Learning Deutsche Bahn Etiquette

Today was my first time using public transit. I'm staying close to the Oranienburgerstraße S-Bahn stop which is where we got onto the system and we took it all the way out to Golm, which is west of Potsdam, which is southwest of Berlin.

So I learned that Budweiser is not an original beer. Shocked? Guffawed? Fall out of your chair? Well, get over it. The original (or one of the originals) comes from České Budějovice in the Czech Republic. It even has an official stamp signifying that it is a product which is representative of that city.

Do I find it surprising that America's "King of Beers" was ripped off from the Czech? Not at all. Do I see a remarkable similarity between the design of the official stamp and President Obama's campaign logo? Yup... 

I also learned that Americans are not the only ones to repeat themselves louder, faster, and more exasperated when what they are saying to someone who does not speak their language. Follow that? I was made aware of this on my first solo train ride back from Golm to Berlin. I got on the train and noticed how the seats were much nicer than the ones I sat on going to Golm. As I'm sitting there, everyone else is walking past me, giving me a weird look, and no one else is sitting down. I knew something was wrong and the ticket woman looked at my ticket and tried telling me something in German and I got nervous...very nervous.

Golm Deutsche Bahn train stop

Let me back up a bit. When you use the public transportation in Berlin, there are no turnstiles at the stations. You buy your ticket, validate it, and get on the train, which is easy enough. Because of this lack of pre-boarding security, though, the DB gets a lot of train hoppers who don't pay. Brian told me that sometimes two big guys wearing black will come through the train checking tickets and if you don't have one, they will make a scene and take you off the train at the next stop and give you a BIG ticket. Apparently it is a very embarrassing thing to have happen, not to mention you are then very very late.

So back to the train today. Naturally, I had no idea what she was trying to tell me and so I asked questions like, "Am I on the right train?" and "Is this train going to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof?" and "Is this the right ticket?" But she didn't understand me either and kept repeating herself faster and became exasperated when I didn't understand her! I was really worried that I was going to get in trouble, be taken off the train, and fined. I gave up, though, prepared myself for the punishment to come and just kept sitting there with a terrified look on my face. Luckily a guy then explained to me that I was in the First Class cabin and was not allowed to sit on the seats. So apparently anyone can stand in the First Class cabin but only paying customers may sit there. So the rest of the train ride into Berlin was that much more nerve-racking because I thought I might do something like that again and make another old woman upset.

I'm sure I'll make more mistakes, but how else do you learn how to fit in somewhere else if you don't make mistakes?