GREETINGS AND CULTURAL SHOCKS

✩Greetings✩

I had been warned beforehand about the way people greet others being slightly different from Spain. 

In Spain, when you are introduced to a family friend or a friend of a friend, you usually kiss eachother's cheeks, of course not during formal events like job interviews or others, in such cases, you usually shake hands.

But in Germany, the usual thing is shaking hands for greeting others, which has led to some awkard encounters when I didn't know at first how to present myself..

✩Other cultural shocks✩

I've also noticed, people in Spain are more open to touch and contact, here, it's more unusual to see people hugging or holding hands..

And there's definitely a big difference in the way German people speak to strangers or "authority figures", like teachers, officers... They use the "Sie" pronoun, which is like "usted" in Spanish.

Also, similar to the last one, students never use the first names of their teachers, always their surname, which is really strange for me.. still getting used to it!.