Any German natives or frequent travelers to Germany?

I was reading some message boards on what life is like in Germany - specifically threads with titles like "Why are Germans so rude?". Well I was in Germany for a week, and I would say that I did not consider people in Germany rude or cold. Granted, I did not know hardly any German, which I'm in the process of correcting now, and everyone seemed to be quite tolerable. One of the things that I found interesting was that the people complaining about German coldness and rude behavior basically described them as : not smiling, too formal, definitely treated strangers as strangers, etc. And of course there was some accusations of Germans being racist, elitist, etc. But as I read through these forums, I saw some other stereotypes in the thread too - along with some responses from German natives. People from the U.S. are generally thought of as having insincere friendliness and too eager to treat strangers as long lost friends (maybe the perception is lack of boundaries??). What I found interesting is that I definitely know that this stereotype of Americans is not true universally. As an American walking around my own country, I've been accused of looking "too serious", looking like I'm not approachable, cold, and not being too chummy with strangers. Don't get me wrong, I can be quite social, chatty and engaging when I want to with perfect strangers. However, I have to make the conscious decision to act this way and my natural instinct is to treat strangers like they are strangers. The irony of this was that I was talking to some Germans at the hotel I was staying at, and because of my surname and the way I was in public - they thought I was a German. Of course I dispelled that myth as soon as I opened my mouth to speak...:rofl: Out of curiosity, does anyone who lives in Germany or have experience with visiting Germany have any thing to add about their experiences in the country? Maybe its my cultural heritage, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Germany.

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