If you were from a different country, how would you feel about the United States? How would you see it differently? Mavis Krause, an exchange student from Meißen, Germany shows us just how different and similar we can be from the rest of our world, from food to transportation.
Mavis Philine Krause, a high-school senior, is fluent in German, English, and Russian. She’s also learning Dutch on her own time and enjoys reading, cooking, and videography. She says she enjoys making videos because “It feels like I can unleash my creativity.” She enjoys having a finished product.
Krause shared many of her opinions on our culture here in the United States. She expressed how people are very friendly and welcoming here, and she enjoys the sense of community. We have more traditions and family activities, such as a game night which she’s very much enjoyed participating in while here. Besides our culture and family practices, she’s also noticed a few more practical differences. In Germany, taxes are already included in the price of products so it’s a hassle when your total ends up being a lot more than you calculated. Cars are also much bigger here, and she mentioned how much more we rely on them here. “[It’s] not a bad thing, just different.”
The food in the United States is also different. Most food is much sweeter, especially bread. Even sodas like Fanta, which contains 12% orange juice in the European Union, are a lot sweeter with a mere 3.4% juice here in America. Not only is it sweeter, but portions are much larger. “An ice cream sundae was like four times as much ice cream and had a lot of caramel,” she noted (and enjoyed). Also, plastic straws are a godsend to many Europeans. “[They] fall apart halfway through your drink and then it’s like chewing a math book.”
Lastly, the school system here is a lot more relaxed. Teachers are less uptight about attendance, contrasted with Germany’s punctuality stereotype. You also don’t have to pay as much attention and class, and there are more ways to participate in lessons. In Germany, independence and punctuality are very heavily emphasized. Teachers are more lenient in other ways, being more willing to answer questions they’ve already answered and repeating themselves often. While this has its own pros and cons, Krause prefers school in Germany. There’s more structure and routine, and the students are more able to become independent and pragmatic through collaborative projects.
The German exchange students will be here in the library until tomorrow. They’ll be departing for San Francisco on Saturday.
