty decent here aber it is sometimes frustrating both when walking and when driving. Significantly fewer than "999/1000" drivers seem committed to slamming on breaks and giving pedestrians the right of way. And pedestrians, aware of this and unsure if the car will let them go,  end up playing a de facto game of chicken sometimes with cars. I wonder if this is a result of Deutschland making it less easy to get your Führerschein. I'm not sure about other states but meine Fahrschule was sehr easy and did not explain many traffic laws.

The "honor code" on trains seems intimidating but I sort of like it. It reminds me of the busses in Ann Arbor. The AATA busses make you scan your MCard to get on (for Universität Studenten) but Blue busses don't check at all. I've been on many an AATA bus that gets behind when a lot of people are getting on and there are problems scanning the MCards. The blue busses run wie clockwork, often they are ahead of schedule. It seems more efficient to set up the honor system, even if it's intimidating for people new to it. All you have to do is follow the rules and you're fine.

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!