Danielle Ayres

Kapital 1

As a first time German student, I was not sure what to expect when I started taking the class. I did not know much about German culture or how it might correlate to American culture. I of course already had stereotypical images of German men with suspenders drinking beer and the beer maidens with braided hair. However, I had never thought of how alike our cultures may actually be until I read the article "How German is American?"

Little did I know that in the year 2000, 42.8 million Americans identified themselves as being German Americans. Coming from a small rural town I was very rarely exposed to diversity or different languages so to learn this was very fascinating. I would have never thought that this many people consider themselves to be German as I have always considered German as quite a minority. Reading more into the article however, I realized why this is actually a common viewpoint to have. In learning about the groups of immigrants such as the forty eighters or the Freethinkers and their liberal views, I realized that these people were radical thinkers and were willing to start fresh in their new country. From what the article described I imagine German immigrants as almost the "hipsters" of their time; always beyond their time and trying to make the world a better place. They abandoned their culture back home and instead Americanized their lifestyles. This is shown by the fact that they seemed to not share one common religion and it was normal to be of a different denomination. Also supporting this idea is the fact that common German holidays are not common here as are other countries holidays such as Saint Patrick's Day.

This makes me feel a respect for German immigrants. They were willing to leave their lives behind and completely start over in America. They did not try to convert Americans or push their culture onto us but instead respected America for its uniqueness and joined the crowd. I now know more about what German American life is really like and how silly my previous views are.