Final Paper

The Media In Germany

Ryan Krebs

ENGL 191 sec.21

12/15/09

The media system in Germany has seen many different systems. In the former East Germany, the government tightly controlled the media but in the former West Germany the media was independent and free of censorship. The media system in Germany today was set up after world war two by the four-allied powers⁵. There were different ideas on how to set up the system but in the end the three western allies all had the same idea of a media system independent of the government. “Article 5 of the Basic Law expresses how the Constitution interprets the freedom of the press: “Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures and to inform himself without hindrance from generally accessible sources. There shall be no censorship.”’ Today the media in German is made up of four main industries, which include the newspaper, the Internet, the radio, and the television.

The newspaper in Germany is enjoyed by millions of people everyday. Germany has one of the highest number of newspaper readers in Europe. According to BBC News 305 newspapers are sold daily for every 1,000 inhabitants¹. All newspapers in Germany are privately own. Most Germans get their news from local or regional newspapers. After German reunification the print media saw major changes. The most popular newspaper in East Germany was circulating 1 million copies at its peak but by 1991 that figure had drop to just 100,000 copies². Today the Bild Zeitung is Germanys number one circulated newspaper with about 5 million copies circulating daily². Newspapers are not only limited to print form in Germany. Most newspapers offer a website where readers can read their favorite paper online. This may be one of the causes of declining circulation in Germany. According to the World Organization of Newspapers, Germany has seen a 9.35% decline in circulation from 2002-2006 and a 2.1% loss in the year 2006 alone¹⁰. In comparison to the United States circulation feel 5.18% from 2002 to 2006 and a loss of 1.9% in the year 2006 alone¹⁰. Overall since German reunification readership in Germany has been steadily declining.

The Internet is the fastest growing media industry in Germany. From the years 2000 to 2007 Germany has gone from 24 million Internet users to just over 50 million users⁷. That’s over a 30 percent increase in just eight years. Compared to the United States, Germany has a similar percentage of its overall population using the Internet. In 2007, the United States had 70.2% of its population using the Internet compared with 61.1% of the German population⁶. Although the media in Germany is separate form the government, the government still has the power to censor what it feels is wrong. For example, on June 18, 2009, the German government started to censor child pornography on the internet¹¹. Another form of censorship occurred in the mid-1990’s when Germany blocked certain sites that contain things that were banned in Germany, particularly websites that contained race hate propaganda. But this has also caused problems due to the high amount of websites out there, this was very hard to do. In July 2000, Reuters reported that, "Germany, which has some of the world's toughest laws banning race hate propaganda, has conceded defeat to the cross-border reach of the Internet and given up trying to bar access to foreign-based neo-Nazi sites. Deputy Interior Minister Brigitte Zypries, the government's Internet security chief, said this week in an interview with Reuters that it was unrealistic to try to shield Germans from foreign Web sites, even though police do aim to stop homegrown Nazi and other offensive material, such as child pornography⁴." In the United States it is very hard to block websites due to legal issues and the first amendment. Only those websites based in America that are doing something illegal may be shut down. A few examples of websites that could be shut down would be child pornography sites and sites that show pirated movies on them. Schools, libraries, and other business have taken censorship into their own hands in the United States by installing software that blocks certain sites, but this also has its flaws because of all the content that is out there on the web it is virtually impossible to catch everything.

Radio first appeared in Germany in the 1920’s and were there as a form of public network institutions¹². The radio in Germany was also highly influenced by the allied powers at the end of the war. Initially after the war the allied powers wanted to ban all radio broadcasting stations that were ran by German organizations⁵. After several disagreements a public radio station was established and was modeled after that of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)⁸. By the mid-1950’s the public radio system was starting to take shape. At the time it consisted of eight radio stations¹². Today there are about 460 radio stations in Germany. Of those 460 stations, 75 are public and 385 are private¹². There are several main differences between the public and private stations. First of all, public stations receive funding from the government whereas private stations receive their money through advertisements. Another big difference between the two is that public input is very low in the private sector compared to the public sector. In order to broadcast in Germany a new station must get a license to do so. A license is issued through the Landesmedienanstalten (State Media Authorities)⁹. Up until 1986 there were no private stations in Germany⁹. This is because the German government always denied any requests for a license and said, “that due to the rather poor technological pre-requisites of analogue distribution channels and the corollary (the impossibility to have frequencies in abundance) an economically oriented broadcasting system would threaten the freedom of speech. Therefore,

only a pluralistic and financially independent broadcasting system could

provide sufficient freedom of speech⁹.” It was with the development of fiber optic cables that made the previous statement no longer valid and eliminated the German governments only legitimate reason for blocking private stations. Web-radio is also growing fast in Germany. Six to seven percent of the Internet users in Germany use Internet radio. However, that is quit low compared to the United States where 16 percent of Internet users listen to web-radio⁹. The most popular web-radio station in Germany is DasWebRadio.de, and has a monthly audience of 510,000 listeners⁹.

