By David

By Rhi Jeffrey

I’ll never understand why some people are so fired up to be American. Aside from the fact that I’ll be glad to have ice in drinks and free refills back, I really think we are falling behind the Europeans in a lot of respects. When John and I were first getting ready to leave for Germany, I was nervous about the trip because of some stigmas that were put in my head by a select few people.

For example, a few weeks ago, I decided to dye my hair bright pink. “The Germans hate Americans. Don’t draw attention to yourself having bright pink hair,” I was told. This could not have been further from the truth, unless of course they really did hate us but all woke up on the proper side of their beds that day. There is nowhere I have been in the US where I have seen more smiling faces than in the downtown area of Darmstadt. People were not only friendly to us, but were asking us if their English was ok. To top it all off, I even caught a glimpse of a group of around ten “punk” kids sitting in the town square with pink, green, purple, and orange Mohawks. Their piercings rivaled mine. I felt right at home.

Another thing that really blew my mind: on the first day of the trip John and I had to figure out how to get to the pool without the assistance of a rental car. We asked the front desk at the hotel (who spoke better English than some of the people who pay to swim at Aqua Crest) what the best way to get to the pool was. It was so refreshing that they even knew where the pool complex was. Some Americans don’t care enough about swimming to even know where water is to drink, much less for a swim meet. We were instructed to take the 7 or 8 train to downtown Darmstadt then hop aboard the 4 or 5 to drop us off right at the pool’s entrance. When John and I first got to the train stop, we were frantically trying to buy tickets as the train approached. As we climbed on, I kept an eye out as to where to put our tickets or someone to give them to. There was nothing. Turns out, all public transportation in Germany (and much of Europe) is on the honor system. If we tried that here, our train systems would be bankrupt in a matter of days. Americans always try to find ways to get out of paying for things. And I did in fact buy the correct train ticket every day.

Dinners were slow, enjoyable, and surprisingly affordable. People who know me know that I love everything about food. Now, hold your sly fat jokes for a minute and listen to why. I love how people can come together over a meal and I love sitting and soaking up every taste and smell you can experience from sitting down in a restaurant. The Germans have perfected eating. Their portions are not too big but just right and their service is not too fast or too slow. It gives you the opportunity to slow down and enjoy your meal without feeling like you are sitting around forever waiting. It is almost like a dirty little secret that when you eat slower, you eat less because your stomach has a chance to catch up with your eyes.

The meet was great; extremely well run, and everyone was so accommodating. The first day John and I sat on the bleachers, the home DSW swim team surrounded us. Luckily for us, the English speaking Scottish coaches came to our aide and invited us to sit with them. Everything is funnier with a Scottish accent. The dirty jokes boys make at 17 years old that you smirk at here in the States are hilarious with a thick Scottish accent thrown in. Needless to say, we enjoyed the Scottish team very much, and the coaches even got splits and highlighted our names in the heat sheets for John’s and my swims. The Germans treated the medal winners like gold, having a victory ceremony immediately following each swim in the finals. On my way out of the last night, I even had meet workers hand me gifts for swimming so well, which included their team t-shirt, towel, and beer mug! I felt like I was king of the hill. Needless to say, Americans can learn a lot from the Germans about how to run a swim meet.

As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. One last thing I wish to add. There were younger swimmers from my team in Florida who were supposed to experience this wonderful trip but, because of events completely out of their control, were not allowed to go. For this, I am very sorry. You were missed. The trip will be 100% better when you all come the next time.