Hey everyone, Dana here!
Wait, where exactly is “here”?
Munich, Germany. But I didn't always live in Munich.
Before moving to Europe, I lived in South Florida.
So if this red ball were Earth, South Florida would be about here,
more towards the equator, and Germany would be about here, so if compared
to Florida, more towards the North Pole.
Florida, Germany.
But what does that mean for me?
Well, for one, bye bye shorts in November.
Bye bye super intense thunderstorms very often in summer. Bye bye palm trees all year round.
And hello very thick jackets for winter.
But I was more or less expecting all of these things.
But there is at least one geography-related thing that not only surprised me at the beginning,
but rather that still shocks me once again every year.
OMG. Stefan what time is it? - It's 5:30 - WHAT?!
Why am I awake right now? It’s too early. It's really too bright. Why am I awake so early now?
OK, it's not like I didn't learn about this in school. I did.
I learned at school that the closer you are to the poles, the more the amount of daylight
you get in your location fluctuates throughout the year.
And when I was 14 I flew to Alaska during the summer and witnessed
a very, very, very dramatic version of this myself where it was light 24 hours a day.
Nonetheless, when I moved to Europe, first to Prague and then to Munich,
I was super shocked when it was the end of May, and seemingly suddenly
it was as sunny at 5 a.m. as it normally was at 8 a.m.
Why am I awake right now?
So yeah, it doesn't seem to matter how long I live in Europe or how much I understand
how light works on Earth, every year, without fail, I'm just as surprised
as the first year to be awaked by the sun at 5 a.m. in June.
Now I understand why the shutters are there.
But what I really don't understand is why don't I get used to it?
Why don't I simply expect this to happen after all these years.
Why isn't sun at 5 a.m. in June just something I expect by now,
just like I expect mulled wine and thick jackets in winter?
Why haven't I gotten used to it yet?
Maybe some of you will say, but Dana, it makes total sense that you
are shocked by the sun at 5 a.m. because when the sun is already there at 5 a.m.,
it wakes you up almost every morning. And yes, that's true.
But it is actually not only the morning sun that shocks me every year, but rather
the evening sun too.
The evening sun that every person in Germany seems to love.
But it shocks me.
In South Florida the length of daylight per day also changed throughout the year,
since Florida is not on the equator, it also wasn't constant all year round there either.
But the length of daylight definitely fluctuated much less dramatically than up here in Germany.
Why am I awake right now?
And that also applies to the evening.
OK, for example: I went to a sleep-away summer camp in Florida and I can
remember really well how early, compared to Germany, how early it got dark in the evening.
When we went to bed at a little after 9 p.m., it was already completely dark. So really nighttime dark.
While here in Germany I still get these creepy Twilight Zone feelings when
I leave the house at 9 p.m. in the summer and it feels like it's 6:30 p.m.
I like it. I like that it's light so late. But it's still weird to me.
It still feels weird.
And to experience this and to learn that, in the summer, here in Europe where I live the light
comes so early in the morning and leaves the sky so late in the evening came with a
small geographical adjustment.
At school there were very large maps of the world on the wall, which I looked at a lot during my school days .
But somehow I never really noticed exactly how far north Europe actually is.
But when I moved here and experienced all that with the sun myself, I was
very motivated to look at a map again to check that out a little closer.
I think I thought Germany might be at the same latitude as, like, Connecticut New York.
But no! I then learned that it's a good bit further north than that.
So "latitudinally speaking", how do you say that in German?
Viewed latitudinally, Germany is up there with Canada.
So my question for you is: What is your experience with this?
Do you live in a place with bright summers and dark winters, like here in Germany?
Have you ever been somewhere where it never gets dark in summer?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Thank you so much for watching. I also made an English version of this video.
Linked down in the description box below.
You can also follow me on Instagram @WantedAdventure.
I usually do my Instagram stories in German.
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Thank you so very much for your support. Thank you so much.
Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
Why am I awake right now?