European Culture

[Jav_NE]

Hey all, I have a favour to ask...

 

I've been roped into teaching a class on European culture, so i started thinking, who knows a lot about Europe? Naturally, i figured N-E would be a good place to start!

 

I'm hoping some of you have been to countries in Europe, and if i'm lucky, maybe some of you even live there?!

 

Countries i'm thinking of focusing on are...

 

France

Italy

Spain

Germany

 

If you have been to any of them, i'd be very grateful if you can name some tourist attractions, festivals, maybe introduce some culture etc. Basically, anything you think Chinese students (mostly girls, aged 20) would find interesting about those countries.

 

Obviously i can google such information, i'm not lazy, i just think a more personal approach with real experiences would be better.

 

If you have any home videos or photos you dont mind me showing i would love to have those too. Wing them over to [email protected]

 

Thanks!!!

 

Oh, and this thread needn't just be for my benefit. Europe is afterall a very interesting continent, and a place from which our beloved site takes it's name, so why not discuss our European thoughts and experiences?

 

Personally, i think the French are a bit arrogant and annoyingly patriotic against the English. It seems whenever i meet a French person, they refuse to speak English, even though they can do so perfectly well. Grrr, it really pisses me off!!! Then again, my experience of France is limited to Paris and Disneyland, so i guess it's not uncommon to experience hostility towards tourists there.

 

What do you think?

 

Thanks again for any help

Edited May 29, 2010 by Jav_NE

[Cube]

I believe that France has some big, pointless electric pylon and Italy have a deformed building. Don't know much else about them myself.

[Jimbob]

I've lived in Germany, holiday'd in Italy and France several times. But never been to Spain (main-land anyway).

 

Would these girls be interested in Oktober Fest???, thats some culture from Germany right there.

 

Some good places for tourists to visit in Germany are

 

The Brandenburg Gate

East Side Gallery (has pictures painted on sections of the wall, very interesting)

Berlin Zoo

 

Berlin as a city has some good night-life, just as long as they under-stand the german sense of humour (which is probably on the same level as Roy "Chubby" Brown on a bad day). There are various museums littered around the city, all of which are personally recommended. Natural History museum is one place, the Art Gallery is another place.

 

If you wish to eat (which is essential), then i can recommend Germany's finest. Bratwurst (must be eaten with curry sauce and thick-cut chips).

 

I do have pictues somewhere, and home-movies. But these are on this thing that was around before DVD, what were they called.............. ah yes, video!!!.

 

If you need more info, i'm sure i can remember it (havn't really been to Germany for 15 years or so, but all of the above places i named are still there.)

[Paj!]

Berlin is a stunning place. There's a lot to talk about just that city, how loads of it had to be rebuilt, and some still is, since the various wars/changes in political power. Also obviously the wall etc.

 

It just feels like they got over the war so efficiently, not wallowing in it or trying to make Germany seem better than they appeared in the war...they just got on with repairs and had loads of monuments put up to honour everything that happened.

 

But yeah, brilliant.

[MoogleViper]

The French will eat anything that was once alive.

[Daft]

Italy rocks.

[Jonnas]

I hear Spain has an excellent neighbour :p

 

In seriousness, my experience with those countries is just Paris, Málaga and Galiza. Paris' points of interest are never ending, Málaga is a place to spend some days going to the beach, not visiting the city, and Galiza is the same thing.

I have family that went to Madrid, Barcelona and Andorra. I got the impression that Barcelona is THE place to visit, and Andorra is the place where everything is cheaper. Make your shopping there.

 

Sorry I can't be of anymore help. Consider visiting the neighbour, though

[Nolan]

Personally, i think the French are a bit arrogant and annoyingly patriotic against the English.

 

This makes me wonder...with all the variety of user backgrounds. Are there any French members, living in France?

[Eenuh]

You're not actually visiting these places are you? Cause it seems some people have that impression. =P

 

Anyway as for places, I've been to a few in all these countries, so I'll see if I can make a list of monuments/cities/interesting things.

