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Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot
Yeah, Die Linke is still pretty SED infested. gently caress those guys.

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Previously on GBS
Jul 13, 2007
At this point, I can't really say I find the Paratenpartei much more trustworthy than Die Linke though. If there's anything to this, I won't give them my vote anytime soon, as a female computer scientist I can't really take anymore of this "well, we're post-gender so if you don't see any women here that's because they'd rather be in the kitchen baking a nice cake" bullshit.

Pand
Apr 1, 2011

Jogi Maldito

Previously on GBS posted:

At this point, I can't really say I find the Paratenpartei much more trustworthy than Die Linke though. If there's anything to this, I won't give them my vote anytime soon, as a female computer scientist I can't really take anymore of this "well, we're post-gender so if you don't see any women here that's because they'd rather be in the kitchen baking a nice cake" bullshit.

Oh there absolutly is. During the last election i had been to their forums and sure enough they had a whole subforum about 'Männerrechte'.

Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot

Pand posted:

Oh there absolutly is. During the last election i had been to their forums and sure enough they had a whole subforum about 'Männerrechte'.

I'm not surprised. It's a nerd party after all.

skipThings
May 21, 2007

Tell me more about this
"Wireless fun-adaptor" you were speaking of.

elwood posted:

The far left wing of the party is what's wrong with them. A party were an influential part sees the wall a necessity is, for me at least, not electable.

The "Linke" is nothing more than the new Social-democrat party, only difference is that the wackjobs get more screen time in the mainstream media

also the Pirate party is full of libertarians and chauvinistic nerds, at least here in Hesse.

The green party is now mostly a conservative party that likes to sperate their trash. Everything is hopeless on the fedral level and party interest is always above the interest of some few good politicians in all parties.

skipThings fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Sep 28, 2011

Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot

skipThings posted:

The "Linke" is nothing more than the new Social-democrat party, only difference is that the wackjobs get more screen time in the mainstream media

also the Pirate party is full of libertarians and chauvinistic nerds, at least here in Hesse.

The green party is now mostly a conservative party that likes to sperate their trash. Everything is hopeless on the fedral level and party interest is always above the interest of some few good politicians in all parties.

You are so far left nobody needs to take your opinions seriously.

skipThings
May 21, 2007

Tell me more about this
"Wireless fun-adaptor" you were speaking of.

Hungry Gerbil posted:

You are so far left nobody needs to take your opinions seriously.

Good for you, now you can stay in the center where all the corporate profit will trickle down upon you :)

The Flour Moth
May 22, 2001

WHAT HATH PONIES WROUGHT

skipThings posted:

The green party is now mostly a conservative party that likes to sperate their trash. Everything is hopeless on the fedral level and party interest is always above the interest of some few good politicians in all parties.

Did the Overton window shift to the left so the green party is now centrist, or did the party shift to the right?

Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot

The Flour Moth posted:

Did the Overton window shift to the left so the green party is now centrist, or did the party shift to the right?

It's a little bit of both.

Duzzy Funlop
Jan 13, 2010

Hi there, would you like to try some spicy products?

Previously on GBS posted:

If there's anything to this,

In an interview on N24 immediately following the election, Nerz (?) was confronted with the apparent abundance of wiener in his party, but his response was more along the lines of "Well, we do have numerous women in the party, they've just shown themselves to be more involved in the operational aspect behind the scenes and thus have not made their way into the public eye", which I thought to be a well-executed response, very much unlike the "lol, women are scared of crowds"-response of Baum.

But if Nerz' response was only masking what that article up there sheds light on, then they've got some serious problems.
I'm fully allowing for the possibility that the chick mentioned in the article was an incompetent bitch/drama queen that had it coming and not, in fact, the person that she's portrayed as, but the way they handled the whole thing...jesus christ.

Spice World War II
Jul 12, 2004

Stuhlmajor posted:

In an interview on N24 immediately following the election, Nerz (?) was confronted with the apparent abundance of wiener in his party, but his response was more along the lines of "Well, we do have numerous women in the party, they've just shown themselves to be more involved in the operational aspect behind the scenes and thus have not made their way into the public eye", which I thought to be a well-executed response, very much unlike the "lol, women are scared of crowds"-response of Baum.

