Luzy Lieger ’23 began work as a student employee in the Center for International Education in summer 2021. As an international student, from Germany, Luzy has a unique perspective to offer when it comes to life in the US, in SC, and on campus at the College of Charleston. Recently she created the below list of things that have stuck out to her as different from her home country!

• It is airconditioned almost everywhere and sometimes very cold, so bringing an extra layer in the summer for the inside could be helpful
• You have to go up to the hostess in restaurants in order to be seated, do not seat yourself (e.g. in Germany you seat yourself)
• In southern states everyone starts a conversation with “How are you?”- they do not actually want to know how you are
• Almost everything has a drive through version, even banks
• Everything is Iced and you get free refills
• Portion sizes are much bigger here
• You want to tip your server well since they otherwise only get about $2-$3 hourly pay
• You pay almost everything with card
• Not all tap water is safe to drink
• There are drinking fountains for the public, where you can also refill bottles (you will see a lot of especially younger people walk around with their hydro flask)
• There is no real separation of trash, there mostly is only normal trash and recycling
• Public transportation is not necessarily on time (like it is in Germany for example)
• You do follow the speed limits but can also “go with the flow”
• It is different from city to city if crossing the street randomly is considered jaywalking