German Girl in America - YouTube Videos about US-German Differences

2020 is just halfway done – but if I was to choose a German person of the year, regardless whether it is politics, entertainment or whatever background, I have two people on my list, who massively grew in my attention and sympathy. One of them is German fitness vlogger Pamela Reif, whose authentic channel nearly exploded in the previous months regarding the number of followers and media attention. As my close-to-150kg body does not allow me to give sophisticated thoughts on fitness, I skip her.

The other person is Felicia Hofner, a mid-20’s girl, who is originally from Munich, Germany, but now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. You don’t know her? Maybe you know her YouTube channel, German Girl in America. I started following her around March (2020!!), when she just released her 20k subscriber video. I hoped to get this posting done before Feli reaches the 100k follower milestone – but she and her team were just too quick: on the evening of 6th August 2020, they were able to celebrate this amazing success. It is the first time I present a YouTube channel – but I felt that in a time in which we cannot exchange by travelling, these online services are extremely valuable.

Rebranding – Feli from Germany

In mid 2021, Felicia was forced to rebrand her channels to Feli from Germany. The rationale was a trademark / copyright dispute with another US-German social media content creator. Some background to that in this video:

Who Is “German Girl in America”?

As Munich and Cincinnati are sister cities, Felicia already visited the Ohio city as part of a pupil exchange in teenage years. She happened to come back as an exchange student of the LMU University, Munich. Also due to relationship reasons, she came back to the city as part of an internship. She opened her YouTube channel as she was following US-German difference videos from a US perspective mostly in early 2018. But finally, I just give you her introduction video.

What Is special about “German Girl in America”?

I am sure that there are many channels like hers out there in the world of YouTube – and yes, of course I tried a couple of other ones. I, however, feel that this channel is simply outstanding (and this is also why I want to share it with you). The key reasons to me, are

They are very professionally done. You already see that in the introduction video. This does not only include technical setups, but Feli’s English skills and way of presenting is very helpful to present the topics.
The are very well researched and based on facts. Of course, Feli does have preferences, sometimes on German life, sometimes on American one. But she tries to present them as neutral and as balanced as possible. She tries to research reasons and give background information as well instead of just sharing own experience, which in some channels even feel like a prejudice. And she is rarely blaming or shaming anyone.
Finally, I guess she is just the daughter-in-law everybody dreamed of. Smart, beautiful, charming, self-confident (at least in her videos) – it would be wrong not to mention that as well, that is just how society today works, especially in social media.

German Girl in America – My Favorite Episodes

In general, I enjoy the episodes, for which Feli did a lot of research and gives background information. I just felt to give you a nice selection of her videos. However, three of the videos below are in the Top 4 of her most frequently viewed publication. The – by far – most viewed video is a reaction video on a video about living in Germany (1.5m views currently), which I feel is done very well, but not too characteristic for her contents.

100k Subscribers Q&A

I felt to start with this one – just because it has some interesting questions, but majorly as you also get some views of Cincinnati. Finally, of course, I hope to have my posting published before Feli is doing the 100k – and I was too late…

20 English Words Germany Use Wrong

There are again and again videos about linguistic issues (also about English speakers’ problems in Germany). This one is just quite entertaining – hope you like it.

Random Differences – Declawing Cats

German Girl in America recently did a series of random differences between the US and Germany. Other topics are different toilets or ice cream – but this one about the declawing of cats may be the most shocking one.

Sex Education USA vs. Germany

This video was one of the most impressive ones I saw in Feli’s contents. It represents the large cultural and moral differences in this topic between the two countries. To me, it is shocking (but likely, German sex education may feel strange to US people as well).

Dating Differences

Less serious and thus more entertaining is Felicia’s video about different dating habits in the US and Germany. I don’t want to spoiler too much about the contents, but it is simply amazing how different traditions could be.

… And then There is Josh

Especially German subscribers of her channel love Josh. Josh is a friend of Feli, who is born and grew up in the United. Despite comparably short stays in Germany, he is so fascinating as he practically speaks German without an accent. There are more episodes with Feli and Josh – and they are working on a podcast concept.

Title picture: YouTube account page screenshot

Understanding Train Station – A Podcast by Feli and Josh

After I wrote this posting, Feli and Josh launched a podcast called Understanding Train Station. I reviewed some episodes in this January 2021 posting:

Understanding Train Station – A Podcast on Living Abroad and Cultural Differences

All “classic” blog posts

No reviews – just debating and certain topics – these are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging: