After four months of living in Germany, I’ve done quite a bit of traveling. I’ve seen royal palaces, Roman ruins, Stone Age dwellings, mountains, lakes, and big cities both old and new. I’ve also met people from all over the world–Jordan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, the UK, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, France, China, Japan, Italy, and Spain to name a few countries of origin. People really are one of the most interesting things about traveling. And I do mean “interesting” in both a positive and negative way. There’s an important difference between “traveler” and “tourist,” you see.
The traveler is interested in learning about where they’re visiting. They want to experience the culture, learn about the history, and generally have respect for the places they’re visiting. As a result, they’re usually quite pleasant to be around and will have good stories of their own to tell.
The tourist is loud. They either know hardly anything about what they’re visiting, or they like to talk very loudly about how much they know. More often than not, they’d rather the locals get out of their way so they can see a landmark than learn from the locals.
I don’t like tourists. And I desperately hope I am not one.
I thought it would be really interesting to tell some stories about the people I’ve met on my travels or at school. As a disclaimer, these are always generalizations. They’re my opinions, and not everyone falls into these categories. I could be completely wrong. But they are my experiences. (I’m leaving names out for privacy purposes.)
The bravest traveler I ever met was from Japan. In general, Japanese tourists travel in packs. They are everywhere. They take tons of photos–and wouldn’t you, if you traveled across the world to see something? They seem to enjoy themselves a lot. There are running jokes about Japanese travelers being the majority at any tourist destination, but I think it’s really cool that they’re so interested in seeing everything. Now, the Japanese traveler I met was alone. He was backpacking across Europe and was staying at my hostel when I visited Neuschwanstein. Looking back on it, I don’t think I’ve seen too many lone Japanese tourists; they really do need groups to travel in. Maybe that’s why he started talking to me when we arrived in Schwangau to buy tickets–he needed someone to tour the castles with. He spoke very little English, and what he did know was self-taught, but he seemed to understand what I was saying to him. I made sure he got through the ticket-buying process ok and that he found his tour at both castles. On the way to Neuschwanstein, we picked up a few other travelers from Spain and Bavaria, and I had to translate their accented English or German to something he could understand. It was actually one of the best experiences I’ve had with other foreigners, walking up to Neuschwanstein with people from Japan, Spain, and Germany. And ultimately, I really admired that Japanese traveler–he was all the way across the world, alone, without knowing the language, but he still did it.
Australians are another group that seems to be everywhere. They get the award wanting to learn about the places they’re visiting. The Australians I’ve met, as a general rule, don’t seem to know much about the places they’re visiting, or at least not about all of them. That could be because they’re backpacking everywhere and just don’t have the time or means to read up on stuff. In Munich, they knew about the beer and that was about it. But what’s great is that they show an incredible amount of interest in learning about a place, if someone will only take the time to tell them. At two separate times, I’ve given Australians a brief history of King Ludwig II and the history of Germany philosophy. Well, they at least seemed really interested. They’d ask questions, and their faces light up when I say something that interests them. They’re an adventurous group. They go everywhere for months at a time. I’m kind of jealous of their ability to make these prolonged backpacking trips!
And then of course, there are the Americans. Ah, what can I say about my fellow Americans? In all fairness, I’ve met some really great, knowledgeable Americans (travelers!) in Amsterdam and at Neuschwanstein. The one in Amsterdam was a redhead and we had a funny conversation about redheads all over the world, and what happens once you reach the age of 50 or so. The great thing about Americans is that, in general, they are really friendly if I approach them and start a conversation. Americans abroad don’t seem to mind sticking together, even if they’re strangers. But during my six days in Munich, I got truly tired of Americans. Guys, you are really loud. For example: during those six days, I stayed in a 12 person dorm room. Everybody kept coming back late and drunk. The Italians were loud but they went straight to bed. The French talked to one another in low voices by flashlight. I never heard the Japanese even open the door they were so quiet. The Spanish woke me up but were fine after 10 minutes. But the Americans were the only ones who turned on the lights and attempted to play a drunken game of cards at 2am. This event led to the invention of my favorite game: convince the Americans that I’m actually German so that I can justify yelling at them when they do that. It works. Americans out in public are the loudest tourists I’ve heard, although the British seem to be just as bad about that (sorry). And they seem to assume that no one else understands them, but we totally do, and wow those are some really rude jokes you’re telling. Why?!
The most adventurous person I’ve met lives in my dorm. He is, of course, from Germany. Last summer he took a paddle boat with his friends all the way from Koblenz to Istanbul. That’s 2,413 km by car–I have no idea how many more by boat! But to me, that’s just amazing. What an adventure!
The most interesting cultural connection I’ve had was with a student from China. She’s studying at the University in Koblenz, and I met her while visiting Burg Eltz with the international group. The amazing thing is that the common language is usually English rather than German, and her English was pretty good. But what would an American have in common with someone from China? “Big Bang Theory” apparently. Yes, we had a whole conversation about Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Penny! It was fantastic! Not only did we share similar opinions on the characters, but we understood the same jokes. I’m still really surprised how one small American TV show could have crossed over into other cultures, giving us something to share, something to talk about, something to laugh about.
I’ve met a guy from Hungary who once ate a whole pizza and lasagna for lunch. The Turkish girls love to take photos in front of beautiful works of architecture, and I went with one of them to an art museum in Munich where we must have seen 1,000 pictures of Jesus. One student from Greece is incredibly kind, welcoming in all situations, and might travel to Paris with me. Four of our exchange students come from Jordan and they are some of the the nicest people I have ever met; one traveled all the way from Remagen just to eat tacos with me for dinner.
I am so glad to have met all these people, both while traveling and within the exchange program at the Hochschule. I’m learning about their cultures, their languages, and yes, their travel habits. I get the feeling this will be one of the things that I will miss the most when I go back home! Looks like I’ll have to get more involved with the international groups at St. Edward’s.