coincidentally, i live and work in Germany ;) immigrated from Croatia 2 years ago. and i agree, no doubt about it, the system is really functional here and provides a good safety net (although, welfare involves a bit of humiliation everywhere, the money is never just handed out...). from my kinda outsider perspective, Germans seem obsessed with doing the &quot;right&quot; thing. the word &quot;ordentlich&quot; came to mind ;) the culture is a bit conformist, not too much, but noticeably. so, many people play it safe, avoid going too far out on a limb. but i&#x27;m still processing the whole experience, and occasional culture shocks, so i don&#x27;t stand too firmly behind these impressions.