Back in the day, I thought that writing a list of facts about Germany in a robot-like way was something cool. I do not even know what I was thinking about. But seeing that post from several years ago made me cringe, wishing never even written it.

So, let us start over.

And this time around, no huge 30-fact Wikipedia-type lists, I promise! Moreover, it will not be any random list, but a list of what surprised me personally, what I found fascinating and what I did not know before.

🚫 Everything is closed on Sundays.

This is something I still cannot fully make peace with.

I mean, from one point of view, I get it. It is a day off. A day to unwind and relax, and just be there without any rush or running down the rabbit hole of endless shopping mall visits and grocery shopping (which, to be completely honest, would have been my case – my inner shopaholic is a much less active in Germany).

But girl needs her shopping and, with my ADHD and forgetfulness, getting one day of shopping instead of two days kind of sucks.

At least, if I am in extra dire need, I still can find occasional kiosk or shop at the main train station.

🍞 Bread, bread, bread

Germans do not, and I repeat, do not take their bread lighlty. It is very serious business here. And, honestly, I love that about them.

There is:

• Vollkorn – whole grain
• Dinkel – spelt bread
• Roggen – rye
• Mischbrot – mixed grain bread
• Bauernbrot – farmer’s bread
• Brötchen – bread rolls
• And on…and on and on…

There is nothing better than walking by some bakery on a grey rainy day and smelling that aroma of freshly baked buns, breads, and delightful cakes. I am a absolutely a sucker for those. And finally, being employed and all, I officially graduated from supermarket bread to lovely bakery ones. Love that for me.

And the crazy part? In Germany they even have a meal of the day, named specifically after bread – ”ABENDBROT”. It literally means ”Evening Bread”. If you do not know what to cook one day, you simply pull out some breads, some cheese, some spread – and, voila, you have your dinner! Awesome, ain’t it?

🛒 Supermarket checkout: an Olympic sport

This one is still causing stress every time I approach the supermarket checkout.

My pulse is racing, my thoughts are all over the place, people can see visible horror in my eyes, I can barely hear what the cashier is even saying. And all is because the checkout in German supermarkets feels more like Olympic sport.

You have to simultaneously:

• Run to the bagging area
• Catch all items on time
• Place them more or less roperly inside your bag (although I already have given up on that, let them eggs be squished)
• Hear how much you have to pay
• And, of course pay the right amount (German numbers still sometimes confuse me)

And all that before other customers start giving you stink-eye.

Stress, stress, pure stress. I have to say, I am getting better at it, but much slower than one would have wanted to.

🚗 Autobahn — no speed limit (sort of)

And this is where I was so mortified at the beginning. Seeing all the cars literally flying around.

After coming from Ukraine, where everything has a speed limit and you need to stick to it, seeing so many highway stretches having no limit felt insane.

It got a bit more terrifying after I was in a small accident in Germany. Since then I am quite scared to drive too fast and come to close to the car ahead. Thankfully, it all turned out fine, just broken windows and scratched side, but no injuries. Except for a tiny PTSD for me…

Anyway, going back to the Autobahn topic, it was very unusual for me to know that 65% of German highways have no speed limit, which is rather high number.

And another interesting fact – it is actually illegal to run out of fuel on Autobahn! Yeah, you better plan well or be prepared to find nearest gas station real fast. Or you can get pretty hefty fine. In such moments, I am actually thankful I do not drive…Well, I am, my husband – not so much. Yay, team passenger princess!

🥐 Döner Kebab was invented here

You might think that Döner Kebab is a Turkish dish, but that is where you will be as suprised as I was when I first heard about it.

It actually originates from Berlin, when back in 1970s Turkish immigrants adapted traditional Kebap into the today’s version we all love so much (well , at least me – monthly ritual of Döner Kebap is very well maintained in our household).

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So those are the things that actually surprised me about Germany — the ones I mention when someone asks me what it is actually like to live here.

Did any of these surprise you? And if you live in Germany — what surprised you the most when you first arrived?

Tell me in the comments.