Danielle Ayres

I found it amazing how huge beer is an influence on German culture. I knew from stereotypes that it was a very big deal but to find out that Germans often drink beer like how they would soda is shocking to me. The statistics were also very surprising such as the fact that in 2004, Germans consumed 115 liters per person. Or that German breweries are responsible for 3/4 of the breweries in Europe. Also, who knew it was even possible to make 5,000 kinds of different beer?

With all this considered, it is curious to me that they are trying to constrict the laws on public drinking. It is such a huge part of Germany's culture, to cut back on it would be like making stricter laws for how where an artist can paint.

I also didn't realize how big the Turkish influence in Germany is. To hear that Turkish food booths are almost more common than German ones would have never crossed my mind. It sounded very good though and I was interested as to what it would taste like.

It always bothers me to read articles about what the German personality is like because I feel like that is so stereotypical. I highly doubt that all Germans are pessimists or that they all have the same sense of humor. I understand that a great deal of these people fall into these categories but the articles always make it sound like there are no exceptions to the rule and that Germans are a whole separate set of people completely different from all others.