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Cultural Interview Question

  1. Where are you from?
  2. I think you mentioned that you don't have a sibling. How was it to grow up as an only-child?
  3. Do you have a big family?
  4. You've lived in Europe for a while. What are some differences and similarities to here?
  5. the structure of a town and city
  6. How is politics different? (since he worked with politicians both in Germany and America)
  7. If there is one thing you can change about America, what would it be?
  8. What do you like about America?
  9. Similarly, what do you like about Germany and England?
  10. Do you have a special tradition? (something around thanks giving, Christmas or completely else)
  11. How do you celebrate Christmas?
  12. How would you compare the food between Germany, America and England?
  13. What do you want to do after studying?

Post

1.) Who did you interview? Where is she/he from?

I interviewed Nikolai Kutsch. He's a freshman at NC state and lives and grew up close to Raleigh. He did a political internship in Germany for a year and is, in general, is one of the most cultural open-minded person that I know. While he grew up around Raleigh, part of his extended family lives in Pennsylvania.

2.) What did you learn about them that is interesting?

We talked quite a bit about family, and Nikolai mentioned how family reunions are a thing. This, at least for my family, doesn't exist. Interesting enough, usually these events are organized by the older generation. However, in case of Nikolai's family, the last family reunion was 10 years ago.

The conversation then shifted to how Christmas is celebrated. Since his extended family lives both in Raleigh and Pennsylvania, finding a date is difficult for Christmas. This sounds very familiar, as my family also every year struggles to find a date to please both sides of the family tree. One intriguing difference is that his family, to find a date, sometimes celebrates Christmas as late as January.

One wonderful tradition is that they have a tree full of ornaments. Typically, the host family contributes one ornament which is somehow connected to something that append during the year. For example, one might be a seashell to represent the great time they had at the beach together. This creates a kind of photo album on the tree.

One difference between his to family side, is that the “Raleigh-side” eats proper food on proper plates, while the Pennsylvania-side doesn't mind eating from cardboard plates. However, both sides value the time spent together.

When then switched gear and discussed his experience in Germany and how it compared to America. He was able to spend Christmas with a Germany family, and noted that their celebrations were similar to how Nikolai's family celebrates Christmas.

On the topic of small-talk, he went there with the expectation of Germans not engaging in a lot of small talk. However, that didn't turn out to be true as every time he struck up a conversation, his counterpart was willing to engage in small-talk. Furthermore, he mentioned that he finds it is easier to have a deep conversation in Germany.

He mostly tried to blend in in Germany, there were days when he didn't feel like it. He usually tries to speak accent-free, but would occasionally speak with an American accent. I find it fascinating that he can switch between speaking with a perfect German accent and speaking with an American accent.

3.) Write 3 sentences that they said that you found interesting.

  1. The grannies are pretty much the main ruling body in my family.

  2. I never found that people weren't willing to engage in at least a little bit of small-talk.

(On the topic of how Germans are willing to engage in small-talk)

  1. There were days when I just didn't feel like it. [...] So, I'm actually speaking German with an American accent.

(On the topic of how he blended in, in Germany, and why he sometimes didn't feel like it)

4.) Did you learn any new words or phrases? If yes, what were they?

  • gift-giving (there is usually gift-giving.)

5.) Did you have any communication breakdowns? If yes, how did you overcome them?

When the conversation stalled, I had enough questions prepared to change the topic or steer the conversation in a new direction. Additionally, Nikolai is an excellent conversation partner.