Kultur 8, Gabrielle Spickard

     I usually enjoy reading the Kultur articles for each chapter in my German classes, I find them interesting and I also think that it's important to learn about the culture of the language that you're studying. For the first article about the "Draftophobia," I think that it's very strange. I don't really know about the legitimacy of German doctors' claims that drafts cause all sorts of illnesses, much like I don't know about the reasoning behind many German cultural practices. It just seems like they're making Summers unnecessarily uncomfortable for themselves. I did think that the image presented in the article of drivers in a car lowering the windows at a red light and closing them as soon as the car starts moving to be pretty funny, though.

     The next article about disease in Germany was also interesting. The possibility of contracting a uniquely German illness and Germans' attitudes towards illness continue to make me mildly uneasy about going to Germany (but not enough to make me not want to go). I feel like resistance towards doctors and medical care isn't really a German thing, though. I know many Americans here who share similar sentiments. My grandpa who is nearly deaf refuses to get a hearing aid because he insists that he can hear fine on his own, my other grandpa didn't want to go to the hospital even for a kidney stone, etc. The list continues. Maybe it's a stubborn-ness thing more than a German thing.

     Saunas seem nice in Germany. However, I'm not sure about the idea of a unisex sauna, but that may be my prudish American cultural expectations talking (compared to those of Germany). I've only been in a sauna once and I didn't see too much of the hype behind them, but maybe it's one of those things that takes repeated exposure and time to appreciate. 

     From the 365 Dinge... book, I found number 108, or the Kunsthalle Deutsche Bank, to be very interesting. First off, it's in Berlin, where I would very much like to go if I make it to Germany. Second, I find the idea of a well-curated contemporary art museum within a high-powered bank to be a very novel and curious idea. I'd like very much to see it! I like art, not so much banks, so that would be the main appeal to me, but still I'm curious.

     I like how the Kultur texts in the textbook had the central theme of the German education system. German universities seem great, for the most part! It seems like a university education in Germany is much more accessible due to the lower tuition fees, but there are probably other factors that affect accessibility that aren't addressed in the articles. The tiered system towards obtaining an undergraduate degree seemed interesting as well, I'm not sure if I'd prefer that to the system that most American universities use. It's also interesting that they don't focus that much on a liberal arts education. I guess that means that most students already have an idea for what they want to study by the time they get to university. However, one thing that I read that was kind of concerning was the fact that in the fifth or sixth grade most German students are evaluated and have educational tracks recommended for them. I think that it's a bit early for instructors and administrators to be playing a part in determining the overall path of their life at that point, but maybe that's just me.