By Alice Laubach
Expectations: I was really looking forward to returning to Germany. I had lived there for 1 year from 2005-2006 and worked as an Au Pair Maedchen. I had expected to find Germany somewhat the same as before I left, however, so far, it has appears to have changed significantly.

 I had lived in Cologne, which is north of Munich. I always thought that part of what was unique about Cologne and other German cities I visited, was that Germany appeared to be fairly homgenious. The exeption was that there were a lot of Turkish immigrants who worked in the stores and shops around town. When I arrived in Munich, I had expected to see a similar demographic make up even though I knew that there had been a large influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. While I had lived in Cologne, I had always noticed some tension between the native German population and the Turkish population. I had witnessed a physical altercation on a moving train, and had seen cat-calling and racist slurs hurled back and forth in the street. I had expected to experience some of that while walking and riding around Munich as well. So far, on day 4 of this 10 day program, I have seen many significant changes. As I continue with my NGO and with the lectures, I hope that the changes I have witnessed,will continue to be positive.  I will continue to observe the cities demographic make-up and ability to interact with one another as I move into the middle of this experience!

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