After spending quite a bit of time living in Germany and interacting with Germans, I think I've done a reasonably good job of learning about the culture and taking part in it whenever possible.
I open my windows occasionally to let fresh air in alright, it does get a little stuffy if you don't But, there has been one major omission on my German culture resume -- I had never been to a German soccer game before. My boyfriend Sven has promised me for a while now that he would take to me a game, and this past Saturday he finally made good on his promise, taking me to see Hannover face off against Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg. For those not in the know when it comes to German soccer, a quick primer is that the national league is called the Bundesliga.
The league is broken into levels, with the first three leagues being considered professional. Wolfsburg is a town located in Niedersachsen Lower Saxony about an hour and 45 minutes from where Sven lives. Hannover is located in the same state, only about an hour away, so they are generally considered to be Wolfsburg's main rival the other would be Braunschweig, which is located even closer to Wolfsburg, but they only just moved back up to the first league for the first time in nearly 30 years this year.
We set out for Wolfsburg late in the morning on Saturday, with Sven's friend Markus driving us. The game didn't start until p. Beyond wanting to experience a major tenet of German culture, I was also interested in going to a soccer game to compare it to my experiences at American sporting events, since we tend to take pride in the quality of our sports.
My first big shock upon arriving at the stadium was how stupidly easy parking was. Granted, we got there early enough that parking shouldn't have been a huge issue, but there was a main lot about a five minute walk from the stadium that was completely free to get into.