Television in Germany used to be limited to only three channels. That was only until the year 1987. Prior to 1987 the only channel choices were public channels. Today many more channels can be seen thanks to the emergence of cable and satellite. About 30 percent of German households receive television via satellite¹². Households receiving television through cable, account for 58 percent of households¹². Leaving 12 percent of households getting television through an antenna. As of 2004, about 98% of households in Germany had at least one television¹². Each German household that has a television is required to pay a fee of $21 a month³. That accounts for $7 billion a year that funds the German public broadcast system, which is the largest one in Europe³. That money goes to the 22 public television channels available in Germany today³. These public television channels broadcast mostly things like regional news, cultural coverage, and educational programming. There is no censorship on broadcasting in Germany, people are free to express what ever they want with the exception of hate-propaganda.

Overall Germany has a very free media system. In 1999 Germany received the highest ranking for freedom of the press from The Freedom House Survey of Freedom of the Press². Germans love their sources of media and show their continued use of these resources from day to day. The media is forever changing and Germans are grasping on to this by taking on the Internet with increasing usage across the country that is continually growing.

Bibliography

¹BBC News. The Press in Germany. October 31, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3414139 (accessed December 12, 2009).

²Benfield, Richard. Germany. http://www.pressreference.com/Fa-Gu/Germany.html (accessed December 12, 2009).

³Business Week. Germany's Very Public Battle Over Public TV. December 6, 2004. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/cintent/04_49/b3911069_mz054.htm (accessed December 12, 2009).

⁴Electronic Frontiers Australia. Internet Censorship. http://www.efa.org.au/issues/censor/cens3.html#ger (accessed December 12, 2009).

⁵Gunther, Richard, and Anthony Mughan. Democracy and the Media. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2000.

⁶Internet World Stats. "Usage and Population Statistics." Internet World Stats. 2007. http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm (accessed December 12, 2009).

—. Usage and Population Statistics. 2007. ⁷http://www.internetworldstats.com/eu/de.htm (accessed December 12, 2009).

⁸Johnston, Carla. Global News Access. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1998.

⁹Muhlenfeld, Hans-Ullrich. "European Journal of Communication." 2002. http://ejc.sagepub.com.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/cgi/reprint/17/1/103 (accessed December 12, 2009).

¹⁰World Association of Newspapers. World Press Trends. June 4, 2007. http://www.wan-press.org/arcticle14361.html (accessed December 12, 2009).

¹¹Bundesministerium fur Wirtschaft und Technologie. Kabinett beschlibt Netzsperren gegen Kinderpornos. April 22, 2009. http://www.bmwi.de/bmvi/navigation/presse/pressemitteilungen,did=298564.html (accessed December 12, 2009).

¹²Facts about Germany. Culture and Media. 2009. http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/culture-and-media-content-09/broadcasting.html (accessed December 12, 12).

Outline for "Food Around the World"

I. Food around the world

1. everyday foods vs. special foods

2. where they eat food

3. "rules at the dinner table"

4. food and social interaction

II. Preparation of food

1. buying fresh

2. who makes the meal

3. roles of markets

III. Other interesting topics with food

1. special seating at the table

2. what they eat food with

3. restaurants

outline for final paper

1) German media in comparison to American media

a) Television

i) History

ii) Laws

iii) Public vs. private

b) Radio

i) History

ii) Laws

iii) Public vs. private

c) Print

i) History

ii) Laws

iii) Public vs. private

d) Internet

i) History

ii) Laws

iii) Public vs. private

Final Paper Topic

For right now I am thinking of doing government censorship of the media in Europe and how it is the same and different from the U.S.

