Ψυχολογία or ψυχοπαθήσ?

[mothwing]

I love my minor subject. I really do.
The problem with the psychologists at the university of Hamburg is that they are too cooperative, too polite, too friendly and too motivated to be real.
Meaning most of them are not. There just cannot be a group of people so interested in everybody around them. If there were people like that, the world would be a better place.
Which it isn't. Meaning most of them are pretending.
That really makes me aggressive after a while - I have never seen a room full of so many false smiles. It seemed as though I had taken part in an actor's class instead. In a very basic course. Of very bad "actors".

Another thing - even though they were all 'exceedingly friendly and tolerant', they - of course - didn't want to help our two Russian students. They were not particularly unfriendly, they just stayed away from Anastasia and Natasha and tried to ignore them.

I mean, I know how annoying it can be to be in one group with people who can't speak German. Or English. At all. Yes, they can slow things down, and yes, they always come in pairs, and yes, they only talk amongst themselves, and yes, they sometimes do not even seem to be interested in taking part in the class -  but that does not mean everybody who wasn't born in Germany is like that - and I have never heard anyone complain about students from Britain or the US, even if they couldn't speak German and slowed everything down.

Occasions like these make me wonder how the rest of Europe treats Germans. How the Scots treat Germans... Most interesting terrorists on TV are from Germany, after all. Well, that did shift a little only recently, but on the whole... I wonder whether the Scots are likely to ask the same questions as a boy from my class was asked during his year at an American high school. ("Do you have hot water in German households?" - "Do you have cars in Germany?" - "What's it like, living in a totalitarian regime?" - "Will you be shot when you come back home?") Sigh.
I would not want to be treated like our Polish, Bulgarian or Russian students.

Comments

[crocky-wock.livejournal.com]

Actually, and I am talking from experience here, you get things more along the lines of "Do you like Hitler" from the younger ones and nothing at all from the older generations. Namely yours. Some responses are friendly, but some questions are just exceedingly stupid. I don't think you'll get "Do you have hot water over there" from a Weegie, because it's too close, but who can estimate...
In any case, remember that you won't be alone. Germans come in pairs (or triplets) as well. Hehe.

I have never heard anyone complain about students from Britain or the US, even if they couldn't speak German and slowed everything down.

That's because Germans are obsessed with anyone who sounds remotely like an English native speaker to their ears. I hate this country. (j/k)

[luckyoldsun.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether the Scots are likely to ask the same questions as a boy from my class was asked during his year at an American high school. ("Do you have hot water in German households?" - "Do you have cars in Germany?" - "What's it like, living in a totalitarian regime?" - "Will you be shot when you come back home?")

Sadly, I think this is more of an indictment of the state of American schools than anything else. How very very embarrassing. :o(

re: Crocky's comment..... In my international environmental law class I have this one professor who, for some reason, has a habit of picking on the various international students (one from Italy, one from Germany... strange... no pairs. ;o) ). This includes expecting the German student to be an expert on anything and everything about Germany ("how long is the German coastline??" "How many members in parliament??" "What are the most recent census data on the size of Germany's population??" "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow??"). Also, he's mentioned Hitler an inordinate number of times in various contexts (for an environmental law class!!) to the point where it's really kind of uncomfortable as it feels like he's doing in because this German girl is in the room. Maybe if he'd balanced things out by mentioning Truman's atomic bomb dropping? Anyway....

btw, I'm a friend of one/some of your lj friends & have read your journal from time to time. Pleased to meet ya.
-Greg

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Hello Greg! :) Pleased to meet you and thanks for reading my ramblings.

What you described about the German girl seems very familiar. The exchange students which are taking part in the "Erasmus"-programme are also asked all kinds of questions about their country no one would know - from completely minor, insignificant events in the history to the flora and fauna of their country.
Everyone going abroad seems to share that fate.