More German than many Germans
A Turkish student recounts his experience interning in Hamburg, Germany, contrasting his preconceived stereotypes of Germans with his personal interactions. He highlights the warmth, trust, and healthy lifestyle he observed in his German flatmate.
Why it matters
The narrative serves as a personal reflection on how cross-cultural experiences can dismantle long-held societal stereotypes.
In 2017, after I finished the third year of my Computer Science studies, I decided to do an internship in Europe. So while I was applying for the Erasmus Scholarship, I also started looking for internships. In the end I got the scholarship, which helped a lot with the visa process, and I also found an internship at a company in Hamburg.
I had never been outside of Turkey before. So I had also never really talked to people from other countries. What I knew about Germans came mostly from the Turkish people who moved to Germany in the 60s for work. Those people came back to Turkey almost every summer and told us about their life there. Most of what they said was the same as what you can read on the internet, the stereotypical German.
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