Before coming here in 2021, I heard many stories that all Germans are racist and not friendly to foreigners. I prepared my mind for the worst. But my experience has been very different. First, I became really good friends with my landlord to the point that he put me in charge of managing the house and I could rent on his behalf. Again, the academic programme I’m part of requires me to get work experience. Most people prefer to work at the university, but I wanted more, so I applied to various companies. Many of them rejected me. You need to get used to rejections here. When I heard from this particular consulting firm, I wrote back to insist I really liked them and would like to work with them. They interviewed me and offered me the internship position. They said my confidence impressed them. It was a mind-blowing breakthrough for me. I did not expect it. I worked there for two months, and they did not even want me to leave afterwards. Another thing I achieved here is being involved in politics. I was elected into the student parliament, which is awesome, and I’m an active member of a regional youth political party. One thing I can say is that so far, I have not experienced any direct form of discrimination. It is true that many people say they are being discriminated against, which I don’t doubt. But what I’ve noticed is that Germans tend to have historical guilt because of the Holocaust. There’s also the other extreme of people who are really angry more foreigners are coming in. The challenge is that some of the refugees don’t want to work because of the social support they are getting from the government, which is better for them compared to their homelands. This has led to the emergence of the right extremist party that plans to seize power and remigrate or deport foreigners. Everyday racism is people thinking every black person they see on the street is a refugee. They start looking at you funny. It can be tougher when you don’t speak the language. But if you confront them in German, they get scared. They know you can sue them, and you will win. When they see you understand their language and are educated, they will be really humble.
As narrated by: TOMIWA (GERMANY)
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