Discussion About Communities

First of all, there are two different ways to define a community. A community can be a group of some people, which are living together in a house, apartment or anywhere else. This type is called "community of nuns" because you always try to help each other and live together in freedom. The second form is the so called "local community", where people live together in a specific area or place like a city, state or country. Communities often contain the same cultural and historical heritage, have similar social, religious or occupational interests, and/or share common characteristics.

 

All of us live in different communities at the same time. For example, I do not only live on campus in an apartment with three roommates, I also live with together with my boyfriend because I sometimes stay in my dorm and sometimes I am at the apartment of my boyfriend. Additionally, I live with my parents over the summer, when I am at home in Germany. These three communities are almost the same because they all belong to the same group ("community of nuns"). I try to live with my friends and family the whole year and I always have to make compromises, but I also have to right to say something if I do not want to live like that or if anything is going on my nerves as well as they are allowed, too. It is really good that I am living with some of my teammates in the apartment on campus because we have similar interests and we are all on scholarship, so that nobody has to be jealous. Living with my family or my boyfriend is good too because I love them and I want to live with them. We share common characteristics because I learned to live from my parents and I would not be with my boyfriend if we would not have anything in common.

Nevertheless, they are somehow different, too. I am more critical with my boyfriend than my parents or my teammates, but I do not care that much about housework when I am with my parents, instead of being with my boyfriend or teammates. All people are different and I do not act in the same way with all people because treating everyone the same is not the right thing to do. And of course, I do not want to share everything about me with my teammates, but my boyfriend receives the right about more privacy and my parents know me my whole live, what is something different, too.

 

            Furthermore, I am in some smaller local communities, such as my university and my sports team. Actually my team belongs to my university, but I am also practicing in a sports club in my home country, which is completely different. Over all, in both teams and in classes at colleges, I do always the same; I am learning. The difference is that I am learning mentally when I am in one of my courses, and I am learning physically when I am practicing with my team, but both are for my future. Also, the motivation of the people around me is different; most people at college are there because the somehow have too, but at practice we all are learning for the same goal, to become the best in our discipline. These are groups, which I have to deal with for a certain amount of hours every day and I am doing it because I like it, it makes me happy.

 

            Third, I am living in two different countries every year. Most of the time, I am here in America because I am studying here and I am a student-athlete, but over the summer, when we do not have any competitions here, I am going home because the outdoor season in Germany  just started a few weeks ago then. People would say different countries different morals/conventions and that is true. The first time I came here I missed the German food really bad, but I am getting more and more used to it. The difference is humongous, not only that we can buy different things, but also our eating habits are not equal. Chips, for instance, do not belong to a normal meal in Germany. The next big difference is that we work normally only five days a week; some people might work six days, but not all. We cannot go shopping on Sundays because the shops are closed, and the opening times on Saturday are shorter than from Monday to Friday; however; if you are used to it you do not think this is strange like you might think now.

The most common thing between Germany and America is, like for every country, we all try to live the best way we can or as we are shown. Germans complain about their president as well as Americans do, just about some different things.

 

To summarize, communities are different for all people because my teammates might look in a different way at our living community than I do, but still they try to live without fights. Therefore, communities are also the same because a community is always built up of people, which share some interests, beliefs or characteristics. There is no day when we are not a part of a community because also living alone in an apartment means that this person is living within a certain area, which is a community.