Potterunited

Quoted from "Serenissima"

Yes, Yale is in New Haven. Yale is a pretty cool place, nice bars and cafés all around but New Haven itself is not such a nice place. Since the crisis hit the states there are a lot of empty houses there and lots of unemployment...So you better park your car on campus. Safer that way.

Nice places you've been to. I also visited the Grand Canyon while I was in Vegas. But it was sooo hot. I'll never go there in august again. But the best experience was riding the roller coaster (well, kind of roller coaster) on top of the stratosphere tower. It takes you over the rim and you just hang there in the air, 350m over the ground. Adrenaline rush guaranteed!
Florida sounds great. Never been there but all the stories I've heard about it. Must be a gorgeous place. I'm planning a road trip with a friend this summer. 3 weeks on the road, from atlanta all the way up and down again.

Haha, no I don't have a Jersey license. I never really thought about getting one and no one really asked me about it. I got pulled over just once and they didn't really care if my license was German or not. My friend got one, though. Pretty easy to get. You didn't even have to take a real driving test. Only needed to read the manual and do some multiple choice questions on a touch-screen. Done! I have a friend from Alabama and his license is...well...pretty awesome. He has the weirdest picture ever.

Sorry I haven't replied up to now....
I also went to Nevada in August it was like...unbelievable hot. But they offered "Ice Cold Dollar-Water" for $1 on every corner "
I've also been to the top of the stratosphere tower but I only went there to enjoy the view....I hate roller coasters.

Yeah, licenses are easy to get, but only if you have a visa.....It was illegal by the way, to not get a license in NJ. You have to if you stay longer thant 6 months....but actually nobody will ever find out.
In Florida you can get your learner's permit at age 15 (w/o a driving test, btw you'll simply have to take a multiple choice test ) and when I went to Florida and I was 15, it really sucked to know that 15 year olds in FL were allowed to drive and I wasn't. I had to wait another two years. And what did you get pulled over for?
What I like so much about American licenses is that they represent your state. In general not only with licenses everybody can identifiy so much with their state and that's really cool..
it's not that way in Germany.
But right now I'm glad it's not that way here because I - let's say - hate the federal state I'm living in. I'm an "unwillingly relocated teenager"

Talking about identifying with your state....
What's your opinion towards the patriotism in the U.S.?

I kind of adore them for their patriotism.
Even like the British people.

I find it really sad, that the germans are afraid of being proud on their country...
I mean. Germany is also beautiful.

My opinion is actually very close to yours.

Our country does have a let's call it bad history but so does America. (I admit...ours is worse but America also did things that they're not proud of)
And yet every American is proud of their nation, many people run up flags in front of their house, it's hard to find a single place in the US without the star spangled banner and I don't blame them.

When we hosted the world cup 6 years ago many people would run up German flags or put them on their cars. And I've heard people say that they thought that was "disgusting" or "horrible". But that's what the Germans said. The Americans or other people wouldn't give a damn if they saw German flags all over German cities. I think they are probably rather wondering why there is almost not a single German flag in the downtown areas of our cities. (Maybe there is at the town hall but that's it)

And the American patriotism is kind of infectious. I own a US flag by myself and a flag of the state of Florida...because it's nice to identify with the country/state I've spend my holidays in ever since I was a small child.

American patriotism is a pretty weird thing for me. I really didn't mind it when I was staying there for only two weeks. I really didn't care at all.
After a year, however, things changed a little. For me, it became somehow too much. In Highschool for example, they have the flag ceremony where the flag is hoist up in front of the school while the national anthem is playing all over the school. Then there's home room where you watch commercials for the army and do the pledge on the flag. It's the same at college sometimes. That's incredibly annoying and a little crazy. My cousin is born in the states and since she lives in Germany she has to do the pledge on the constitution every other year. It was quite hard at the time she couldn't read since she's only 11 now.

British patriotism is, on the other hand, something completely different. Most people from the UK are actually not proud of being British but of being either Welsh, English, Scottish or from Ulster. Sometimes even very proud of the city they come from. Totally fine with me. And fortunately, the patriotism is taken rather sarcastically and refers to more than the country and its glorious deeds like it does in the US.

I'm not a patriot since I don't believe in patriotism in general. I believe in being proud to be German. I'm very proud to live in a country that had so many great artists and intellectuals. I'm proud of how beautiful the country is and the area I live in but I would never call myself patriotic.

Oh and Fabi, I know that not having a Jersey license was illegal but no one could prove how long I've been driving the car and no one actually cares since I do have a driver's license. And I got pulled over for speeding what I, or better my friend since she was driving, didn't do. Soemtimes the police just gets a little bored and so they pull someone over for random reasons. After five minutes the business was settled and we drove on.

Yeah, maybe their patriotism goes a little too far sometimes.
When are these flag ceremonies held in school? I think it's ok if they played the national anthem let's say at the end and the beginning of the school year. It might just look weird for us, because we're not used to it, but that's just the way the Americans live and as long as they do that in their own country, that's perfectly fine with me.

But I've to admit that their patriotism sometimes is too arrogant.
I once read in a magazine with the headline "10 years after 9/11 - How America has changed" and there were those letters to the editor. And the people said things like:
"On that day I realized that America is not invincible, which is a scary feeling"

And that's what many people in the U.S. thought or still think that the world does revolve around America.

