Typical German

Blogged by: Isabel Schmidt, Jana Nickel, Annabel Schmidt, Eugenia Helmel, Lukas Hembach and Marius Klees

Germanic   

Germany- a dutiful, humorless and beer drinking nation and the people in the USA and other countries  often think of “Lederhosen”, Beer and “Bratwurst” when thinking of Germany.

These are some stereotypes which come from tourists all over the world. When you hear Germany, the first thought is Bavaria. But that’s not all. One stereotype, like prejudice number one, is that the Germans are dutiful and disciplined. Good point. We work a lot and also in the holidays or after work and at the weekends. Performance and success is very important for us. We are hard workers as many others.

 

A German workaholic

 Prejudice number two is that we are reserved. That is not right! At least since the Soccer World Cup in our country we showed the people how receptive we are. We also like to go in bars, pubs and we are very helpful and friendly. Prejudice number three is that we are very humorless. The Germans watch the news most of the time, they are constantly stressed and we seem to be hectic.

Also men with big potbellies and the sandals with white socks is a famous prejudice.

Typical German tourist

But the tourists don´t think so negatively of Germany. They claim the opposite: we are helpful, friendly, tidy and organized. Tourists love the German beer and the food like “Sauerkraut”, “Schweinshaxe” and “Weißwurst”.

But what is the reality? We love to be together with our families and we look a lot after our houses. We are loving family men. We work hard in our life and we are certainly humorous. Not all of the prejudices show the truth. Take a trip to Germany and see it yourself!

But what´s positive (and a true prejudice): The Oktoberfest. There are “Lederhosen”, “Sauerkraut” and a lot of beer for all the tourists.

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

   Typical German: Beer,Weißwurst and Sauerkraut 

   Overview

The “Oktoberfest”

The “Oktoberfest “ in Munich/ Bavaria (Germany) is a typical festival in Germany. Each year there are about 6 million visitors. In 2010, they drunk approximately 7 million ”Maß”. A “Maß” is a special kind of beer mug. In the past it contained 1,069 liters, today it´s only 1 liter.

The first Oktoberfest was held to celebrate the Royal newlyweds Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen in 1810. In 1980, a bomb exploded at the main entrance of the Oktoberfest and killed 13 people (200 injuries). This attack is regarded as one of the worst in the German history.

Another feature is the clothing, the German traditional costume.  Men wear “Lederhosen “and women wear “Dirndl”. “Lederhosen” means leather pants and a “Dirndl” is a dress.

Dirndl actually is an old word for a girl. If a woman wears the bow of the apron on the left, it means she is single. The bow on the right shows that she is in a relationship. The centered bows express insecurity regarding the marital status. A widowed woman or a waitress wears the bow on the back side.

When the “Oktoberfest” kicks in, everywhere in the streets, people start to wear Lederhose and Dirndl. These days even people from outside Germany have started to wear the 'Bavarian costumes' during festivities.

The “Oktoberfest” is a popular festival for people from other countries.

World-famous German celebrities:

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm in 1879. His research into the structure of space time and the nature of gravity significantly has changed the physical world. Einstein's main work was the theory of relativity. They made him world-famous. He got a Nobel prize for physics in 1921. He died in 1955.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt in. He was a world-renowned poet. His work enclosed poems, dramas, telling works, autobiographical, aesthetic, art-theoretical and literature-theoretical as well as scientific writings. His novel "The sufferings of young Werther" made him in famous in Europe (1774). He died in 1832.

 

Today, everybody is talking about our Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is the first female Chancellor of Germany. She was born in 1946 in Hamburg. She has been federal chaitman of CDU since 2000. She is the german Federal Channelor since 2005.

Other public figures are Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer. They are among the world's top models. They walked for the most famous fashions shows, for example Victoria Secret, Chanel and D&G.

Karl Lagerfeld is a big name in the international fashion industry. He is “Chanel´s” fashion designer. He was born in 1933.

 

Germany can also offer a famous sportsman, his name is Michael Schumacher. He was born in 1969. He started to 305 grand Prix racing in the formula 1 in 1991. He won seven World cups. Schumacher celebrated out after the surprising being formula 1 comeback for the Mercedes plant team in the year 2010.

This was only a small part of the German celebrities.

Student Nightlife in Koblenz  

In the following report I would like to tell you about the nightlife in Koblenz.

Although Koblenz is a smaller city in comparison to the large cities of Germany like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne it has a lot to offer. Due to the high density of students in the city, the nightlife offer is not only limited to the weekend but is also present during the week, starting on Wednesdays.

Koblenz is a very cozy city with a lot of bars and pubs which are open during the week as well as during the weekends.
The city is actually famous for its bar culture. Once a year the so called “Zapfkultur” event takes place in the city. In this event, a lot of bars and pubs participate. Also, there are a lot of different live bands playing in the bars. The guests have to pay entry for this event just once and can then visit all bars participating in “Zapfkultur”.

