Cultural Experiences. Brummies and the Bavarians.

I am from the middle of nowhere. Imagine a tiny country village with houses, cows and a bus stop with a bus that comes every hour. Then imagine that but more remote, and that is South Horrington. Yep google it, it’s just houses. Culture to me was any big city, some new people and a place to broaden my horizons. It seemed so far away, so much further than the local bus could take me.

South Horrington on a clear spring day. 

When I was 19 I decided to study in Birmingham. Now google that. It’s a buzzing metropolis, a vibrant city awake with different nationalities and exciting people that filled my teenage heart with joy. Birmingham and the Brummies have a slightly bad reputation in England, voted the least attractive accent and home to the ugliest roundabout in the world – people from South Horrington asked me why I wanted to live there. Culture drew me to Bham, and it has kept me there, I can’t see myself leaving my little slice of England when I am older.

I maybe haven’t enjoyed the most refined or impressive cultural experiences there, such as the ballet or the opera… But to me culture comes from getting to know a city, conversations with strangers on the bus, discovering the customs and behaviour of locals – the art of people and to some extent the art of communication with these people. Where better to do that in England, than the pub.

To the English amongst us Wetherspoons is a name that brings many cultural connotations. It is a chain of pubs that cover the whole of England, there are 900 Wetherspoons pubs in the UK and it is a place that will show you true English culture. They offer discount drinks and cheap food, and the company is always interesting. Families with children, elderly couples, partying teenagers and the old man propping up the bar with a pint of ale – a cross section of society for sure.

Brad enjoying a £6.99 Christmas themed pizza in Wetherspoons.

A cultural experience that comes to mind when I think of England, happened in a Wetherspoons in Birmingham. It begins how my boyfriend, Brad, and I usually spend our evenings – sat secretly spying on nearby tables. The pub was packed and noise echoed across all the walls, and the interesting carpet choice. A couple enjoying a date over a £5.99 bottle of wine, a group of young guys munching on burgers while scrolling through Instagram and an elderly couple enjoying their 99p coffees – the man was wearing a t-shirt upon it said “Still Hate Thatcher”. (Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the UK from 1979-1990 and is not widely liked in the North of England, the less said about her the better).

You could see windows into people’s lives as they all came together here, all their cultures became one culture within Wetherspoons. Little bubbles of conversation flowed around us, and we sat amongst everyone’s daily lives absorbing the atmosphere. I turned to Brad and said: “isn’t this just the picture of England? Wetherspoons IS England really when you think about it.”

This bring me right back to the last week in September when Brad turned to me and said “isn’t this just like Wetherspoons? Oktoberfest IS just like Wetherspoons when you really think about it.” We were stood on the benches in the Hofbrauhaus tent, surrounded in a sea of people screaming to Sweet Caroline.

You can start to see the similarities between English and German culture…

I looked around, stein in hand, and saw couples embracing, families in other sections enjoying roast chickens and then looked around my table of new found Erasmus friends. People coming together to enjoy beer, friends, good company and hours and hours of conversation and singing. It was a very international affair, yet I could feel everyone united under the fun of the Munich tradition of Oktoberfest. I felt like I was finally getting to know these Germans, shy they are not – give them a stein and pretzel and make conversation with them and you can truly get to know someone and their culture. People tap you on the shoulder and want to know you story, they want to get to know where you have come from and what has led you to be here. In Wetherspoons, it is the same.

One difference, and one lessons us Brummies can learn from Bavarians is how proud they are of their culture. Every German I spoke to, loves Munich, loves Germany and wants you to feel the same. The emotion and love for their culture and home is admirable and impressive. The amount of people that gave me recommendations for day trips, wished me luck on my study abroad or just wanted to know my name was so welcoming – it really made me feel a part of their culture.  

Oktoberfest is a glimmer into German Culture, just like Wetherspoons is in England. It may not be of the same intellectual stature as a trip to the theatre of enjoying a philosophical museum trip – but it sure teachers you more about the people and maybe too much about the drinking culture…

Prost and Cheers!