Our Collective sense of Geography

Germans don't know where Michigan is. But I won't criticize; could an American name a single state in Germany? Maybe Bavaria at the most.

But what do Americans and Germans know about their own states? Sadly also not much. Two anecdotes:

In my language school in Germany we learned well that there are 16 states (Bundesländer) in Germany. I can even name them all. I was at a wedding and mentioned this number to a German at some point. He countered, ''no, there are only 15.'' We argued fervently until I proved him wrong by naming them all. I was astounded--who doesn't know how many states are in his own country??

Well, besides the German journalist I met at this wedding, a certain US Soldier based in Heidelberg also had faulty knowledge of his own country. My friend Alicia overheard this US soldier raving to a tourist about Hawaii: our most beautiful territory, definitely worth a visit. Alicia corrected him, ''Acutally it's a state.''
''Well, it's not on the map, so it's not really a state, it's more like a territory, like Guam or the Virgin Islands,'' he countered.
Alicia: incredulous look.
Soldier conceded: ''Ok, I guess you could say it's one of the 52 States...''

Where are you from?

'Where are you from?''

To tell people that I'm from the United States is a little vague. They invariably ask ''which state?'' Germans aren't terribly familiar with the States, with a few exceptions: New York, California, Texas, Florida. The bigger problem is that I'm from two states, California and Michigan, and this turns out to be a hard concept for Germans to grasp.

A typical German does not move in his childhood. A typical German probably goes to Univerity in his hometown as well, or at least very close by. He may even live at home. I meet graduate students in Cologne who grew up here, studied here, and are now writing their dissertations here. This sort of homebodiness simply does not exist among academics in America.

I answer the question honestly: I'm from California and Michigan.

Next question: Where is Michigan? After we've established roughly that Michigan is somewhere in the North, neighbors Canada, has bad weather, and is near those big lakes, I launch into an uneccesary explanation of my childhood, my statehood, and my sense of belonging.

I was born in... I moved to... My parents live in... I studied in... I will start grad school in... I went to high school in... My extended family lives in...

Since Michigan means absolutely nothing to your average European, they then ask, ''Where in California?'' Usually I take the easy route and say simply: San Francisco. This isn't exactly true, but nobody in Germany has ever heard of the four towns in California I've actually lived in (five, if Berkeley and Oakland are counted separately).

I don't really have it so bad. I met an American who grew up as an Army brat, living in over 15 States in his life thus far. To an American he can say, ''I was an Army brat, I moved a lot.'' To a German this most likely won't make any sense; to a German he simply answers: Phillidelphia.