But if Nerz' response was only masking what that article up there sheds light on, then they've got some serious problems.
I'm fully allowing for the possibility that the chick mentioned in the article was an incompetent bitch/drama queen that had it coming and not, in fact, the person that she's portrayed as, but the way they handled the whole thing...jesus christ.

As a comp sci graduate of recent years here in Germany, the people that graduated with me are now spread all over Germany with their jobs, and half of those that I still am in contact with are sadly big fans of the pirate party and can't stop talking about how productive their meetings were and how they are the only party that will prevent us from female domination in the future (because they are enlightened and post-gender). They are unironically talking about being "gender-blind" in a way Colbert's persona claims to be "color-blind". I've been to a couple of local meetings and the only women there were desperate "just one of the boys" types and it was all very sad

Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot

dreamin' posted:

As a comp sci graduate of recent years here in Germany, the people that graduated with me are now spread all over Germany with their jobs, and half of those that I still am in contact with are sadly big fans of the pirate party and can't stop talking about how productive their meetings were and how they are the only party that will prevent us from female domination in the future (because they are enlightened and post-gender). They are unironically talking about being "gender-blind" in a way Colbert's persona claims to be "color-blind". I've been to a couple of local meetings and the only women there were desperate "just one of the boys" types and it was all very sad

That's horrible.

DeusEx
Apr 27, 2007

The people that are voting for the Pirate party in Germany, are roughly the same demographic, that would vote for Ron Paul in the US. Young, naive,middle class, white males, knowing little of the hardships of common people yet.

It just gets so much attention here, because it's the internet, which is the place where those people naturally congregate; just like you would have thought that Ron Paul was a big thing in the 2008 primaries if you would have judged it by the internet hype. Except that Ron Paul actually has a position on economic policy, however deluded, while Pirate party doesn't really have one.

clownpenis
Nov 24, 2003

That the Piratenpartei marginalizes their female constituency is distressing, but hardly surprising. The Spiegel article even states that most of the major parties have their Frauenquoten, so obviously not being gender-blind isn't really that uncommon. Hell, universities and most state-funded agencies are actively recruiting female applicants, even to the point where they'll be given favor over an equally qualified male candidate.

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!
Guys, chill out! Pretty much ignoring 50% of the population is not a big thing, it's the same as not having plumbers and carpenters on your list of candidates.

http://kegelklub.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/liebe-presse/

Ever wondered why most politicians are lawyers or have a degree in something worthwhile? It's because they need to have a professional background that enables them to actually understand and write a bill.

But I'm sure a 19 year old that just finished school will do just fine, in the end it's about passion and not about competence.

http://www.spiegel.de/schulspiegel/leben/0,1518,787114,00.html

Fatkraken
Jun 23, 2005

Fun-time is over.

hankor posted:

Guys, chill out! Pretty much ignoring 50% of the population is not a big thing, it's the same as not having plumbers and carpenters on your list of candidates.

http://kegelklub.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/liebe-presse/

Ever wondered why most politicians are lawyers or have a degree in something worthwhile? It's because they need to have a professional background that enables them to actually understand and write a bill.

But I'm sure a 19 year old that just finished school will do just fine, in the end it's about passion and not about competence.

http://www.spiegel.de/schulspiegel/leben/0,1518,787114,00.html

I though the professional civil service did most of the actual bill writing and complicated stuff.

The politician has to *understand* the bill sufficiently to know if it represents his electorates interests, but even then they will rely on professional advisors appropriate to each particular bill. With bills on things as varied as copyright law, farming and fisheries management, criminal law, welfare, medical licensing etc., NO amount of schooling or life experience can make you expert enough to vote in an informed fashion in every single area without significant backup.


I would rather see politicians from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Political sciences and economics are important, but the hard sciences are sorely underrepresented in a day and age where many significant political decisions should be more heavily informed by science. Evidence based politics trumps ideology based politics.

eBay Embryos
Dec 12, 2004

Communist Party
Would you reccomend moving to Germany?

My situation is as follows: I am a business major currently studying for an MBA, I don't know german but I've learned 3 languages (one being russian, 1st language) so I think I can manage a 4th one by living there. My gf is of german descendance, so at least she would be able to communicate with no problems there while I learn.

