I was ready for the language barrier, the potential of food I wouldn't like, the jet-lag, the culture shock. But when I opened up my laptop and logged into Netflix for the first time in a different country, I was not ready to frantically search for Parks and Recreation, only to find that I would have to wait until May to finish the last season. Sure, they have Brooklyn 99, but it's just not the same.
They may not have all of my favorite shows and movies, but Netflix in Germany is still pretty great. They have way more animated films, and everything has the option of German audio--perfect for someone who has seen Rise of the Guardians five times and is trying to learn German. Almost anything you want has the actor's speaking German and mouthing English (although their best matching them up), which makes sense, because, according to Wikipedia, 'Germany has the most foreign-movie-dubbing studios per capita and per given area in the world.*" I've been torn a lot these first couple weeks between watching Netflix's new series "Scream," or seeing how the Germans voice Bugs Bunny in "Space Jam." That's right, we have "Space Jam." And "Shrek." Top that, America.
My friend Savannah told me that it's nice to have music you're used to when you leave home, and I was warned before I left by my RA that Germany doesn't have Pandora, but I still didn't prepare for the emotional trauma when I tried to play my oldies station only to be told that Pandora is not available in my country. I thought I could get by with just listening to podcasts, but it turns out sometimes I want to listen to music while cleaning my room or hanging out along. So I began looking for different options. I didn't want to pay for Spotify, and I couldn't understand all of the German on the page, so it had to go. There are some German sites, like Aupeo and 6 Seconds, but I just don't understand the layout and I am too impatient to learn. So I've been looking up playlists on YouTube of oldies (one of my faves here), but that gets real old if I want to do anything else on my phone. It's been a real struggle, especially since the copyright laws are really strict here, and if I were to rip something from YouTube, I could get hit with a huge fine.
It's been a struggle these past couple weeks, but somehow I've managed to keep my head up through it all. I just thank God I have other apps like Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to keep me sane through these rough times.