Nevertheless the nightlife of Koblenz is not only limited to its bar culture but offers also a variety of parties, especially for students. The most famous student parties in the city takes place on Thursday in the most famous three clubs in the city. Those parties

 are only for students. There is the “Uni Nerds Party” in the Gray Club, as well as student parties in the club “Agostea” and “Palais”.

The music played is mainly Hip Hop and House music but if you prefer some good rock and punk music, the club “Dreams” is the place to go.

In the main clubs which I mentioned above, the music is mostly similar but there is one club, called “Circus Maximus”, which offers different parties during the weekend. The 80´s and 90´s parties are quite popular as well as Indie, Funk and Drum´n´Bass events.
During the week the club offers also “Poetry Slam”. Similar to “Zapfkultur” mentioned above is the event “Electric City” which also takes place once a year. Around ten clubs take part and host mostly famous Djs. Just like the “Zapfkultur, you have to pay entry once and then you can enter all clubs during this evening. In order to simplify this, the city provides a shuttle bus service which you can use in order to reach all the clubs as they are partly a little bit outside of the city centre. This event is famous in the whole region and attracts a lot of people from the surroundings as well.

Furthermore Koblenz provides various leisure facilities like the “Bowling Centre” and three large cinemas which are open until late night.

As you can see, the city has a lot to offer for young people and especially for students.
The prices are quite low in comparison to other major cities of Germany but nevertheless you have a lot of good choices of clubs and bars.

If you ever come to visit the city, I would recommend to have a nice dinner in one of the Tapas Bars first and then to go for some drinks with friends in the old town of the city. The atmosphere of the pups is very cozy and a good place to start your evening with your friends. After that, around 11:30 pm you should go to one of the clubs where you can dance and party until 05:00 in the morning. After this time there is really nothing open anymore in the city but I am sure that you would have had a nice evening in Koblenz.

Man´s business

Hello, my name is Lukas Hembach, I am twenty one years old and I live in Koblenz. I am studying Business Administration at the Rhein-Mosel-Campus in Koblenz. In this blog my friend Marius Klees and I want to tell you something about man´s business.

When men think about the most beautiful minor matter in the world, they do not have just sex with hot and pretty girls on their minds. Yes it is of course one matter, but for a real man there are three things which are more important than that. Soccer, Beer and Cars! So it is not a secret that the perfect Saturday of a man is to drink beer and to watch soccer with friends. In the following text I will try to explain what soccer is/how it works and Marius will tell you something about the best German car manufacturer BMW:

Soccer is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. For many many years it is the world´s most popular sport. At the beginning of this millennium, the game was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. The game is played on a rectangular field of grass or green artificial turf, with a goal in the middle of each of the short ends. Every team has to defend one of the two goals. So the aim of the match is to kick the ball into the opposing goal.

It is a sport where the players are only allowed to kick the ball with their feet, with other parts of their legs, their head or torso. The goalkeepers are the only players which are also allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms, but just into the penalty area of their own goal. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of a playoff match the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout.

One of the greatest goals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ggqs2apgNo

After the little insight into the world of soccer Marius will go on with BMW.

Hello, my name is Marius Klees, I live in a little village near Limburg a. d. Lahn and I´m also studying Business Administration at the Rhein-Mosel-Campus in Koblenz.

Now I would like to tell you something about the automobile manufacturer BMW.

The beginning of the company was in 1917 in Munich. At first they produced motors for planes. The first car production started in 1928 at Eisenach. Today, the headquarters is in Munich. After the Second World War, nearly the whole company was destroyed by bombs and grenades. The concern was close to insolvency, but models like the “Isetta” or “1500” rescued them.

It was the beginning of a big story of success. With the introduction of the 3-series and the 5-series, the concern advanced to one of the biggest car manufacturers worldwide. Today they produce not only cars. Also bikes are in the array of products. BMW is also the owner of many other companies, like Mini, Rover or Rolls Royce. Moreover, there are two subcontractors of the BMW Group. The first is the BMW M GmbH, which builds one of the best sports cars in the world, for example the BMW M3 or M5. The other contractor is a very young concern, which is called the BMW I Group. This concern builds only electronic prototypes, like the i3, a city car, or the i8, a sports car. With this subcontractor,  BMW is one of the pioneers in research and development of electric cars, the main engine of the future.

The current array of products includes 13 different car types by BMW, 7 cars by BMW M GmbH, 6 cars by Mini and 2 high-class-limousines by Rolls-Royce. The Company has 23 manufacturing bases in the whole world, for example Germany, the United States and Thailand.

Today BMW is one of the biggest and most successful car producer and also one of the most valuable brands in the world.

Sources: Google, Google Pictures,