My plan once I am done with my MBA is to start my own business, I got the money to invest and the desire. Why Germany? Currently, where I live there are lots of german colonies and presence (not Russia, I am on another continent), so I've been in contact with them for lots of years, plus my brothers go to Deutsche Schule, so many of their classmates are of german descendance. Plus there is my gf, her father and grandfather being german. I've been to Germany once, on vacations when I was younger so I didnt really get a grasp of the daily life, at the end of the year I might be going for a month so this time I can share more with the local culture and maybe get a grasp of how things are.

I love Europe, the culture, the architecture, everything. I know there are problems like everywhere else, but I don't think its so bad. Everyone I've know whom have been to Germany loved the place, as did I. Exchange students, friends, family who has travelled there. Am I being too naive thinking that moving there would be a good move?

Fake edit: ok fine, the real reason I want to live there because german electronic scene is so god drat good.

Hungry Gerbil
Jun 6, 2009

by angerbot
If you are able to find a job, I would recommend to move to Germany. I really don't know how useful an MBA is though. Many companies also expect you to speak good German so you might have to learn German before looking for a job.

Edit:
I'm stupid and can't read. But you still need to speak good German to communicate with business partners and the government. There is also quite a bit of bureaucracy to do.

Hungry Gerbil fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Sep 29, 2011

niethan
Nov 22, 2005

Don't be scared, homie!
What business do you wanna open up?

clownpenis
Nov 24, 2003

eBay Embryos posted:

Everyone I've know whom have been to Germany loved the place, as did I. Exchange students, friends, family who has travelled there.

Yeah, you can pretty much ignore all of these right off the bat. Of course tourists and exchange students on semester-long beer drinking programs are going to love it. I suggest you talk to someone who actually lives there to get a better idea of what it's like.

I know that toytowngermany.com is full of ex-pats and has tons of threads about life in Germany, usually from Anglo perspectives though. I would recommend lurking somewhat before you actually post something, as they get tend to get pretty pissy if someone asks the wrong question.

If you want to move to Germany for the long term, you're going to have to come to grips with making some sacrifices and/or compromises, the degree of which completely depends the lifestyle you're used to right now. Not being able to speak the language is going to be a huge hurdle in your ability to assimilate.

Do you know in what region you'd like to live? Would you prefer the city or the countryside? Do you need to drive a car, or would you be ok with relying on public transport? These are things you sort of have to be aware of before really committing to the idea of a long term move.

DerDestroyer
Jun 27, 2006

clownpenis posted:

Do you know in what region you'd like to live? Would you prefer the city or the countryside? Do you need to drive a car, or would you be ok with relying on public transport? These are things you sort of have to be aware of before really committing to the idea of a long term move.

I know if I were to move to Germany (something that I have in mind in the coming months) my standard of living would likely improve. It's worth it for me just for the better public transit system in most of the cities.

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!
I've found living in Germany to be rather horrible to be honest. I've been repeatedly shocked at how poo poo this country is with respect to for example consumer rights and public services. The only advice I could give anyone is to stay away from Germany. For reference, I'm Dutch and I've lived in Frankfurt am Main for the better part of three years now.

Baron Porkface
Jan 22, 2007


What do you mean with regard to lax consumer rights?

elwood
Mar 28, 2001

by Smythe

eBay Embryos posted:

My plan once I am done with my MBA is to start my own business, I got the money to invest and the desire.

I teach companies and trade law and work at a companies registry, so if you need help with the formalities of setting up a company down the line hit me up.

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Baron Porkface posted:

What do you mean with regard to lax consumer rights?

Like when say a certain type of headphone catches on fire while you're using it. Twice.

Or when Deutsche Telekom disconnects your Internet a few days before the university exams, but if you say on the phone you'll pay 100 euros for a repairman to come by, it suddenly works again a few minutes later. Multiple times. But what you said on the phone is a legally binding contract.

Or when your phonebill is many times higher than it should be.

Or when your Internet is suddenly disconnected for weeks and it takes double digit hours calling callcenters to get it back.

Or when you buy a laptop that has a bunch of dead pixels within a week and you don't get the full price back because the company makes up a bunch of bullshit about scratches on said laptop, including sending one picture of a laptop with scratches, and another of our laptops serial number, but no proof that the pictures were of the same laptop.

And these are just the things I can remember off-hand, and all of those happened in just a few years. And in all these cases, the only thing you can do is call your lawyer and sue, which takes a ton of time and is often more expensive than the company loving you over in the first place.

