What to wear in Germany

My mom asked if there is anything special she should know about how to dress for Germany. The answer is becoming more complicated.

Mary Ann’s mother, a native German, visited last week and told her that she feels out-of-place wearing shorts here sometimes. And looking around me at the library right now, I see about fifteen girls wearing mostly jeans, capris, and one skirt and one pair of shorts. It’s a little warm today, I think more American students would be wearing shorts.

Also, an American girl told me that she wore Birkenstock sandles to class and had more than two Germans point to her shoes and say “house shoes.” I will need to run this by Sabrina to confirm. That seems like a weird judgment to me considering that flip-flops (be they leather, foam, or whatever) are perfectly fine here, and about one-third of people around me are wearing them right now.

Another German confirms: pajama bottoms, the low point of American casualness on campus, are not acceptable here.