I think the last time it was my experience at the Europe, I spent time in Germany and I lived in Berlin. I think no one knows about Berlin, how it’s the crazy place and like unique sometimes. And for me, the major difference from my culture, for example, my hometown, that’s Kyrgyzstan, and I live here like all my life. I was at the shock how Berlin is weird. I mean all people here look sometimes so unusual for me because here in Kazakhstan you have some rules about your appearance. You don’t really have option to look like crazy weird but in Berlin that’s the basic things. And It was the first thing, so I was so surprised. Another was like, legalized in narcotics like here. You may have the biggest problem of your life if you smoke like some weed. But in Berlin, that’s the common thing. You may do this everywhere. You may do this like near your government or like the administration office. I don’t care. You may do this every time. I spent time with my best friend here because she lived at Berlin and now she understands every difference with our hometown and she showed me some crazy places here. I think for me the main example, what I remember, it was the first opinion about this place. When I only fly to meet my friend, I spent time in the train And I saw like maybe 10 homeless people in this homeless looks weird and was maybe a little bit aggressive for myself. And I realized like, oh my God, I think I want to come back at my hometown because here in Almaty you will never have so much homeless people and of course never aggressive. And I think another, it was like the smell of wheat everywhere. like humors, you may say that in the literal you are underground, you smell this weird things and for me it was like the significant level of craziness. I really like Berlin for the end, but that’s crazy.
Band 6+: Describe a time you experienced a cultural difference that surprised you. You should say: - Where you were - What the cultural difference was - Who you were with And explain why it surprised you.
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I think the last time I experienced a cultural difference was during my time in Europe. I spent time in Germany and lived in Berlin. I think no one knows how crazy and unique Berlin is sometimes. For me, the major difference from my culture, for example, my hometown, which is Kyrgyzstan, where I have lived all my life, was the shock of how weird Berlin is. I mean, all the people here sometimes look so unusual to me because in Kazakhstan, there are certain rules about appearance. You don't really have the option to look crazy or weird, but in Berlin, that's the basic thing. That was the first thing that surprised me. Another difference was the legalization of narcotics. Here, you may have the biggest problem of your life if you smoke weed, but in Berlin, that's a common thing. You can do this everywhere, even near government buildings or administration offices. I spent time with my best friend who lived in Berlin, and she understood every difference from our hometown and showed me some crazy places. I think the main example I remember was my first impression of this place. When I flew in to meet my friend, I spent time on the train and saw maybe ten homeless people. Their appearance was unusual and a little aggressive to me. I realized, oh my God, I think I want to go back to my hometown because here in Almaty, you would never see so many homeless people, and of course, they are never aggressive. Another thing was the smell of weed everywhere. You could say that in the underground, you smell these strange things, and for me, it was a significant level of craziness. I really like Berlin in the end, but it is crazy.
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Speaking Time: 119 seconds