Cultural Differences between Vigo and Hamburg

-from the German perspective-

During our stay in Vigo, we had the opportunity to get to know a very different lifestyle.

That was due to the many cultural differences there are between us northern Germans and the Galician people.

The first example would be that the Galicians are far more relaxed.

Like seriously, Germans tend to be so punctual and so exact with everything (well most of them), so it’s a relief to get to know the much more loose lifestyle of Vigo and its surroundings, where you don´t necessarily make a big deal about the 30 cents that your friend still owes you and it´s not tragic if you´re a few minutes late (I quite like that actually).

On the other hand of course there are some people that take that a bit too far and sometimes you have to wait up to an hour until your friends arrive to the meeting place.

They might however bring a few people with them, that you don´t know. But since you´re in Vigo, that’s okay, since Galicians are far more open.

They are way better than most Germans at befriending people fast, as people are much more connected in Spain, however if you are not a close friend you might get also unfriended real quick if there's a good reason for that.

After all, in Vigo they have quite a bit more of a taste for drama than we have here, probably because Spanish tend to be more emotional and more impulsive.

 Memories

They always say that Germans are pretty organized. While this might not be quite completely true in my case or in the case of some people I know, but on the overall I can say, that this statement is quite accurate. At least that’s something that Germans probably have on top of the Spanish, as the organization is a bit more chaotic from time to time.

But in general that was nothing to really complain about.

Another interesting aspect that is linked to the geographical position of the two countries is that in Vigo the day starts later and ends later. For example is it perfectly normal for them to have dinner at 10 o´Clock and they get up at around 8 o´Clock on school days.

This is probably due to the fact that suns stays until later in Spain than it does here in Germany, or maybe it´s just a cultural thing.

I however felt terribly sorry for our exchange partners from Vigo when they had to get up at around 6 o´Clock here in Germany.

I´m sorry but I don’t make the rules.

Text by Andreas Schneider