Link to Presentation on Europe

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AeczK2n6jBqAZGY0MmtwNnJfMTBnNWZubXNnZA&hl=en

Interview #3

Ryan Krebs

ENGL 191 sec 21

Preparations for the interview

For my interview I came up with ten questions along with three addition points of interest about Germany and its culture. My objective for the interview was to have Wilma give me as much information she could about Germany and about being an international student. I wanted to learn about the pros and cons of the German and American university system. I also wanted to learn more about German traditions like Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets. I researched on the Internet about Germany and that is where I came up with my additional points of interest that I formed into questions during the interview. To record the interview, I brought in my computer and recorded the whole interview on GarageBand.

How Did You Approach People?

To secure three people for my interview I simple asked the three German students in my economics class if they would be willing to let me interview them. Luckily for me, they are all very nice people and agreed to be interviewed. I asked them what times would work best for them to do the interviews because I wanted to make it as little of an inconvenience as possible.

When, Where, and How did you Conduct the Interview?

I conducted the interview with Wilma after our economics class on the first floor of Stewart hall. There was a table set up with chairs, so we had a nice comfortable place to conduct the interview. It was quiet there since it was 5 o’clock and most classes were over for the day. I conducted the interview by showing Wilma the list of questions I had while I was setting up my computer. I told her that I would also be asking her a few questions about Germany and its culture.

Whom did you Interview?

I interviewed Wilma. She is 21 years old. She is a finance and human resource major. She studies at the university of applied sciences in Ingolstadt. She is from the city of Ulm, which is located in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is two hours away by train from Munich. She lives with her sister, who will be graduating this year from high school, and both of her parents in a house outside of the big city. Her family likes horses and donkeys; they own one of each and keep them in a stable away from their house, since there is no room to ride them there. All of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents live in northern Germany. Her family enjoys going hiking and skiing, so they go to Austria almost every weekend.

Describe the Interview

I thought that the interview went well. I learned a lot more about Germany. One thing I learned from this interview that I didn’t from the previous two was that at a German university they don’t really have a campus. She told me that most activities were done outside of school and that the University was mostly just for lectures. They have no dorms at the university and your life is mostly centered on your home and not school like it is here. Another thing I learned about was the difference in the high school systems. Wilma studied in St. Louis during her 11^th grade year of high school. She told me that they couldn’t pick their classes in high school like we can here. They have to take all of the same classes with the same classmates for nine years. The social life is different in high school too. All of the music clubs and sports teams are not associated with the school. High school is just a place to study in Germany. I also learned about a holiday in Germany that the other two elected not to tell me about. St. Martin’s day in Germany is a day to remember St. Martin because he gave his coat to someone who was poor. Today people walk around with candles through the city and sing songs about St. Martin. Then there is a reenactment of the original St. Martin and then everyone shares a pretzel. I was told that this holiday is for the little kids but Wilma and her friends introduced it to their university, so this year they were celebrating it in Ingolstadt.

Why I didn’t transcribe

I chose not to transcribe this interview because I thought that the first interview with Dan was much better. I thought that the interview with Ann went just as well as this one. Since I had already transcribed the interview with Ann I decided not to transcribe this one.

Report on Country and Culture

Germany is a country in Europe. Germany is made up of 16 different states¹, each with their own customs, traditions, and dialects². The capital city is Berlin and is located in north east Germany. Germany is a member of the European Union and uses the Euro as its currency. The climate is temperate and marine². 82.3 million people live in Germany with about 19% of those people not being German². Germany is a huge economic powerhouse; it has the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest in Europe¹. It is one of the largest trading nations in the world. Germans enjoy a high standard of living with an average income of $35,400¹. The geography of Germany consists of low lands in the north and mountains in the south². Germany has a total land area of 357,022 square kilometers¹.

Germany has a very rich culture with some very unique traditions and celebrations. The most famous of all German traditions is Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest takes place every year at the end of September, running into early October. Oktoberfest lasts 15 days and was started back in 1810 when prince Ludwig was married and had a celebration for it². Today people come from all over the world to experience beer drinking at its finest. Another important event that takes place every year in Germany is its Christmas markets. All throughout Germany, in most cities and towns, you will find a Christmas market for the four weeks leading up to Christmas². Germans also like to play sports. The most popular sport in Germany is soccer. In 2006, Germany hosted the World Cup, and from my interview I now know that the World Cup brought back a lot of pride to the Germany people. Other than soccer, ice hockey and basketball are gaining popularity across Germany. Germans love their beer. There are over 1300 breweries in Germany². Drinking in Germany is seen as a social experience rather than the American way of partying. Germans are allowed to drink beer at age 16, and because of this, they view drinking differently in Germany than we do in America.

