Final

I came into this German Culture class knowing a little bit, but not a whole lot about Germany and its culture. I knew we weren’t going to be learning any of the German language, but I was still a little disappointed. What I knew about Germany was what others have told me. In my high school we had several foreign exchange students who were from Germany and became good friends of mine. Through them I learned about Germany and there drinking age. I was in middle school when I learned for the first time about how young there drinking age was. It was a surprise to me but I quickly learned that it didn’t impact there life as much as I thought that it would. Because it is a way of German life, it doesn’t make for kids trying to get their hands on something forbidden. It is simply a way of life and no one questions it. Until this year I had no idea that Germany had 16 states. I enjoyed working on this project with my group. We researched Saxony, Germany and like all of the states the groups presented it proved to be very interesting. We learned about what states where the major leaders in industry in Germany were, big trade states, and many other tidbits on all of the states. As class progressed we eventually got to reading All Quiet on the Western Front. At first I was skeptical that the book would even be good or pertain to class, but as it turns out the book was excellent and went very well with the class. It was very much so a part of German history. After reading the book we got to watch the movie in class and that helped to portray the conditions a little better than the book could. We could actually see with our eyes the struggles and how everyone was affected.  The book was also better in certain aspects; such as, allowing us read into the minds of all the characters. Another topic we covered in class was German politics. This was my least favorite project of the semester due to the size of the group and finding time for everyone to meet up and share their findings. It was a lot of emailing back and forth. I was surprised to learn how many different political groups Germany had. My group researched the Pirates and, like all of Germany’s culture, was yet again surprised. I couldn’t believe how disorganized this political group was, yet they were fairly successful in gaining people. They are one of the newest groups in the political aspect, but were growing at a fast pace. We ended class by watching Berlin Calling and Baader Meinhoff Complex. When I thought there could be no more surprises, there was room for yet a couple more. These movies were far different from any U.S. movies that I have ever seen. Both movies were very open with sex and drug abuse and nudity. I wasn’t a very big fan of watching either movies, but to say the least they were both educational in their own ways. All in all I would have to say this was a pretty decent class. I learned a lot about German history and culture. I enjoyed the teacher and group projects, but the blog was not necessarily my favorite.