What began as a spontaneous greeting turned into a viral hit within just a few days. Joyce, a young Spaniard living in Germany, wanted to disprove a widespread cliché: that Germans are supposedly ‘dry,’ distant, or uncommunicative. For this, she chose an everyday setting that for many travelers symbolizes silent routine – the subway.
Redaction Spanien Press
In a TikTok video, she shows how she enters the train car and doesn’t sit down quietly, as would usually be the case in Germany, but instead greets all the passengers in a friendly manner.
‘Hola, buenos días,’ she calls out naturally, as if she were in a Spanish city.
The surprise came immediately: several German passengers replied to her — also in Spanish.
A group of young people cheerfully returned the greeting all at once, while Joyce and her companion burst out laughing in astonishment. It wasn’t mockery, but genuine joy that her greeting had been answered unexpectedly.
In the video description, she summed up the moment briefly but warmly:
‘Amo aquí’ — ‘I love it here.’
@joycecastro
Amo aquí 🫶
♬ original sound – Joyce Castro
A viral moment that shakes up clichés.
Joyce wanted to show that the supposed ‘dryness’ of many Germans is often nothing more than a cultural myth. And apparently, she struck a chord with that:
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Over 8.5 million views in just a few days.
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Almost two million likes.
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Thousands of humorous comments.
Some of the most popular reactions:
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‘They had been waiting their whole lives for this moment to use their only Spanish sentence.’
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‘When you greet Germans in Spanish… they even start to smile.’
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‘Germans really like Spanish very much.’
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‘They repeat it like parrots – but in a charming way.’
The clip was widely shared and commented on not only in Spain but also in Germany. Many users emphasised how much small gestures can help break down cultural barriers.
