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...''