The Canadian said she was surprised at how 'free' Germans were. Photo / 123rf
The Canadian said she was surprised at how 'free' Germans were. Photo / 123rf
A Canadian influencer has warned visitors about what may shock or surprise them when visiting Germany.
Hannah Teslin, a self-described “small-town, curly-haired Canadian” has lived in Hamburg since 2014 and regularly shares advice and anecdotes about her experience.
One series of videos, which have gained more than 3 million views on Instagram, reveals things that are socially acceptable in Germany but may surprise American, Canadian or other foreign visitors - the first being nudity.
“When I first moved to Germany I went to a fitness place and went into the changing rooms and there was a girl with her leg on the bench just rubbing cream all over her body, fully naked,” Teslin said in the video.
At first, she was shocked, as, in Canada and America you typically cover up or change in the toilets. However, now she was totally used to it.
“There’s no paper brown bag covering up your drinks when you bring them from one place to the other,” Teslin explained.
It is acceptable to drink in public in Germany.
“You can go from kiosk to kiosk, and take the beer with you on the go, or stand outside the club and drink it,” she added. This approach makes things feel ‘super relaxed’ she told viewers, as you don’t have to conceal your alcohol.
The third thing that Teslin said could confuse visitors is shops and businesses are closed on Sundays.
“I think Americans, when they first come here, are super confused why shops are closed on Sundays,” she said.
In the US and Canada, Sunday is seen as a day to be busy and get lots done, she explained. Yet, in Germany, Sunday is a day to get very little done, which she said was “fine”.
Shops tend to close on Sunday in Germany, something the influencer said surprised her when she moved there.
Teslin said she wouldn’t debate whether it was good or bad as she believed Germans would push back, but some locals agreed it didn’t make much sense anymore.
“We younger Germans don’t really get the Sunday thing either,” one viewer wrote in the comments. However, others said they liked the forced relaxation.
“It’s something I used to hate at the beginning when I moved to Germany, but now I find it somehow more relaxing,” wrote one person. “I miss being able to get stuff done on Sundays, yet at the same time LOVE the relaxed day,” another added.
The fourth and fifth points related to time.
“Punctuality is a very important part of the social system,” Teslin explained, adding that this may take visitors by surprise.
The Canadian shared how, just the day before, a restaurant called her because she was five minutes late to a booking.
“I arrived 15 minutes late to the booking and they were about to give away my table,” she said. Meanwhile, people in Canada and America tended to be a little more lenient when it came to punctuality.
This led to the common suffix ‘ish’, Teslin said; something Germans did not typically understand.
“In Canada and the US you can say I’m gonna be there at like 5ish or 9ish, everything is fine,” she said.
“If you say this to a German they’ll be confused, like ‘what is an ish?’.”
