Week 2

Nearly 2 weeks into living in Stuttgart and so far I haven´t noticed any major cultural differences. 

However, one thing I have noticed that is almost shocking to me is that children (some aged around 4 or 5) walk around by themselves. I see them everyday walking to school, or catching the U Bahn to and from the city centre without parents or adult supervision. It seems parents are either very trusting of their children or of the general public or both and this is not something I would see in Perth. I consider Perth to be a safe city, however even so I dont think that people would be so trusting to let their children catch public transport in and out of the city each day without supervision. It will be interesting to go to other cities in Germany and see if this is the norm throughout the country, or if it just occurs in Stuttgart. In any case I think it is a good reflection of a society, as obviously many parents must consider Stuttgart a safe city and the people to be trustworthy.

This leads me to my second observation of Stuttgart: it seems to be a city stuck between a city and country way of life- it has aspects of rural life with its grapevines spread around the cities hillsides, but is also has aspects of other main cities with its great public transport system, many well know shops and fast food chains. In many ways Stuttgart is similar to Perth in that it is not a big city and that it has many of the same shops and brands throughout the city centre. It also has a smiliar feel to Perth in that I get the feeling if you lived here for a year or so you would often be running into people you know whenever you were in he city or to and from work. Or as so often happens in Perth, when you meet someone new they will most likely know someone you know.

So far I am still yet to see any major cultural differences, but it will be interesting to see how other cities in Germany are different/similar to Stuttgart.