The aroma of schnitzel, cigarettes and exhaust filled the air; the road from my home lead to downtown. a path walked hundreds, if not thousands of times by my family. The lights lining Wilhelmstrasse at night, large Weinachtsmarkts in the winter and the Rhein Main Grille are the most vivid memories of my time spent out of the United States. Fall was my favorite season; the leaves falling and scattering across the park is a memory that makes my home memorable. Growing up as an American in a foreign country had a significant impact on my life. I can proudly say my home was a culturally rich and bustling town where I developed my values through my family, German culture, and the military, and realized I took my experiences for granted. I lived with my mother, father, and brother in Germany between 2001 and 2015. We’ve shared many great memories of weekend getaways and best of all: laughter shared in the kitchen and living room. I come from a military family who had been lucky to live in one place for so long. I learned to speak English first by my parents, but learned German words soon after beginning to speak. My parents and brother had spent time in Germany years …show more content…
Some memories were more serious than others, good and bad. One of my fondest memories involves our weekend vacations to different German cities. Several times we would go to Swan Lake in Giessen, which was where I learned to ride my bike and Heely’s. Once, I remembered the bike had fallen on my ankle and I had a terrible sprain. I smile about this specific memory because my family took care of me. They treated my brother and I out to pizza at Pizza Mouse, which was our favorite restaurant in Giessen. We stayed in a hotel a couple nights, watched movies at night and spent the days out exploring. These are the moments that helped me realize that while family can be aggravating, they are always there for you through times of strength and
“1944: The Year I Learned to Love a German “by Mordecai Richler essay talks about his experience in his young age during World War II and how his vision of life changed by a single book. Likewise, “shooting an elephant” by George Orwell essay describes George Orwell’s experience in Burma when he was opposed to the issue of whether or not to shoot an elephant that had caused trouble in the town. He compares this situation with the British occupancy of Burma. They both are in the period of well-known of historical events by the world. The first essay talks about the period of an incident that Jewish people killed by Hitler and the other essay talks in the dated of when India was during the rule of the British and got independent by Mahatma Gandhi. Also, one ethnic group ruled by another ethnic group in both stories.
One of the most memorable moments in my life has to be when my grandaughter Aliana Marie Garcia was born. I had been waiting for her to come to this world for a whole nine months!. it was already a special day I held closely as my religion celebrates a special occasion on that day, it is called, "El Dia de Los Reyes", which is a special religious holiday in Mexican culture that is centered around small gifts for children. It was definitely a very wonderful surprise with the precious gift any person can obtain, the gift of life.
At first, the idea of my family and me moving to the United States was fun and exciting. I couldn’t wait for the time for my family and me to leave, get to ride an airplane, eat stateside food such as spam, corned beef, apples, and oranges, and experience the different seasons, especially winter. Because of the excitement of coming to America, I didn’t have the time to think and realize the effects of moving away from home such as missing everything, adopting a different culture, and being independent.
I remember the first time I came to America; I was 10 years old. Everything was exciting! From getting into an airplane, to viewing magnificent, huge buildings from a bird’s eye view in the plane. It was truly memorable. After staying few days at my mother’s house, my father and I wanted to see what Dallas looks like. But because my mother was working the whole day, it wasn’t convenient for her to show us the area except only on Sundays. Finally, we went out to the nearby mall with my mother. My father and I were astonished after looking at a variety of stores. But after looking at different stores, we were finally tired and hungry, so we went into McDonald’s. Not being familiar with fast food restaurants, we were curious to try American
Being the first generation born in this country, my siblings and I have the rare advantage of not only seeing life as it is here, the country we were born in, but also the broader spectrum of life and lifestyles. Growing up we had many experiences common to American people, but at the same time we had such a different and intimate view of life because the experiences we had being exposed to our Swiss heritage. The heritage we have because we are the children of immigrants.