 

 

France:

The obvious one here of course is Paris, which has lots of interesting places and monuments, like the Bastille, which is basically one of the places where the French Revolution started. The Eiffel Tower of course as a leftover from the World's Fair. There's Montmartre, which is filled with artists selling art and wanting to draw your portrait (and they can be a bit pushy about this).

You can also find the lovely Sacré-Coeur there and the Moulin Rouge (somewhere in that region at least).

 

There's a big, 10-storey department store as well called Galeries_Lafayette.

 

And along the Champs-Élysées there is also a whole lot of stores to visit. Plus it leads to the Arc de Triomphe, which is always nice to see.

 

As for festivals, there's of course the film festival in Cannes, but everyone knows about that. Though they also have an animation film festival in Annecy every year, which is very nice to go to (Annecy itself is quite nice too, with a big lake and mountains surrounding it).

 

Germany:

In Cologne you can find a big christmas market. I've never been to the market myself but it's supposed to be biiiig and nice.

I've been to the city though and it's quite nice. The Dom church is very impressive to look at. Plus they have a few museums, one I remember being on Roman history.

 

Spain:

Barcelona is an amazing city to visit. Not only do you have Gaudi's Sagrada_Família which is still in the process of being built, there's also Gaudi's Park_Guell, which is a lovely park with architectural elements. Plus from there you get a nice view over the city.

Barcelona also has La_Rambla,_Barcelona, which is a long boulevard lined with shops. There's also always street artists performing there, from musicians to living statues. Also famous for pick-pocketers. =P

 

In Valencia you have the Ciutat_de_les_Arts_i_les_Ciències, literally the City of Art and Science. Pretty much all of the buildings (except one I think) are built by the architect Santiago Calatrava. There's an Imax theatre and planetarium, an interactive museum of science, an oceanographic park, opera house and lots more. Great architecture in all of these buildings.

 

If you go to Spain, you have to go into a tapas bar (we went into one in Valencia and it was really nice). Lots of yummy things to pick from, just tiny things to eat. Mmm. Also, paella is of course a very popular dish in Spain. Another tradition in Spain: bullfighting.

 

Italy:

There's the obvious cities like Rome and Venice. Both are really beautiful, with lots of monuments and great views. Too many to list. Another great city is Florence, or Siena. In Siena they do a medieval horse race twice every year, in the middle of the city on the big square.

 

Pompeii is an interesting place because you're basically going back in time to a city that got hit by a volcano eruption. The ruined city is basically the way it was back then (minus the ruined parts of course). You can walk through the old streets, go into the houses where you can still see the images on the wall. There's even a whore house you can visit (minus the whores). =P

They also have casts of victims that died during the eruption, which is a bit eerie to see, but cool at the same time.

 

Ok, I think that's enough haha. Not sure any of it is to any use, as it's mostly just history like stuff. Though I think they're also touristy places so yeah. =P

Edited May 29, 2010 by Eenuh

[Ashley]

I'm nominating Razz to cover Italy (although I see Eenuh has too) as he's Italian.

 

You're welcome Razz :p

 

Personal experiences; been to Spain years ago but on boring family holidays where the goal is to find a warmer climate. Germany never been nor really ever felt like it. I'd love to go to Italy (I'd like to do the rail journey thingy) when I have money one day and France...went when I was younger. All I remember was our teachers getting drunk and my parents forgetting to pick me up when we returned at 3am (). I'd like to go back at some point properly but again...finances. I lived with some French girls briefly and they were nice enough to me. Oh and I had a stop over at CDG last year...but doesn't really count.

 

All in all I've kind of ignored Europe.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Ashley

[Jonnas]

This makes me wonder...with all the variety of user backgrounds. Are there any French members, living in France?

 

Deathborn is French, but he rarely comes to the Chit Chat section.

 

Also, I was under the impression that you were going to these places. Silly me

So, I might as well say:

 

-Málaga has beaches with dark brown, nearly-black sand. Freaky stuff;

-Gallego is a fun language. Basically Portuguese with a Spanish accent. And they replace "J" with "X". Xuño and Xullo drive this point home;

-You can feel separatism even in a peaceful region like Galiza. Every sign that says "España" is crossed out with red markers. I wouldn't be surprised if those signs referred to Madrid, either

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Pompeii is amazing. Eenuh is absolutely right, it's very eerie to walk around in this city, which has essentially been kept in a time capsule since 79 AD. Especially looking at the preserved bodies gives you a strange feeling of going back in time.

