Surprises

While nothing here has totally blown my mind, I have encountered quite a few surprises. To start with my pleasant surprise, I was quite shocked to see how warm of a reception I recieved as an American. I can not begin to count the number of people who say they can not wait to be able to go to America someday, and they all seem to have a high opinion of the American culture and our people. Also, I would say about 90% of music played here is music from America, especially things like pop and rock music. Even on the radio, its almost all American music. An unpleasant surprise is the fact the things are so expensive, and it even costs 50 cents or more to use a bathroom. I suppose its an effective way of making money, but I still have trouble wrapping my head around a restroom costing money. I guess this taught me that we are in some ways spoiled in America and it gets taken for grandit sometimes.
As far as dealing with novelty, I feel as if I approach is the same in Germany as I do back home. I typically approach things head on, and try to make the best out of any new situation. I feel like this is the only way to sucessfully approach things. I have learned about myself that I am capable of becoming friends with people from all over the world very quickly. I had thought that our differences in culture would not allow us to become such good friends, but I discovered that we are all human, and we are all much more similar than most people would think. People can surprise you, if given the chance.