Orange Devil fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Sep 29, 2011

niethan
Nov 22, 2005

Don't be scared, homie!
What options do you have in the Netherlands in situations like those?

clownpenis
Nov 24, 2003

Orange Devil posted:

I've found living in Germany to be rather horrible to be honest. I've been repeatedly shocked at how poo poo this country is with respect to for example consumer rights and public services. The only advice I could give anyone is to stay away from Germany. For reference, I'm Dutch and I've lived in Frankfurt am Main for the better part of three years now.

I can definitely relate, at least for the consumer rights part. But it's not really a secret that customer service in Germany utter poo poo. I've found that the German service industry especially has a strikingly narrow minded, stubborn and just plain backwards perspective into how to customers and consumers should be treated.

Some things are gradually getting better though. The no questions asked exchange policies of most electronics shops (Conrad, Saturn, etc.) are definitely a move in the right direction. But too many restaurants and the like still are loving unbearable.

I've never had any good experiences with telecom companies in Germany. Never.

Previously on GBS
Jul 13, 2007

Orange Devil posted:

I've found living in Germany to be rather horrible to be honest. I've been repeatedly shocked at how poo poo this country is with respect to for example consumer rights and public services. The only advice I could give anyone is to stay away from Germany. For reference, I'm Dutch and I've lived in Frankfurt am Main for the better part of three years now.

I was with you until you said you were Dutch. I enjoyed living in the Netherlands for the most part, but I found life there to so drat inconvenient compared to life in Germany.

eBay Embryos
Dec 12, 2004

Communist Party
Well, my previous plan was to move the Spain to keep studying (I've lived in a spanish-speaking country for the past 15+ years, so it actually replaced russian as my 1st language), but Spain has gone downhill very fast in the last years. I had a few friends and their families move there some 10 years agoand now that they finished their university degrees they are utterly hosed because there are no jobs. So that plan has been scratched.

Italy was another option, since italian/french/portuguese is just a variation of spanish (for me anyways, knowing spanish helps a fuckton to understand those 3, many words are alike so while they are different learning them would be the fastest for me). But, Italy is going down the same way Spain/Greece are. And France, well I dont know, haven't really thought about France.

Right now I have a car, but I don't mind public transport. Everytime I travel to anoter city or country I always use public transport. I like subways and buses, its weird. I also like to get around on my bicycle as much as I can, so I can live without a car.

Eh I don't know what to think. All I really want is to move from this 3rd world country for now while I can (no kids, no real worries, no major expenses).

Muddy Terrain
Dec 23, 2004

by Y Kant Ozma Post

Orange Devil posted:

For reference, I'm Dutch and I've lived in Frankfurt am Main for the better part of three years now.

There's your problem.

Muddy Terrain
Dec 23, 2004

by Y Kant Ozma Post

clownpenis posted:

But too many restaurants and the like still are loving unbearable.


The best is when the waiter knocks over your beer or drink, asks if you want another one, and then charges you for both.

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

niethan posted:

What options do you have in the Netherlands in situations like those?

Consumer protection agencies, either government or non-government, and as far as I know it's less of a bitch to independently go the legal route as well. Deutsche Telekom just fucks people over like nobodies business. We literally have a seperate lawyer who has a full time job of just working on cases against them. I wasn't surprised at all that when DT went into the Dutch market they were fined millions by the government within a few years. The kind of poo poo they pull just doesn't fly there.

Previously on GBS posted:

I was with you until you said you were Dutch. I enjoyed living in the Netherlands for the most part, but I found life there to so drat inconvenient compared to life in Germany.

That's very interesting because I experience the exact opposite. It's amazing to me for example that you have to go to four different supermarket chains to get all your shopping, or that you have to go before certain times because otherwise stuff is sold out. I've seen supermarkets here where a quarter of the shelves were standing empty. And fruit is rotting in the shelves all the time. On top of that, they apparently also lack a good system for tracking what products get bought how often in each store, because regularly a product is suddenly gone and we have to inquire and get a the response that "they are checking demand for that product based on how many people inquire". I've studied business in the Netherlands, including the JIT system of Albert Heijn (major upscale supermarket chain in NL), and that kind of inefficiency is just unthinkable there, or any other supermarket. Except maybe for any German budget chains (Aldi, Lidl, etc) whose profit margin is entirely based on understaffing their stores and overworking said staff.

And then there was the time my girlfriend almost died in the lobby of a hospital after being send away from two other hospitals on that same night. Or when the ambulance that showed up was a wrong type and couldn't help with her problems at all. That certainly wasn't convenient.

