MEET AND GREET
by Nalin Prashant Sing

While it is without a doubt true that we learnt a great deal about Germany through the many insightful lectures and engaging outings it is through the interactions with the German people, more specifically the students, that we truly gained an insight into their culture. The program is after all a cultural exchange and I found that this goal was overall best achieved when diving into the life of a German student and so interacting with them. One such cornerstone event was the meet and greet. 

The meet and greet was a programmed event. A long line of adjacent tables was setup with the South African students on one side and the German students on the other, quite similar to speed dating actually! There were snacks, drinks and German students provided! We arrived in groups and one by one, a little awkward and nervous upon entering the room. These feelings soon dissipated as the few German students that were also early were surprisingly eager and engaging, similar to South African culture. People quickly started talking, first with the usual greetings and questions, “What’s your name?”, “How old are you?” and “What are you studying?”. Soon after this conversations started to burst with laughter and exclamations as we found the warmth and energy of the German students impossible to mimic and within minutes a full blown ruckus started to come about.

When time came for the event to officially commence people had to be torn away from their conversations as they had already began to so quickly bond to others, so far so good! In order for all the Germans to meet all the South Africans some method was required. So once again along the lines of speed dating we were given a topic a person and we had short few minutes to discuss this topic with them. After the time was up the line moved along and a new topic was given. The topics were merely sparks that ignited engaging and entertaining conversations. I found the German students to be extremely aware of social issues, to which they had a clear and active stance. They were distinctively liberal and progressive, never shying away from addressing any form of social injustice or worldly wrong. I found interacting with students with such a progressive point of view to be incredibly refreshing and thought provoking as it is not very common in my circle of student colleagues. Beyond this they were very warm and friendly, in fact I found it rather surprising. They glowed with genuine interest and attentiveness which made me, and I’m sure others, at ease with making conversation. They were really interested in South Africa and South African culture. What I found most delightful was that while they shared these commonalities they still had distinctive personalities and traits which made each conversation different from the last in the best way possible. We all had so much fun that we went out and got a couple of drinks afterwards, I think that says it all!