Works Cited

¹Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. September 30, 2009. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html (accessed October 20, 2009).

²German Missions in the United States. Welcome to Germany.info. http://www.germany.info/vertretung/usa/en/startseite.html (accessed October 20, 2009).

Interview #2

Ryan Krebs

ENGL 191 sec. 21

11/2/09

Interview

Me: Where are you from and what’s your name? Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Ann: ok, I am from Germany, and my name is Ann-Kathrin Adae. I am 22 years old and I am studying her for one semester.

Me: Where in Germany are you from?

Ann: I am from New Ulm in Germany, but I am studying in Ingolstadt. It’s in the south of Germany.

Me: Where is your hometown located in Germany?

Ann: In between Munich and Stuttgart in the south

Me: In the Bavaria region?

Ann: Yep

Me Can you tell me a little bit about life back in Germany? Like who do you live with, any family members?

Ann: I have family members, I have one sister and I am living in my parent’s house, but in Ingolstadt I have my own apartment so I was living on my own. I am studying for three years now. I think I am a senior here in America.

Me: Can you tell me about the biggest difference between college life in Germany and college life here? What’s the hardest part to get used to?

Ann: College life in America is more intensive. You have to study very hard, but on the other side you party very hard. So I think its difficult and the people they are younger when they are starting to study because in Germany you usually start when you are 19. So we don’t have the same freshman year. What else? I think that’s the most important one. You have to study every week because you have tests and quizzes and all the stuff. In Germany we don’t have those, we only have the one final exam.

Me: Was that hard getting used to having the assignments and quizzes due every week? Compared to just the one final exam in Germany?

Ann: No, it’s just a different style so you don’t have to study six weeks for only one exam. I think it’s easier.

Me: So you like the style here better than in Germany?

Ann: I like it

Me: What’s your course of study?

Ann: My major is business and finance and marketing.

Me: Can you tell me a little bit about the traditions back in Germany? Any customs you guys might have?

Ann: Ok, tradition in Germany is really different because we have the north of Germany and the South of Germany. North Germany I don’t know about the culture there because I am from the south. So the south is very famous for the Oktoberfest and the lederhosen and all the stuff. So its well known and tradition here, we drink a lot of beer. We have good food. It’s a little bit difficult in America to find good food.

Me: you like the food better in Germany than you do here?

Ann: Yeah. I am not a fan of hamburger and McDonalds and Burger King and Apple Bees

Me: You like the pretzels in Germany?

Ann: Yep, but the pretzels here are not like the pretzels in Germany. You have cheese on your pretzels and that’s impossible in Germany.

Me: What are some holidays that you celebrate in Germany and how do you celebrate them?

Ann: Of course you have Christmas; you celebrate it with your family or usually with your family, but here in America the big holiday is the 25^th but in Germany it’s the 24^th. The evening, so the people come together, and they have a good meal, and after this you get your presents and you sing. Sometimes it’s difficult between the families but the 24^th is the big day. We have New Years holiday. Easter, it’s in March. All the Christian holidays. They are really big in Bavaria because Bavaria is really catholic and there for the church has a good position in society. So we celebrate a lot of Christian and catholic holidays. And I think Germany is the country with the highest amount of holidays in the world. So we don’t have to work during this time.

Me: You said its mostly catholic people in Bavaria, Does religion play a pretty big role in your lives?

Ann: I think, in the small villages (willages), I would say yeah. Yes, but usually it’s a separated from the government. So not like in countries like Iran. So it’s really separated and in the south of Germany I would say religion, not religion but more culture from the religion like Christmas and Easter and other holidays. They play a big role in society but in the North the people are more Protestant, Lutheran. So it’s not so big of a role in the society but compared to other countries I would say there’s not such a big role of religion in our society.

Me: We’ll sift back to America now, have you been anywhere else while you have been here?

Ann: I was in Chicago, now I’m going to Madison, I was in Milwaukee, I was in Wisconsin at a cabin but I have no idea where. I only know the lake and ill go to New York and L.A.

Me: Do you find that it is easy to make friends here, are the people friendly, and are your professors helpful?