What did you find inconvenient about living in the Netherlands?

Orange Devil fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 29, 2011

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!

Orange Devil posted:

Consumer protection agencies, either government or non-government, and as far as I know it's less of a bitch to independently go the legal route as well. Deutsche Telekom just fucks people over like nobodies business. We literally have a seperate lawyer who has a full time job of just working on cases against them. I wasn't surprised at all that when DT went into the Dutch market they were fined millions by the government within a few years. The kind of poo poo they pull just doesn't fly there.

Going the legal route in germany is not that hard either, it might or might not take longer than you are used to but usually companies are eager to settle out of court once you make it clear you are willing to go the distance. As far as consumer protection agencies are concerned the "Verbraucherzentralen" are the exact same thing and can hit companies with some rather nasty law suits.

http://www.vzbv.de/go/

Also I have no idea what supermarkets you go to, I've never seen what you describe outside of budget chains.


vvvv Remember the "Volksaktie"? The Telekom is amazing in it's ability to gently caress with people.

hankor fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Sep 29, 2011

The Flour Moth
May 22, 2001

WHAT HATH PONIES WROUGHT

hankor posted:

Also I have no idea what supermarkets you go to, I've never seen what you describe outside of budget chains.

Seriously, I've never seen a single rotten fruit or unstocked shelf in Germany.

I do agree with the Telekom hate though because seriously, gently caress those guys.

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

hankor posted:

Going the legal route in germany is not that hard either, it might or might not take longer than you are used to but usually companies are eager to settle out of court once you make it clear you are willing to go the distance. As far as consumer protection agencies are concerned the "Verbraucherzentralen" are the exact same thing and can hit companies with some rather nasty law suits.

http://www.vzbv.de/go/

We've had 5 law suits in the last 4 years and none of them got settled out of court. Neither me nor my parents ever had the need for any lawsuits in the Netherlands in my lifetime as far as I can remember.

quote:

Also I have no idea what supermarkets you go to, I've never seen what you describe outside of budget chains.

The Flour Moth posted:

Seriously, I've never seen a single rotten fruit or unstocked shelf in Germany.

We mostly go to Rewe and Real, and there it happens weekly.

Previously on GBS
Jul 13, 2007

Orange Devil posted:

That's very interesting because I experience the exact opposite. It's amazing to me for example that you have to go to four different supermarket chains to get all your shopping, or that you have to go before certain times because otherwise stuff is sold out. I've seen supermarkets here where a quarter of the shelves were standing empty. And fruit is rotting in the shelves all the time. On top of that, they apparently also lack a good system for tracking what products get bought how often in each store, because regularly a product is suddenly gone and we have to inquire and get a the response that "they are checking demand for that product based on how many people inquire". I've studied business in the Netherlands, including the JIT system of Albert Heijn (major upscale supermarket chain in NL), and that kind of inefficiency is just unthinkable there, or any other supermarket. Except maybe for any German budget chains (Aldi, Lidl, etc) whose profit margin is entirely based on understaffing their stores and overworking said staff.

And then there was the time my girlfriend almost died in the lobby of a hospital after being send away from two other hospitals on that same night. Or when the ambulance that showed up was a wrong type and couldn't help with her problems at all. That certainly wasn't convenient.

What did you find inconenient about living in the Netherlands?

There were lots of small things, I'm trying to think of some examples. Overall, life just felt like a constant struggle sometimes. Housing was a major thing and ultimately one of the reasons why I moved back to Germany. I mean, I get that the country is small and everything, but the rental market is just hosed up. It's somehow completely overregulated on the one hand and pure anarchy at the same time. It's just incredible how hard it is to find a place and even if you do, it's most likely some super lovely place that someone sublets to you illegally (meaning that you might be kicked out at any time without notice) and that costs an insane amount. While apartment hunting in Amsterdam, I looked at an apartment that didn't have a bathroom and another one where the owners told me I could only live the during the week. Both were also super expensive and sadly those places were some of the more attractive options. Basically the best way to handle the apartment problem turned out to be to rent a hugely overpriced place and to sue the owners for asking for too much rent once you'd moved in. I always felt one step away from being homeless during my time in Amsterdam. By comparison, the rental market in Munich, which is the toughest in Germany, seemed like paradise.

