Maggie (Without) Borders: My Year in Germany

As an American, I am accustomed to customer service. I’m used to giant, carefully curated and artfully decorated supermarkets. I am used to friendly, smiling store staff who are perpetually curious if I need help. I am used to being in no rush and everyone else being on my time. In Germany, none of that is the case. For the first time in my life, grocery shopping is stressful. The stores are usually small and minimally decorated. Products are placed on the shelf still in the boxes in which they were shipped, and if you want a single bottle of juice or can of Pringles, you’re going to have to take it out of the packaging itself. The store staff is nice, but they will not go out of their way to help you or smile at you. The most jarring thing about shopping for groceries in Germany is checking out. You’re not on your time, you’re on everyone else’s time. You have to bring your own bag (or pay for one there), and when you check out, the cashier scans your things (very quickl...

So this post is late. Super late. I got busy, okay! Anyway, here it is now, so enjoy. ______________________________ Traveling around Europe is super weird. It’s so easy and inexpensive to book a trip to some of the world’s most notable cities, and you’re perpetually a just a hop, skip, and a jump away from a culture entirely different than the one in which you currently find yourself. Maybe that’s why everyone here is so big on taking vacations. My first “international” trip outside of Germany was to, as the title states, Amsterdam. I went with ~10 other PPPler, so we rented out an entire apartment in the center of the city. Not really sure why Amsterdam was the destination of choice this go ‘round, but I was on board as soon as I received an invitation. To be honest, I had virtually zero expectations going in. I mean, I expected to see old buildings and experience fresh, marine air, but other than that, I was along for the ride. I think I prefer it that way—when I’m no...