10 German habits I lost when I moved to the USA | Feli from Germany

++Reason for blurs/muted audio: This channel was renamed in Oct 2021. All references to the old name have been removed.++
What has changed since moving to the USA? Once I started life in the US, some of my daily habits changed a lot...
-Reason for blurs/muted audio: This channel was renamed in Oct 2021. All references to the old name have been removed.-
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0:00 Intro
1:33 Dating (1)
4:00 Sweating (2)
4:51 Walking (3)
7:47 Complaining (4)
8:58 Cash (5)
9:56 Appearance (6)
11:08 Lunch Breaks (7)
12:11 Travel (8)
13:04 Restaurants (9,10)
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VIDEOS I'VE MENTIONED:
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 26, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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[FelifromGermany]

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this video 😊 Don't forget to like and subscribe (if you're not a subscriber yet for whatever unknown reason?! 🤔) and let me know down below what you thought of the video and which habits you've ever dropped or picked up when you lived somewhere new!
P.S. Yes, my tongue is blue, I know 🙈

[LeeFKoch]

Since I'm an American living in Germany, I'll give you 10 American habits I lost:
1. Wearing shoes in the house: Germans always slip out of their street shoes and into some house shoes or slippers. In fact, many Germans have "guest slippers" for when somebody comes to visit them, or frequently, polite guests will bring along their own slippers.
2. Driving everywhere: I have actually come to prefer walking places or riding my bike around town, especially since parking in Germany is hard to find.
3. Talking loudly in public: I never realized how loud we Americans tend to be when talking to each other in public. But when you are sitting in an outdoor café in Germany, and a group of American tourists passes by, you can't help but notice how incredibly loud they are in comparison to everybody else. Maybe this is because we are so amazed at how old everything here is compared to the US.
4. Holding open the door for a female: As an American guy, I was taught to treat women with respect and to be chivalrous. Now, I know that times have changed in America, too, but Germans don't do this, and quite a few German women have expressed that they find this behavior patronizing and they resent it.
5. Saying "excuse me" or "I'm sorry": While we Americans aren't quite as polite as the Canadians, we are definitely more polite than the Germans. As you have pointed out in several of your videos, Felicia, Germans are VERY direct and they don't use a lot of the verbal "nicities" that are common in the US. A good German friend of mine once told me off for constantly saying, "Entschuldigung, tut mir Leid!" To which I answered, "Entschuldigung, tut mir Leid!" ;-)
6. Standing in line: Starting in Kindergarten, we Americans learn to politely wait in line until it's our turn. But go to a German bakery or butcher's shop, and you will seek the end of the line in vain! Customers just group up in front of the counter, yet Germans consider it very rude to not wait until it's your turn. So it's up to you to notice who was already there ahead of you, and who came in after you. The salesperson does not do that for you. They usually just ask, "Who's next?"
7. Putting ice cubes in all of my drinks including water.
8. Giving driving distances in units of time: If you ask an American how far it is, say from your hotel to the airport, they will most likely tell you how long a drive it is: "The airport is a 45 minute drive from your hotel, unless you go during rush hour, then it's more like an hour and a half." Germans don't do that. They tell each other how far it is in kilometers.
9. Relaxing by going out for a drive: I used to love just taking my car for a spin out in the country or down a straight stretch of highway with my windows rolled down and some great music on the radio. But I find driving in Germany very stressful. It is a way to get from A to B, but definitely not relaxing!
10. Leaving the lights on all over the house, even when youre out: Germans are much more ecologically-minded than we Americans, who may leave the lights on in a room, not only when they are in another room, but even when they leave the house for a night out. Germans tend to only have the lights on in the room they are in at the moment, and they never leave the lights on when no one is at home!

[rickyn]

“I just not ready for a relationship right now”. The ‘with you’ is left out. USA here. That’s my experience.

[Buggiy]

American cities are centered around cars. Everything is organized for reaching it by car. The area for big family houses is designed to get away from by car. Most of the time there is no sidewalk to go by foot to reach a certain area. There are even primary schools in the usa which you can only reach from a highway by car. So parents have to bring their kids to school (or with a schoolbus) till they are old enough to drive.
The design in which cities are build influences your way to live. Its one of the main reasons for using the car all the time.