I also never figured out how to get rid of my trash before going on vacation without being fined for putting the trash on the streets a day or two early.

Dutch bureaucracy was another thing I found hard to handle. My impression is that there is an insane amount of rules and regulations that, being practical people, the Dutch know can't all be followed. So it seems that everyone just picks a subset of rules that seem reasonable and works off that. At least that's the only way I can make sense of it. Being German after all, I found that very hard to deal with. I spent many nights frantically programming and writing essays before I realized that a Dutch deadline and a German deadline are two very different things and that I'm the only person who ever hands in stuff on time.

I really can't relate to what you're saying about the supermarkets. Do you shop at discount supermarkets exclusively? I rarely had to go to more than one supermarket when I lived in Germany.
Empty shelves and rotting fruit are definitely a problem, but I saw a lot of that in NL, too. There's even a blog dedicated to documenting empty shelves at Albert Heijn. Overall, Albert Heijn is absolutely superior to German supermarkets though, I miss my Appie a lot.
I also found it really annoying that pretty much all stores except for supermarkets and maybe HEMA close at 6 pm (or maybe even 5? can't remember).

There's more but this is much too long already. Despite all the bitching I really like your country, I just don't find it very easy to live in.

Spice World War II
Jul 12, 2004

Orange Devil posted:

We've had 5 law suits in the last 4 years and none of them got settled out of court. Neither me nor my parents ever had the need for any lawsuits in the Netherlands in my lifetime as far as I can remember.



We mostly go to Rewe and Real, and there it happens weekly.

You must go to some real and rewe that they are trying to close down because their personnel got uppity or something

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Previously on GBS posted:

Housing

I'll give you that. Dutch housing sucks due to the mortgage being tax deductible in full, meaning everybody always wants a bigger house because it ends up being a net benefit, which means almost all new houses built are big, meaning the low end of the market is totally jammed. It was a big issue last elections, but the right wing parties promising they'd change nothing won out. As far as I know about rooms in student cities, you either have to commute a lot or get on the waiting lists for rooms years ahead of time. They did have a big initiative a while back to go after illegal subletters hard though.

You just ask your neighbours to put out your trash bin once though, or find a dumpster for it I guess.

quote:

Dutch bureaucracy was another thing I found hard to handle. My impression is that there is an insane amount of rules and regulations that, being practical people, the Dutch know can't all be followed. So it seems that everyone just picks a subset of rules that seem reasonable and works off that. At least that's the only way I can make sense of it. Being German after all, I found that very hard to deal with. I spent many nights frantically programming and writing essays before I realized that a Dutch deadline and a German deadline are two very different things and that I'm the only person who ever hands in stuff on time.

This sounds like its mostly about university, and I totally don't recognise it. Throughout high school and uni, deadlines meant deadlines, and handing in late meant failing or losing a mark (out of 10) for each day it was late. On the other hand, if you have a good reason to be late, like death in the family or illness or accident, you can probably get in touch and work something out. Something which I've found much less possible in Germany. I've certainly found German university bureaucracy to be worse though, with a lot of very important administration here in Frankfurt still being done on paper and without copies.

quote:

There's more but this is much too long already. Despite all the bitching I really like your country, I just don't find it very easy to live in.

I like a lot of the places in Germany, and loads of German people, but I absolutely loathe the country. Don't take it personal though :)

Orange Devil fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Sep 29, 2011

DerDestroyer
Jun 27, 2006

Orange Devil posted:

I like a lot of the places in Germany, and loads of German people, but I absolutely loathe the country. Don't take it personal though :)

Live in Canada or the United States and your opinion will quickly change. Both myself and my relatives who live there love Germany. When there are so many things fundamentally wrong with your home country you quickly give little things like this the benefit of the doubt. Be happy Deutsche Telekom doesn't throttle your connection and limit the amount of bandwidth you use per month. Also be happy the German government doesn't pass laws that allow them to monitor your activities on the internet and telephone without a warrant and log every detail of it.

From my perspective your complaints about Germany come across as whining.

But in all fairness I find that the grass is always greener on the other side and no matter where you live you will find a long list of things to bitch about. I think it's true for any country.

DerDestroyer fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Sep 30, 2011

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futurebot 2000
Jan 29, 2010
You guys seem to live in some sort of bizzaro parallel universe where all the countries in northern europe have been replaced by kafkaesque caricatures of themselves.

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