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We're also sticklers for waste separation. Every house has at least four different garbage cans: plastic, paper, organic waste and general garbage. Placing trash in the wrong can risks a fine.

To keep all that potential for social chaos under control there's even a government office called Ordnungsamt, which literally translates to "office of order.

Moving everything. When offered for rent, German houses and apartments are never furnished. That means that not even the kitchen or bathroom equipment is a compulsory item. So when Germans move they move with all their furniture -- including oven, fridge, countertops, cupboards and even the sink.

Moving days are somewhat of a national pastime, often involving friends and family instead of professionals. That means laying on enough beer and food to make sure everyone stays until the place is emptied. And, of course, the last piece of trash has been filed in the correct can. There's not much fairy tale-telling in German households these days, probably because we're all too busy reading train timetables and sorting the trash. But the country is still dotted with many beautiful castles from bygone days.

There are medieval hilltop fortresses, moated Renaissance castles and 19th-century Romanesque revival palaces like famous Neuschwanstein in Bavaria allegedly an inspiration for Walt Disney's castle.

There are more than 25, castles in Germany today not counting ruined ones still visitable , and most are home to museums, restaurants and even hotels. We're willing to rent some out to vacationers. Call us crazy, but we'll even throw in a kitchen sink. World's most visited castles and palaces. Weekend walks. Here's another reason to exit the autobahn and abandon the Audi -- Germany's forests, mountains, rivers and coasts are home to , kilometers of hiking trails.

From flowering pastures to high mountains, they cover an incredible variety of terrain. There are pleasant, leisurely hikes along climb-free trails or physically demanding scrambles up narrow, winding paths. Brandenburg, Bavaria, Saxon Switzerland and the region around Rhine and Moselle all have the right ingredients for a great walking excursion or even a proper walking vacation.

Getting down. The best carnival is in Rio de Janeiro, right? It's in Germany. In Brazil, where everyone's cool days of the year, throwing a big party on the th day is no big deal. In Germany, where everyone is serious days of the year, throwing a big party is a massive deal.

Northwest Germany's Rhineland holds an annual "karneval" in the shape of its Rose Monday parade in which up to two million costumed visitors throng the streets of Cologne and Dusseldorf. In southern Germany, celebrations known as Fasching and Fastnacht see people wearing traditional masks or dressing up as devils or wild beasts. Wherever the celebrations take place, it all ends on Ash Wednesday when everyone gets back to being serious and efficient, albeit sometimes with a slight hangover.

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Back Topics. Be on time Punctuality is key, so try not to be late. German Coconuts Compared to Americans, Germans are not as eager to chit chat. Saving the world German style Germans take recycling very seriously — and they are awesome at it! Du you Sie what I did there? Hold the tips In German, gratuity is called Trinkgeld — drink money. Say it with flowers In Germany, even flowers follow rules: Flowers are always given in odd numbers — but never How about learning German with us?

Learn more. Talk about taking brewing seriously. Germans like beer so much that one of the first things they did after establishing colonies in China was build a brewery. Apart from that, every German is able to open beer bottles with anything but a bottle opener and we are not not talking twisty caps here. The variety, the taste, the quality, the fact that it is not squares in a plastic bag meant to be placed in a toaster all make it baking heaven.

Studies say that lack of proper bread is the number one reason for homesickness among German students abroad. Okay, that last fact was completely made up, but baking does have a long-standing tradition in Germany and bread is a big part of the traditional cuisine. Bakeries have tons of shelves full of all kinds of different loaves and rolls which count as bread in Germany. Dark, white, sweet, savory, crunchy, soft, plain or with all types of seeds — you can have it your way, any day!

A lot of bakeries will even open on Sunday morning just so that people can get fresh bread for their breakfast, even though, by law, all shops are usually closed on Sunday. I still think one could make a fortune by selling German-style bread next to every international student dorm at engineering colleges outside of Germany. Unless you like living off potatoes and staple foods, traditional German food is an insult to vegetarians.

Meat in general is a mainstay of German cuisine. However, sausage, or Wurst as it is called here, seems to have a special place in the heart of German meat eaters. As a foreigner and newcomer to German culture, it can be hard to sift through the true and false ideas about traditions, customs and behaviors. You certainly have to be careful with stereotypes, but now you at least know some of the truer stereotypes you can expect to encounter on occasion in Germany. It's using the right content and tools, like FluentU has to offer!

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