Quoted from "Serenissima"

My cousin is born in the states and since she lives in Germany she has to do the pledge on the constitution every other year. It was quite hard at the time she couldn't read since she's only 11 now.

Can you explain that a little more detailed? Why and where does she have to do that?
I mean what are they supposed to do if she doesn't pledge on the consitution?
I assume it's not that easy to remove U.S. citizenship from a natural born.

Quoted from "Serenissima"

And I got pulled over for speeding what I, or better my friend since she was driving, didn't do. Soemtimes the police just gets a little bored and so they pull someone over for random reasons. After five minutes the business was settled and we drove on.

So you got pulled over for speeding although you stayed just fine within the speed limit? Okay, that's weird.

Quoted from "Fabi"

Yeah, maybe their patriotism goes a little too far sometimes.
When are these flag ceremonies held in school? I think it's ok if they played the national anthem let's say at the end and the beginning of the school year. It might just look weird for us, because we're not used to it, but that's just the way the Americans live and as long as they do that in their own country, that's perfectly fine with me.

The flag ceremony (+anthem) and the home room procedure is held every morning before lessons start, so every student has to attend it. The national anthem is, as you probably know, also played at all sports events in school and outside school. So, it's always a lot of anthem.

Quoted from "Fabi"

Can you explain that a little more detailed? Why and where does she have to do that?
I mean what are they supposed to do if she doesn't pledge on the consitution?
I assume it's not that easy to remove U.S. citizenship from a natural born.

She is now living in Germany and to keep the American citizenship she has to go to the American embassy once a year and has to do the pledge on the constitution. Other than that, she has to visit the States at least every 24 months if I remember right.

Quoted from "Fabi"

So you got pulled over for speeding although you stayed just fine within the speed limit? Okay, that's weird.

Yup, we were all within the speed limit and still got pulled over. Happens.

Quoted from "Serenissima"

The flag ceremony (+anthem) and the home room procedure is held every morning before lessons start, so every student has to attend it. The national anthem is, as you probably know, also played at all sports events in school and outside school. So, it's always a lot of anthem.

Every day? Ok, that's a little too much, I think.
Does that happen at every school? Because I've never heard of this being carried out so frequently.

But for sports events it's ok to play the anthem, in my opinion. They also do that in Germany sometimes even if both teams are German.

Quoted from "Serenissima"

She is now living in Germany and to keep the American citizenship she has to go to the American embassy once a year and has to do the pledge on the constitution. Other than that, she has to visit the States at least every 24 months if I remember right.

Are you really sure about that?
I don't know about the pledge, but I cannot imagine that you have to enter the U.S. every 24 months if you are a natural-born citizen of the United States. I know that people with greencards have to face problems like that. If they stay outside the U.S. for more than 6 months, immigration authorities will keep an eye on them and if they do that again they might loose the greencard because they don't live in the United States (anymore).
But natural-born citizens? I can't imagine that.
A friend of mine was born in Florida to German parents and is now living in Germany. I haven't asked him in detail about something like a pledge on the constitution. But we talked about his dual citizenship, e.g. that he would have to give up German citizenship (at least temporally) if he joined the U.S. army. I think he would have told me if he had to see somebody at the embassy every other year to pledge on the consitution.

I've tried to get some information out of Google. I didn't get anything regarding the pledge but I've learned that there are only a few reasons to remove citizenship from a natural-born: if the person is naturalized in a foreign country or if the person takes an oath of allegiance to a foreign country.

Quoted from "Fabi"

Every day? Ok, that's a little too much, I think.
Does that happen at every school? Because I've never heard of this being carried out so frequently.

Quoted from "Fabi"

But for sports events it's ok to play the anthem, in my opinion. They also do that in Germany sometimes even if both teams are German.

All schools (kindergarten, primary/middle/high school) I ever visited had the same procedure. They do not sing the anthem of course but the anthem exists. Same goes for alot of summer camps. There you have the flag procedure and sometimes the pledge too. That is definitely way too much for me. I'm fine with sports events as well, though.

Quoted from "Fabi"

Are you really sure about that?
I don't know about the pledge, but I cannot imagine that you have to enter the U.S. every 24 months if you are a natural-born citizen of the United States. I know that people with greencards have to face problems like that. If they stay outside the U.S. for more than 6 months, immigration authorities will keep an eye on them and if they do that again they might loose the greencard because they don't live in the United States (anymore).
But natural-born citizens? I can't imagine that.
A friend of mine was born in Florida to German parents and is now living in Germany. I haven't asked him in detail about something like a pledge on the constitution. But we talked about his dual citizenship, e.g. that he would have to give up German citizenship (at least temporally) if he joined the U.S. army. I think he would have told me if he had to see somebody at the embassy every other year to pledge on the consitution.

She's only born there but never really lived there. They moved back to Germany when she was about 8 months old. Maybe, that wasn't long enough to live there and so her passport is more like a greencard? Since she is only 11 now, she does not have a double citizenship but only the American. She will give that one up, though, I think. She doesn't like the English language nor does she like America very much.

Normally you are a natural-born U.S. citizen for your whole life if you were born on U.S. territory.
There is acutally people who intentionally deliver their babies in the U.S. so that they would be able to get a residence permit for themselves and better chances for the kid with U.S. citizenship.^^

Oh, I thought her parents were German so she would also have a German passport.

Well citizenships are complex I told you they way I thought it worked but it could just as well be totally differnt.