I met up with Sophia, a mutual friend who lives in Berlin. We gathered at the apartment of her friend, also named Sophia, to watch the Germany vs. Costa Rica world cup game.
If Germany tied or lost, they'd be eliminated from contention, so room's mood was tense. But that was nothing compared to the tension that filled the room when I answered a simple question...
"What do you think of Megan Markle". "I think it's horrible that she'd disrespect the royal family by leaving" I jokingly said before adding "no, I think she's great. She can do what she wants, of course."
Turns out, I should've stuck with the joke answer. "She's a crazy bitch" and "she's a social climber" and "she's manipulative and just uses the racism card or sexism card" and "the British royal family is an important cultural institution that she doesn't understand" rang out. Uh oh.
We ended up having a really nice discussion and they taught me a lot about the European perspective on Megan. Ultimately, I said most Americans just don't care about the British royal family too much. Don't just take my word for it–here's my friend (and a real-life teacher), Erin, using vital class time to ask her elementary schoolers though-provoking questions and gather some data about Megan:
During my trip to the bathroom, I spotted a shrine dedicated to the similarly named Angela Merkel. I couldn't tell if this meant they liked her or not, and after the Megan debacle, I sure as hell was not going to ask.
Also, some of the friends were pronouncing words like "psychology" by saying the p-sound at the front, rather than a silent p. It was amazing. Here you go:
