German Pride

I always heard stories about how soccer is loved by the Europeans, but I never fully understood this until this past week. Right now the Euro 2012 Soccer Tournament is being held in Poland and Ukraine, which is a final soccer tournament that occurs every 4 years. The tournament features 16 nations out of 51 that qualified between August 2010 and November 2011. The winner of this tournament gains automatic entry into the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

One of the 16 teams in this tournament is none other than GERMANY and because of this it is pure madness here in Berlin. I do not think I have ever seen a country with more pride in themselves than I have seen here. It is honestly an amazing site. Almost every car has at least one German flag on it and a lot of cars also have flag coverings on their side door mirrors. Then, when it is game day, everyone is wearing black, yellow, and red, which are the German flag colors.

To watch the German games they have put up a huge screen in front of the Brandenburg Gate so that a mass amount of people can gather here, watch, and celebrate the wins. However, if you do not make it to the Brandenburg Gate to watch I can ensure you that every bar, café, beer garden and restaurant has multiple TV’s set up so people can gather there and watch.

That is exactly what my host sister, her friends, and I did yesterday. We went to a local café, sat outside, and watched the game. Everyone their was representing Germany whether by wearing a jersey, a scarf, sporting a flag, or just simply having black, red, and yellow painted on their face. I personally am not that big of a fan of soccer, but just being in an environment where everyone is so proud of their team and is into the game you cant help but to get into it as well… especially when we win, which is exactly what happened last night. We ended up defeated the Netherlands 2-1, which is now our second win and we are undefeated. I love every time that we score because instantly everyone is jumping out of their seats cheering, high fiving, hugging, kissing, you name it. Everyone is just so happy. Then when we win it is even crazier. People are just running down the streets yelling about it, people are setting off fireworks, people are throwing others up in the air, and then everyone just parties the night away no matter what day it is. When we won yesterday I rode on the back of my friends moped thing holding the German flag and let it blow in the wind. I don’t know, I cannot even really explain it. It is just such a fun, exciting environment.

The next game is on Sunday and my friends and I all have made plans for game, which is crazy because we never makes plans beforehand…. That is how you really know how important and fun these games are. You have to drop everything you do and support your team…. Go Germany!!!!