Alex is abroad in Munich, Germany, until August 2009.

With the election just around the corner, and all of the American students scrambling to find and send their absentee ballots, American politics is on everyone’s mind here — including the Germans. Although they have absolutely no influence in our electoral process, the Germans are just as passionate about our politics as any American I have met here (sometimes even more so).

Before I came to Europe, I knew that the Germans cared vaguely about American politics, so when I saw Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention flashing across the TVs in the airport when I stepped off of the plane, it wasn’t surprising. But now that I have been here for a while, I have noticed that it is not just the media’s constant coverage of our politics piquing an interest in the Germans, it is rather the media responding to an overwhelming interest of the people here.

I have briefly mentioned conversations that I have had with Germans about politics in some of my other blog entries, but I think that it is finally time to get down to the details of the stories. One of the first conversations that I had with a German about politics was with my neighbor, Zied, from Tunisia. One morning I sleepily dragged my feet into the kitchen, wearing my Obama hoodie and some shorts, and I ran into him. I said hello and reached for the fridge when he stopped and asked me about my sweatshirt, “You like Obama?” I answered with a hearty smile (as much as I could muster in the morning) and said, “of course.” His face lit up and he launched into a speech about how important it is for American’s to choose Obama because the rest of the world, including Germany, loves him. After assuring him that my absentee ballot was on the way he let me get back to scrambling my eggs.

A week or so later was when I ran into the Men from East and West Berlin I the Hofbrau House here in Munich. After an intense, and lengthy discussion about German politics over the past 50 years, they shifted the topic of conversation to American politics, and asked my friends and me for our opinions. I’m not sure if it was the fact that we had listened to them talk for 20 minutes, or we had just promised them our votes for Obama, but after that they bought us all a round of beer. On that same note, while at Oktoberfest, after having beer spilled on me by some Italians, I turned to the German table and started chatting with some middle aged guys. They were excited to meet not only an American that could speak German, but one that was studying in the area. After the standard introduction questions, one of them hesitantly asked me, “So… what do you think of the election?” to which I knowingly responded, “do you mean who am I going to vote for?” He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, I only had to say, “yes, Obama,” before a huge smile crossed his face and he said, “wonderful!” From that point onward he introduced me to all of his friends as “a real Munich student, voting for Obama!” They all, of course, had lots of questions about how the American system works, one of which was how a candidate could receive more votes, but not become president. Explaining the Electoral College in another language was one of the hardest things I have had to do (besides learning to cook).

Within my program, the leaders are usually up-to-date about American politics, which didn’t really strike me as out of the ordinary since most of them did major in American studies, and they hang around Americans all the time. But, when two of the professors turned to me at dinner in Berlin, and asked if I was watching the Vice Presidential debate that night, I was floored. They told me that they were getting up at 3 a.m. and watching Joe Biden face Sarah Palin on the small hostel television. Naturally, I agreed, and stumbled in after a night out at about 3:30 a.m. to find them already sitting in the common room. They were about three feet away from the TV, just like the puppies in 101 Dalmatians, and totally enthralled. As we sat and sleepily absorbed the candidates’ rhetoric, it was the two professors that cringed and yelled more than any of us American students.

This morning I woke up and watched the latest presidential debate online, and headed into the kitchen to make some toast. As I was waiting patiently for the toast to pop, sitting on the counter, my neighbor, Zied, walked into the kitchen. He had barely said good morning before he asked, “did you see the debate? What did Obama say?” He confessed that he had not gotten a chance to watch the latest one, but he had seen the first one (He speaks no English, so he must have found it translated somewhere. That’s dedication.). I gave him a little recap, and then he asked specifically about the financial crisis. Once again my breakfast turned into a time for toast, eggs, and political discussion.

By no means do I intend for this post to advocate everyone go out and vote for Obama, just because the Germans get pumped about him. I just wanted to pass on a little of this German passion for American politics to all of you, in the hopes that you have all registered to vote, and/or gotten your absentee ballots, because there are a lot of people that would love to be voting in this election.

Read Alex’s previous post | Meet the rest of our study abroad bloggers