Fast Food Philosophy

I’ve received a few comments/questions regarding the debut of my profile picture here on my blog. This is my response.

Yes. That is me diving into a delicious cheeseburger from McDonalds, here in Gießen. …ok, delicious might be debatable, but it satisfies my taste buds nonetheless.

Yes. Last semester, I made the effort to avoid McDonalds the entire time I was in Italy. And I succeeded.

But if there are two things Europeans know of America, they are McDonalds and Coca-Cola. …ok, and Bush. But for the most part, they know 70% of America is embarrassed to admit that third one. Regardless, he’s still led America to become fodder for foreigners’ jokes. ..Thanks Mr. President. Those jokes are about at funny as Hillary’s.

McDonalds is more imperialistic than Bush appears to be. It seems there’s a McDonalds in every single German town. And here in Gießen, it’s impossible to avoid. The McDonalds sits right at the intersection leading into the Innenstadt from the university’s side of town. That forces everyone to walk past it when they go out to the bars, or come back from the bars, or when they’re simply running downtown to do some shopping.

The picture comes from my second week here in Gießen. ....a week that caused my Facebook status, for which the general formula is: (name) is (fill in the blank), to read “Adam is a stereotype.”

In this week, I forced six cheeseburgers into my body, including four in one day. It was a Monday. Early in the afternoon, I was heading downtown to buy something – can’t remember what. It was somewhere around 2:30 or 3:00. At the unavoidable crossroads, I spotted the McDs and remembered I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. I was a little hungry, so I walked in, laid my €2 coin on the counter and walked away with two cheeseburgers.

That’s the problem. It’s just so easy. And it was the first place I came across. …and around bar-time, McDs is one of the only places open for food after 8pm. And most of the Döner places (the only other places open past 8pm) aren’t on the route to/from the bars.

So naturally when I was headed out later that evening to celebrate Happy Monday and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything since my 3pm burgers, I decided it was best to stop in and throw another €2 on the counter so I wasn’t drinking on an empty stomach.

Later that week, on Friday, McDs became a post-bar stop. And I once again gave in.

I’ve “only” had three burgers in the three (or four?) weeks since then. Still more than I normally eat at home. Though, that’s a little hard to judge, seeing as how I’ve only been home for 2 of the last 7 months.

But don’t worry about my German experience. I’ve eaten almost as much Schnitzel in the Mensa. Plus, in many ways, Germans are practically American anyway. …in some respects, maybe more than Americans themselves, if by definition that’s even possible.

And P.S. The film The Day After Tomorrow has the same English title in Germany, even though the title is translated in every other non-English speaking country. …I told you they’re practically Americans.

So for a true German experience, I'm heading to Norway for the weekend.