GERMAN CULTURE SHOCKS I HAVE EXPERIENCED AS A NIGERIAN

I have lived in Germany for one year and four months

I learned about culture shock way back in secondary school (high school) during one of my classes on social studies. Most examples were related to traveling to a different location or meeting new people.

Relocating from Nigeria, I knew I would experience some culture shock, just that I didn’t know what exactly they were going to be.

I entered Berlin on 2nd October 2020, and I can tell you the shocks started from the airport 😄.

Here are some of my shocking experiences since my big move;

• Weather difference: I am Nigerian; we mostly joke about how cold the weather abroad is back home. You really can’t prepare for it because the coldest the degree has been since I learned how to write my name is between 19 to 22 degrees. I came during autumn, and the weather was about 10 degrees. My goodness! The first air was torture, and I didn’t have the proper outfit for this weather. At some point, tears started dropping from my eyes. Not because I was intentionally crying, but my whole body was living the experience with me. I have since then experienced -8 degree weather, frostbite, snow, and terrible wind 😂.
• Cabs: Coming from Nigeria, where cars are a big deal, the first airport taxi that took my friend and me to our apartment was a Mercedes Benz 😳. The mere fact that it is a common thing here took me out. Back home, cars like Benz are for the big boys. Owing a Benz signifies you have made it in life. Seeing it here so rampant and being used as a taxi still amazes me.
• Strictly Obeying the Traffic Light: Ah! E shock me oo! Back home, we struggle with cars, barely having traffic lights, so I am not surprised that available lights are not used correctly. We drag the road with vehicles, I kid you not 😀 a hazardous situation, but it’s the truth. In Berlin, people obey the lights even when cars are not in sight. I try to remind myself that I have to wait for the light to turn green before crossing the roads.
• Waste separation and recycling: I had to unlearn that all waste cannot be in the same bin. It has not been easy because, for over 25 years of my life, all I have known is the…