Hi everyone, today I will talking about cultural differences I have noticed between Austria, Germany and the US. It’s getting harder for me to distinguish as I have grown used to the European culture, but here goes nothing!

1. Restaurants: You will not be rushed in a European restaurant. If you want to order one cup of coffee and sit there for 6 hours straight, especially in Vienna, no one will stop you. Waiters and waitresses check up on you periodically while you are eating, but not nearly as often as in the US. They won’t bring you the check until you ask for it. This is something I really like about European culture.

2. The environment: Austria is more strict about recycling than the US. Germany even more so. In Austria, trash is separated into about 7 or 8 categories. The main bins that you can find on just about any street are Weissglas (white/clear glass), Buntglas (colored glass), Restmuell (normal trash), Altpapier (paper) and Verpackung (packaging, plastic). There are also often bins for Biomuell which means organic waste- mainly food waste. In both countries there are serious fines for not disposing of your trash in the correct way. Something I have seen more commonly in Germany is glasses with a “Pfand”. This basically means you pay an extra tax on a drink because you are using a glass bottle, but if you return the glass to where you bought it, you will get the money back! The dining halls and cafes on University of Marburg’s campus all do this. It is a great way to motivate students to recycle and to use their own reusable bottles to avoid paying an extra tax.

3. Grocery shopping: One difference in Europe that is making it’s way through the US is charging for paper/plastic bags in grocery stores. Some tote bags in Germany cost a full Euro, so it’s always best to bring your own. Additionally, in contrast to restaurant culture, checking out at a grocery store is one of the most stressful things to do. You need to have your money ready as quickly as possible and be packing things into your bags almost as quickly as the cashier is scanning them. I’m not sure why this is, and I don’t think there are any official rules about it, I just know from observation that checking out is a quick process.

These are three main things I’ve noticed that are a bit different over here than in the United States! Until next week!