Being German-American is a very personal thing. We want and we find external independence here, a free middle-class way of life, uninhibited progress in industrial development, in short, political freedom. To this extent we are completely American. We build our houses the way Americans do, but inside there is a German hearth that glows. We wear an American hat, but under its brim German eyes peer forth from a German face. We love our wives with German fidelity. . . We live according to what is customary in America, but we hold dear our German customs and traditions. We speak English, but we think and feel in German. Our reason speaks with the words of an Anglo-American, but our hearts understand only our mother tongue. While our eyes are fixed on an American horizon, in our souls the dear old German sky arches upward. Our entire emotional lives are, in a word, German, and anything that would satisfy our inner longing must appear in German attire [Cincinnati Volksfreund, Nov. 13, 1 848]. (Adams)
I grew up in a small town in the western part of Germany. Surrounded by cabbage fields and cow pastures, it wasn't much to look at, but I still felt comfortable and at home living there. I had a typical German childhood —playing soccer instead of football, eating sauerkraut instead of broccoli, and, of course, speaking German instead of English. While I was born in Seattle, I moved to Germany when I was one year old and stayed there for the next 10 years. On August 25th, 2009, my family decided to move back to the US.
The “German” nation, before it even became known as Germany, had undergone a period of transition from its inherited culture as a result of the French invasion and the Napoleonic wars. There was a sense that the German cultur...
Different cultures, or environments make up how people live their lives and how they may act on a daily basis. These cultures are common all throughout the world, even throughout the different places within the United States. Going on my school trip to New York City made me aware of these cultures changes and when are plane landed back in Minnesota I was so thankful to be back to the places and faces I had always been used to.
Coming to America, by far was not what I expected. However, after living here for four years, I have learned to adjust to the surroundings. I was not mentally prepared for the culture change that I was exposed to in the beginning but as days turned into months and eventually into years, I realized that I grew accustomed to the culture and eventually became a part of it. I have gotten accustomed to calculating distance by miles and not kilometers, temperatures by Fahrenheit not Celsius, weight by pounds not kilograms. I have also been influenced to see beauty in different content unlike home where thick women are considered beautiful, healthy and happily married unlike here where everyone is trying to lose weight to enhance their beauty and health. However, not even a decade in America can make me forget the extremes I experienced when I first arrived.
I don't have a lot of fantastic memories of childhood. There were no spectacular family adventures, no unique family projects that taught some sort of moral lesson, no out-of-the-ordinary holidays. We ate family meals together, but most of the time the children and adults lived in different worlds. The kids went to school, did homework, and played; the adults worked. I was lucky, though. When I wanted a little of both worlds, I could always turn to Grandpa.
Due to the history and the present rebuilding of Germany, there is a great variety of aspects in German Life. Everything from food to sports has its own style. All of which is a whole that makes up one great small piece of land. In addition, the culture can’t be considered great without its variety and what it has to offer. What do you know about Germany?
Our family was never close but we didn’t care. Nobody thought one day things might be different. All of that changed on September 20, 2014 when a hostile argument ended with the death of both my aunt and uncle. For years their marriage was falling apart. My aunt was very materialistic and wanted my cousins to have whatever they asked for but in reality my uncle knew it was impossible financially for them to achieve this. He would try to explain this to her but it usually led to arguments where she would then threaten to leave him so in the end she got her way which led to their vast debt. My uncle had a drinking problem but went to AA classes for her to commiserate their marriage and family. The night before this event he had drank a beer which led into a dispute which ended with my aunt taking the kids to her mom’s and they stayed their while my uncle just stayed home. Less than twelve hours later the mailman walked up to a house with my aunt dead on the front porch and my uncle inside on the living room floor dead. The screams caught the attention of the neighbors and the police was then called. This is a significant experience in my life that I faced and that had an impact on me during my freshman year and still affects me today. It was a homicide/suicide accident and it deeply impacted my family and me. Not only did it affect my school life but my home life as well.
My parents had go to Switzerland the week after for the funeral and the family. We had school going on and my parents decided to leave us with friends and go by their own. I stayed at a very good friend of mine, and my sister at one hers. They left and, where going to stay there at least a week. The time I spent there was really hard. Not only because the most helpful people I could have been with where away but I kept on having flashbacks.
My most memorable family vacation took place two years ago. We went to Corsica, a French island situated in the south of France right next to Italy. I remembered waking up early excited to visit this new land. Used to take long flights, I was surprised to arrive to the destination after a one-hour flight. Even though the flight was short for me, it was stressful for my mom, she has never felt secured in a plane, probably due to the fact that she is afraid of height. When finally arrived at the destination, the dry and warm weather was there to welcome us. We all felt relief, and knew that this was the beginning of the summer. Excited, we had a lot of activities planned for the few weeks, me and my father could not wait to dive in the clear