Ann: The people are really friendly. I think it’s the Minnesota….

Me: The Minnesota nice?

Ann: The Minnesota nice, so the people are all really friendly and the people here it’s really different with Germany because in Germany the people are also friendly but not in that way like in Minnesota. Everybody says, “do you need help, I can give you a ride or you can have my car.” It’s really nice here. To make friends I would say it’s a little bit difficult with Americans because everyone is your friend after two seconds, but he is not your real friend. So it’s only your facebook friend. That’s why people have 1,000 friends on facebook. In Germany we say, I had a discussion with one of my friends, when you say he is my friend, he is really one of your best friends and friend are perhaps only 20 persons and in America everybody is a friend.

Me: Friendships are a little closer in Germany then?

Ann: Yep, otherwise you say I know this person, but you don’t say it’s my friend

Me: Back in Germany, did you play any sports? What are the main sports?

Ann: I was a boxer. After this I did a lot of music. I play the flute in the orchestra but no sports.

Me: Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006. Did that have a pretty big impact on your country?

Ann: Yeah, it had a big impact because of WWII all the people have not such high pride of Germany. They always say, ah yeah Germany WWII, every one knows Germany for WWII. After this people saw that we can party too and we are friendly, that we are open minded. That we are another country than 50 years ago. Some people are surprised that Germany is rich. That we all have to start liking America. I think it had a big impact on Germany and the people. Now because the people in Germany are not very proud to be German and here in America its always I’m an American. I’m American, I’m proud to be American and in Germany people don’t say I’m proud of being a German citizen. Its what people in our country don’t say because of WWII, because of the history and yeah it had a big impact.

Me: Does history still play a role? I know of East and West Germany, are there still any conflicts with that at all?

Ann: IN my generation I would say no conflicts between eastern Germany and Western Germany. The wall fall down in 1989, so I was two years old and cant remember anything. For me, I have friends in Berlin and I have friends in Munich, so it’s not a big issue, but I think for my parents and for my grandparents they knew all the stuff and they saw it. Perhaps for them it’s more of a big issue than for my generation. The history plays a big role in our society and we are really taught in the history, in school. When you are in another country we don’t say I’m German, I am proud of Germany. So it’s our style not to present too much that you are of Germany.

Me: Why did you want to come study in America, and why did you choose St. Cloud?

Ann: I want to study in America because I thought it would be a good experience and I wanted to see the difference between the cultures and the party stuff. St. Cloud because I knew a lot of people from St. Cloud because its our partner university. I said perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad to have some friends here, so I decided to go to St. Cloud.

Me: Is it hard taking classes in English?

Ann: No, because we have English class in Germany too. The professors teach all classes in English. They have to in university, so it’s not difficult to understand the English. Its more difficult for Germans to speak English because we don’t speak a lot of English but we can understand it and we can write it.

Me: All the classes are taught in English in Germany at the University?

Ann: In business, yeah. My university, but its different for other universities, maybe some classes, but at my university we do everything in English because we have a lot of international students so they have to do it. There is a lot of Americans, people from St. Cloud and they don’t understand any German.

This is the end of interview on the recorder. We stayed and talked for a while after and this is what I took a mental note of while we were talking.

Ann has been to Oktoberfest 22 times. She said she goes more for the tradition than for the beer drinking, since she is from Bavaria.

She said that different size cities are called different things. She is from New Ulm, which she said had a population of 10,000 people, and is called a willage.

She said she went to an all girls’ school for 13 years until she went to Ingolstadt to study.

She can speak four different languages, English, Italian, French, and German. She is learning to speak Chinese because she is going to Hong Kong. She said that she likes languages because she feels that when she is in someone else’s country that it is rude to not try and speak their language.

In Germany they are taught Oxford English. She said that it is different from American English, and that she didn’t know a lot of the slang American words when she came here.

She said that French people don’t like speaking English. She also said that French people know English they just don’t like Americans and English people.

She said that Wednesday is a big party day back in Germany.

Ryan Krebs

ENGL 191 sec 21

Preparations for the interview

For my interview I came up with ten questions along with three addition points of interest about Germany and its culture. My objective for the interview was to have Ann-Kathrin give me as much information she could about Germany and about being an international student. I wanted to learn about the pros and cons of the German and American university system. I also wanted to learn more about German traditions like Oktoberfest and the Christmas markets. I researched on the Internet about Germany and that is where I came up with my additional points of interest that I formed into questions during the interview. To record the interview, I brought in my computer and recorded the whole interview on GarageBand. I then sent the interview to iTunes so I could burn it to a CD.

