Going through Germany as a person of color can be a very different experience than as a white person. As a white person myself, I sometimes forget how easy it is for me to blend in with the predominantly white town of Trier. I will try to explain what I mean by sharing a couple of stories.
The first story is about one of my friends from college who’s originally from China. When this person came to visit, one of the first things she asked upon arriving in Germany was, “Why is everybody staring at me?” I had to expain that some people in Trier have never visited other countries, and spend most of their time around people who look exactly like them. So when they see someone who looks even a little bit different, they tend to stare. Even if they weren’t trying to be rude, these little things can definitely make someone feel like an outsider.
My second story concerns one of my closest friends living here in Trier. She is a girl from Jordan, who speaks perfect German and is studying to become a German teacher.