[benztech]

Oh damn girl look at your subscribers, you getting close to 100k. Because of your videos I have been learning German online. Auf wiedersehen

[Charlie_Rowe]

One thing I remember about Germany was how we ate. Usually we ate a simple breakfast, then a big lunch. But for dinner was usually light. A soup and sandwich or a salad. In the U.S. we seem to make dinner the largest meal and then you feel tired all evening.

[robinbirdj]

I like the German way of being honest and practical. It’s my favorite German thing, besides Bienenstich, and the long compound words. German thinking (mostly) makes more sense to me. Now if I can just figure out the sentence word order.

[stoneagedjp]

This is a habit I lost after living abroad for a while: Social drinking. In Japan, you can have as much as you like and then just take the train home. Here it's just too much of a hassle.

[tomrogue]

"Dating in America has too many rules"
Agree 1000%
Some of my best friends in college were women and I honestly hate the attitude that guys and girls can't just be friends

[terratrodder]

I spent a couple years in southern Germany and I loved the walking. Groups would form every weekend somewhere, you just had to look them up and join. Then beers afterwards. Great fun!

[davesaunders]

re Walking, in fact that is what I enjoy when I visit Europe, the great transit systems and the walk-ability of the towns and cities there. I enjoy just strolling around and notice all the little things that you miss in a car.

[annbsirius]

Nice video! I read an article once that said US restaurants began a trend in the 1990's to become louder. Not just music, but no carpets, louder acoustically, etc. The reason for this was because loud would be perceived as really busy= popular/good. I wish whoever first had that idea hadn't. I hate not being able to hear people!

[pterafirma]

In the US (TX here), we also say "can't complain", or similar phrases like "not too shabby", "I've had worse", etc. The dry understated manner of it is just an understood comic subtlety, maybe similar phenomenon with Germans saying "da kann man nicht meckern"?

[LeeFKoch]

And since most people here in the comments section mention the "dating" thing, I enjoy being able to go out with female friends and not have to worry about anybody misconstruing my intentions or a neighbor thinking I'm having an affair. I'll never forget the time my wife and I were visiting friends, and the husband said to me that he didn't want to go to this classical music concert with his wife (because he didn't really like classical music), but she had bought 2 tickets. I mentioned that I had wanted to go, but because my wife doesn't care much for classical, and I didn't want to go alone, I hadn't bothered getting a ticket. My friend said, "Take my ticket, take my wife! Heck, you can even take my car." No stress, no problems, and everybody had a nice evening.

[reuvenraimundhuber]

I loved walking all over the place when I visited Germany last summer in 2019!!! My first time in Germany and had a amazing time. I live close to downtown in Madison, Wisconsin which is very walkable since it’s a college town so I actually walk all over whenever I get the chance. I bought my first brand new car a few weeks ago but I only drive it if I have to go beyond like 4 miles or so. Otherwise, I’d much rather walk especially since parking can be tight in my area close to downtown. Madison is a great college town with our UW campus ... Go Badgers!

[davidt]

I've always been fascinated with Germany. And I love your YouTube channel.

[silavantalyn]

Oh yes, the 'complaining' part is so true. I lost that habit within a week when I lived in Sweden for 5 years, and it was great! Now I'm back in Germany, and back to complaining, even though I know it's exhausting. For some weird reason, complaining seems to be considered good manners here, having some kind of soothing effect when in fact, it has the opposite effect. I suddenly realised that on one of my first days in Sweden, when I was almost offended by nobody joining me in complaining and instead people were trying to comfort me 🙈

[warp]

We are so glad you're here! Be well and stay safe!

[hstrykid]

I'm an American living for two and a half years now in Prague. For me the biggest changes are grocery shopping for one or two days instead of for a weeks worth of meals and walking and using public transportation. I grew up in California and have driven for nearly forty years until I moved here and now I can't imagine using a car for my daily routine. I'd also ride a bike more but Prague isn't very suited to bikes because of the lack of bike lanes and all of the hills in the city. All in all, I find living here to be much more pleasant than living in the US.

[scarypotter]

This is me with my sister, I want to walk half a mile downtown and she complains it’s too far