 

Taking a walk on the old city wall of Dubrovnik in Croatia is also something I can recommend, but then that's also about it. I haven't travelled a lot and so don't have much to report or recommend.

 

Of course, I could talk about Denmark, but I think it's more difficult when you live in the country. Or maybe I'm just really bad at recommending stuff.

[Paj!]

Eenuh made me want to go back to Barcelona.

 

And Montmartre is my favourite place.

[nightwolf]

Barcelona was one of my favourite places, I think the picture of the market is one I've walked down, but it was during the day, it's a crazy place. Immensely packed, but beautiful all the same.

 

^_^

[Pookiablo]

The Brandenburg Gate

East Side Gallery (has pictures painted on sections of the wall, very interesting)

Berlin Zoo

 

I found the Gate to be really underwhelming for some reason - I was excited all morning and then when it came to seeing it I felt disappointed. Maybe because there wasn't someone awesome like JFK or Reagan giving a speech when I went.

 

Berlin as a city has some good night-life, just as long as they under-stand the german sense of humour (which is probably on the same level as Roy "Chubby" Brown on a bad day).

 

I love how there's lots of small, but kinda cool and indie (I dunno how to describe it!) bars. It certainly makes a change from your traditional pub. And German beer is the best beer in the world.

 

If you wish to eat (which is essential), then i can recommend Germany's finest. Bratwurst (must be eaten with curry sauce and thick-cut chips).

 

It's called Currywurst damnit! Make them order the right thing or they won't experience this most sensational meal! (Glad you mentioned this!).

 

And Montmartre is my favourite place.

 

It really is and I'm glad someone else on here appreciates it as much as I do. I spent 6 months living on Rue Lepic in Montmartre and it was an incredible experience. It's like a quiet little village, hidden within a bustling (albeit beautiful city). It's also home to one of the best fondue restaurants in the world (in my humble opinion).

 

Also, Eenuh makes the grand point of the Champs Elysées. I, at the same time as my Montmartre experience, even got to work on this wonderful avenue!

 

Love Paris, wanna move back!!!

 

And Jav tell your students that German kebabs are holier than God, Allah, and even the CCP. They taste so damn good!

[Jimbob]

It's called Currywurst damnit! Make them order the right thing or they won't experience this most sensational meal! (Glad you mentioned this!).!

 

I knew there was a name for it, i couldn't remember. Cheers for reminding me of that.

[Jav_NE]

You're not actually visiting these places are you? Cause it seems some people have that impression. =P

 

Haha, no i am not actually going. I think that eventually got through

 

Pompeii is an interesting place because you're basically going back in time to a city that got hit by a volcano eruption. The ruined city is basically the way it was back then (minus the ruined parts of course). You can walk through the old streets, go into the houses where you can still see the images on the wall. There's even a whore house you can visit (minus the whores). =P

They also have casts of victims that died during the eruption, which is a bit eerie to see, but cool at the same time.

 

 

Ok, I think that's enough haha. Not sure any of it is to any use, as it's mostly just history like stuff. Though I think they're also touristy places so yeah. =P

 

 

Brilliant, thanks for all of that!! I have been to Pompeii as well, it just never crossed my mind! Thanks for the help

 

 

 

And Jav tell your students that German kebabs are holier than God, Allah, and even the CCP. They taste so damn good!

 

I will do! Currywursts are of course going to be mentioned too!!!

 

Thanks to all who gave the time to think of some stuff, it will be helpful

[Wesley]

Another tradition in Spain: bullfighting.

 

Something which is under review this week by the Spanish government.

[The fish]

When are you teaching this class? I'm interailing my way around most of Western-Central Europe in July, so I'll be glad to share my many tales, if you want them.

[Iun]

One of my degrees is in Fren and their politics, society and history. Need any serious info and I can help. Otherwise Wikipedia is a good source.