How Did You Approach People?

To secure three people for my interview I simple asked the three German students in my economics class if they would be willing to let me interview them. Luckily for me, they are all very nice people and agreed to be interviewed. I asked them what times would work best for them to do the interviews because I wanted to make it as little of an inconvenience as possible.

When, Where, and How did you Conduct the Interview?

I conducted the interview with Ann-Kathrin at the coffee shop in the library. I went to the library about ten minutes before our scheduled 12:00pm meeting time to look for a good spot. There were no study rooms available so the next best alternative was the coffee shop. The coffee shop turned out to be a great spot for the interview. It was quiet and we had our own table to sit at. I conducted the interview by simple telling Ann-Kathrin that I have a couple of questions ready to go but the whole purpose of the interview is for me to learn as much as I can from her. After that, I started the recorder and we began the interview. After I was out of my preformed questions, I shut off the recorder because I thought the interview was over, but then we started talking and I learned a few more things about Ann-Kathrin and Germany that did not make it onto the recorder. I listed these things at the end of the transcribed interview.

Whom did you Interview?

I interviewed Ann-Kathrin. Ann-Kathrin is from southern Germany, in the state of Bavaria, in the willage of New Ulm. Ann-Kathrin is 22 years old and is in her senior year of college. She has one sister. She lives with her parents in New Ulm when she is not at school. In Ingolstadt she has her own apartment. Ann-Kathrin is a true Bavarian. She said that she has been to Oktoberfest 22 times because it’s a tradition in Bavaria. Ann-Kathrin went to an all girls’ school before she went to Ingolstadt for college.

Describe the Interview

I thought that the interview went well. I learned a lot more about Germany and from the perspective of a Bavarian instead of from the perspective of a northern German, which was my first interview. Something that I thought was very interesting was how Germans view friendship. She said that here in America everyone is friends with everyone even though you are really not friends but you just know the person. She said that in Germany you have a close group of about 20 friends compared to here where Americans have 1000 Facebook friends. Another thing that I thought was interesting was when she said that she came to America and the English was different from what she had learned. She said that Americans use more slang than the English. She said that was the most difficult part of the language barrier. I also thought that it was weird that she took all of her college courses in English while she was in Germany. The reason they teach all the classes in English is because of the high number of international students and that English is the best way for everyone to understand.

Report on Country and Culture

Germany is a country in Europe. Germany is made up of 16 different states¹, each with their own customs, traditions, and dialects². The capital city is Berlin and is located in northeast Germany. Germany is a member of the European Union and uses the Euro as its currency. The climate is temperate and marine². 82.3 million people live in Germany with about 19% of those people not being German². Germany is a huge economic powerhouse; it has the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest in Europe¹. It is one of the largest trading nations in the world. Germans enjoy a high standard of living with an average income of $35,400¹. The geography of Germany consists of low lands in the north and mountains in the south². Germany has a total land area of 357,022 square kilometers¹.

Germany has a very rich culture with some very unique traditions and celebrations. The most famous of all German traditions is Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest takes place every year at the end of September, running into early October. Oktoberfest lasts 15 days and was started back in 1810 when prince Ludwig was married and had a celebration for it². Today people come from all over the world to experience beer drinking at its finest. Another important event that takes place every year in Germany is its Christmas markets. All throughout Germany, in most cities and towns, you will find a Christmas market for the four weeks leading up to Christmas². Germans also like to play sports. The most popular sport in Germany is soccer. In 2006, Germany hosted the World Cup, and from my interview I now know that the World Cup brought back a lot of pride to the Germany people. Other than soccer, ice hockey and basketball are gaining popularity across Germany. Germans love their beer. There are over 1300 breweries in Germany². Drinking in Germany is seen as a social experience rather than the American way of partying. Germans are allowed to drink beer at age 16, and because of this, they view drinking differently in Germany than we do in America.

Works Cited

¹Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. September 30, 2009. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gm.html (accessed October 20, 2009).

²German Missions in the United States. Welcome to Germany.info. http://www.germany.info/vertretung/usa/en/startseite.html (accessed October 20, 2009).