Well, I've unfortunately spent a lot of time speaking English lately, but my German will pick back up come Monday. I can't be too mad about speaking English though, because it's been in order to communicate with all the great international students I've been hanging out with lately (who actually are all at LMU, not TUM). I have friends from everywhere and they can speak English so well!! It's also pretty interesting to see just how much of the American culture spreads through the world-- by this I mean mostly products of Hollywood. At some point this semester, we actually plan to have an America-themed party (the 4th of July would probably be the most appropriate time for that). My Norwegian friend Kristoffer, Tyler, and I (and whoever else would like to join) will be watching Team America: World Police this weekend, and last night we all had a discussion about the American TV shows that we watch. I'm fairly certain they've seen more South Park than I have!
The mixing of all the nationalities has been very interesting, enlightening, and a lot of fun as well. We always can find some cultural differences to talk about when we are all together, such as in politics or breakfast choices. I think it's even more interesting, though, just how similar we all are. It definitely makes language barriers seem a whole lot less significant. It also further strengthens my view that everyone should take a chance and truly experience another culture. If more people could understand stereotypes as such and understand where different stereotypes have come from specifically, use that understanding to step over cultural barriers, and truly respect other cultures for who they are, I think we would have a much happier society as a whole.
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