The Germany Experience

Montana Showalter was an American high school student who went on an exchange program to Germany (called CBYX). At around the same time, she started a YouTube channel intended to document her experiences in Germany. Little did she know that her channel was about to blow up. In our interview, Montana discusses the differences in culture between the US and Germany, how coronavirus cut her Germany stay short, how Germany changed her, and of course, her YouTube success.

Watch her videos: Montana Showalter's YouTube channel

Two of her videos we mention in the interview:

• "Who am I?" - A Personal Essay From My Exchange Year
• Forced To Leave Germany (Statement Of Departure)

Montana on Instagram: Montana.Showalter

The exchange program Montana was on: CBYX CIEE

The festival in Passau that Montana mentioned: Passauer Dult


Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

Thomas Cartwright is originally from the UK, and landed up in Hamburg working for a video games developer called InnoGames. He explains why a company like InnoGames is a good fit for foreigners looking for opportunities in Germany. He also discusses his path to Germany, learning German through Memrise, and receiving angry letters from German neighbors.

Connect with Thomas on LinkedIn and Xing.
Look at opportunities at InnoGames: https://www.innogames.com/career/


Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

Travelteening is a blog that gives travel advice for traveling with teens. The blogger behind it, Linda from the USA, joins me to discuss the value her family sees in traveling, their three-year-plan to give their children the chance to experience travel in Europe, some insights into traveling with teens, and how they're dealing with the loss of travel freedom that the coronavirus has caused.

Linda's blog: Travelteening
Practical tips for traveling with teens: How to (Nearly) Master Traveling with Teens
Follow Linda on Instagram and Facebook.

Other notes:

• Hairdressers are open again: https://m.dw.com/en/germanys-hair-salons-set-to-open-for-business/a-53297699
• Thousands march in Stuttgart in protest with coronavirus measures: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/corona-beschraenkungen-grossdemonstration-in-stuttgart-a-da9b207a-7018-4c9a-9219-b8930fce158d
• The coronavirus post: https://thegermanyexperience.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/corona-freedom.jpg

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

A good way to explore Germany's culture is through its movies. And what better way to do that than to look at the German movies that have had the most success in Germany?

But you'll be surprised at the movies that the Germans have flocked to see at the cinemas! In fact, think of the most famous German movie you know. I can almost guarantee that whatever movie you're thinking of is not in the top 10.

Dominik, one of the hosts of the German podcast Ach!, joins me to discuss the list, to explain how the top 4 movies are all related, and to speculate about what the top 10 reveals about German culture. See the full list of movies on the Inside Kino site.

Here are the notes from our discussion with links to the celebrities and movies we mentioned:

• Ach! podcast: https://das-a.ch/
• Otto Waalkes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Waalkes
• Loriot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loriot
• Top 10 domestic films: https://www.insidekino.com/DJahr/DAlltimeDeutsch50.htm
• Schulmädchen Report: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulm%C3%A4dchen-Report
• Til Schweiger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Til_Schweiger
• Hönig im Kopf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Full_of_Honey
• Fack jü Göhte: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fack_ju_G%C3%B6hte
• Der Schuh des Manitu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Schuh_des_Manitu
• The Bullyparade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullyparade
• Karl May: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_May
• Winnetou movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Gold
• The second Winnetou movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_of_the_Silver_Lake
• Traumschiff Surprise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumschiff_Surprise_%E2%80%93_Periode_1

Other notes:

• My face mask gift
• Öffnungsdiskusisonorgien: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/oeffnungsdiskussionsorgien-das-spaltende-wort-der-kanzlerin,Rwntipp

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

The guest in the previous episode, Greg, is a homebrewing enthusiast, and he talks about his adventures and misadventures brewing beer. He also discusses his website, Brew Wizard, that helps you create recipes and gives detailed instructions on how to brew beer.

https://www.brew-wizard.com/

Connect with Greg on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cainde9

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

When Greg and Brigida decided to move from California to Germany, they did it with just a small amount of money and two dogs. And they were met with adversity from almost the moment they arrived. This is their story of how they made their time in Germany work. We also talk about life with small kids, what it's like to move to another country when you suffer from anxiety, and German beer.

Connect with Greg on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cainde9

Greg's brewing recipe site: https://www.brew-wizard.com/

Other notes:

• Spargel (asparagus) drive-through in Brandenburg: https://twitter.com/rbb24/status/1249718683330633731?s=20
• My guest appearance on the Desi In Wonderland YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/7-fSWHmF3tE

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

Deenara from Russia appeared in episode 38, about mental health in Germany. However, her original interview with Berlin-based journalist Daria Sukharchuk also included her talking about her time in Germany. Here is the rest of that interview.

Interview recorded and edited by Daria Sukharchuk.

Deenara's Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/snumri

Daria also has her own podcast: Crafts and People 

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

Steph Fuccio, host of the Geopats podcast, is new to Germany and to the German language. So as a new learner, I thought it would be fun to throw some German idioms at her and see if she could figure them out. If you're new to the German language (or even if you are not), it's fun to listen along and see if you can guess them, too.

STEPH'S NOTES:

• Visit Steph's website for all her projects: stephfuccio.com
• Steph's Podcast Review Day initiative: #PodRevDay
• The Geopats episode about Steph queuing outside the Ausländeramt at 1am: Episode 115
• If you're looking for other expat podcasts, here's Steph's curated list on Podchaster: Expat Podcasts

OTHER NOTES:

• Portal for providing or getting services helpful to foreigners in Germany: My Help Buddy
• Nicole of The Expat Cast's initiative to help foreigners understand local coronavirus news and announcements: Translation help during the coronavirus crisis
• Link to the review of my show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-germany-experience-859966/reviews

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

How do you recognize that you are depressed? How do you seek out therapy and other help for depression in Germany? And what if you are from a culture that has a stigma towards mental health issues and therapy?

Deenara, who is from Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, is a tech professional and poet living in Berlin. In an interview with journalist Daria Sukharchuk, she gives some insights into these questions and more as she describes her experiences dealing with depression after arriving in Germany.

In the second part of the episode, we hear from Marita Helkimo, a Frankfurt-based therapist whose focus is immigrants living in Germany.

Show Notes

The interview with Deenara was recorded and edited by Daria Sukharchuk, a journalist in Berlin. Connect with Daria on Twitter and  Facebook.  

• Deenara's Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/snumri
• The antidepressant drug Deenara mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citalopram
• The health insurance Deenara is on: https://www.tk.de/

Connect with Marita Helkimo:

Find her on https://psychotherapy-in-frankfurt.de/ and http://www.psyshrink.com/

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran

Daria, originally from Moscow, Russia, is working as a freelance journalist in Germany. She helped me put an upcoming episode about mental health together, and I wanted to introduce her first.

We discuss her role as a TV anchor for OstWest TV, online critics, stalker problems, and  stereotypes some people have about Russian women.

Connect with Daria on Facebook. She is also on Twitter.

Links to more The Germany Experience episodes, my newsletter, and my social media: thegermanyexperience.de/subscribe

JOIN THE THE GERMANY EXPERIENCE FACEBOOK GROUP

Visit the official The Germany Experience website.
 

Instagram: the.germany.experience
Official podcast website: https://thegermanyexperience.de
YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/thegermanyexperience
Contact me: [email protected]

Podcast Intro Music by: Adrian Bran