Knowing My German City

Hanna is an American student studying in Germany as part of the CBYX (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange) scholarship exchange program.

Every city has its defining characteristics.

In suburban Phoenix, Arizona, cookie-cutter, sand-colored houses with rock and cacti lawns permeated the landscapes. Visiting family in Detroit, Michigan, I saw sprawling green lawns adorning white-planked houses. In the Bergisches Lands in North Rhine-Westphalia, every corner is decked with houses in gray slated tiles, green window shutters, and white window frames. 

It is interesting: this foreign architecture now feels like home to me. These “half-timbered” houses simply feel so characteristic to the region I live in. Still,  there are a lot of things that I’ve noticed while traveling around the Bergisches  Lands (but could be applied to some other parts of Germany). 

For one thing, it seems like there is a bakery on every street, selling unique  breads and pastries. My personal favorite is Vollkornbrot (which has an earthy  taste and tastes strangely sour), and my breakfast staple is Bauernbrot (which I promise is the most delicious thing in the world paired with butter and salami).  These two are just a sample of the fascinating bread variants here. These bakeries and cafes seem to always have warm lighting, busy counters, and at  least two coffee machines. Beyond local companies, a few big national names  can be found across Germany – chains like Steinbrick, Kamps, and BackWerk. 

While bakeries are my personal go-to place to get a snack, Germans sure love to stop by another type of stores: the Döner Laden. I would say that there are around 25 places to eat at in my small town, and 6 of those places for us are döner stores. If pizza and hamburgers are chained to the U.S. image, döner is linked to the German public identity. 

There is a beauty in knowing a place intimately, and whether it be the regional architecture, bakeries, or döner, I am excited to continue learning about the quirks in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia.