There were some European etiquettes I learned through experience rather than through the internet.
Firstly, the language; I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to communicate well with the citizens in Esslingen due to my lack of deutsch. However, most citizens spoke enough English for us to have surface level conversations.
One exchange I found unique happened between a cleaning lady and myself. I had only been in Germany for a couple of days and neither of us knew what the other was saying. After some awkward exchanges, we discovered we had a better understanding of each other in Spanish. Yes, the few years I studied Spanish in grade school enabled me to communicate that I needed "dos grandes" towels.
Another etiquette I learned was that on an escalator you stand on the right side and walk on the left side. . Majority of the escalators I rode were located in the train stations.
This is were I learned the phrase, "Entschuldigen Sie!" meaning "excuse me". I was riding the escalator up from the train station with my group of friends. We stood side by side observing the city when a German girl came walking up behind me saying, "Entschuldigen Sie!" and my friend pulled me to the right side of the escalator.
HONORABLE MENTION
I learned that glass bottles go on the outside of the trashcans so that poverty-stricken people can collect and exchange them for money. I befriended a group of German guys while out at a bar one night. I asked them why they were setting their bottles outside of the trashcans and he explained that because they can be exchanged for a few cents, people set them aside for poverty-stricken people to collect them. He said "a few coins means more to them than it does for me" and that's why he doesn't cash them in for himself.
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