WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE STARING AND FOLLOWING HERE. Women in Germany, is this normal here????

TLDR: Recently moved to Germany and feel more scared for my life in this tiny rural town than I do in London because of the staring and following I’ve been subjected to. I’ve never experienced it to this extent in UK. Yesterday a man stared at me until I was behind him, then another one stared at me, then followed me up the street, then when I went back on myself started to cross the road saying HALLO HALLO. I’ve also been followed around the gym and then to the locker room.

Ugh. I've noticed this a lot since moving here. It's so normal for men to stare shamelessly at young ladies? Or is it? It's happened so many times to me where a man shamelessly stares at me until I'm basically behind them. It’s always a man. I’m giving them nothing to look at and yet they still stare shamelessly. Long story, buckle in…

I moved to Germany from London for a placement year and this has happened to me so many times I don’t know if it’s just normal here or if there’s something about me??? But I feel so unsafe and uncomfortable when men stare at me non stop and it happens SO OFTEN.

Yesterday I was on a morning walk, and this happened to me TWICE. There was a man walking with his two kids on the other side of the road, I noticed him before he noticed me, then when he did, he was still well in front of me so I could see that he was plainly staring at me, and did not stop until I had passed and was behind them. His head was literally over 90 degrees until he stopped, even his kids were trying to get his attention! I kept on looking back and side eyeing as he was staring at me, so he knew I was aware but still didn't stop. 

Then it happened again. There is a care home just opposite my front door. The second I entered the street. An old man was standing in front of the home smoking and stared at me as I walked down the street towards mine. Since I’ve experienced this so many times, I am now somewhat hyper aware of it and am always looking out for it. I know realistically he couldn’t do anything to me as an old man in a care home, but you really never know, and I just didn’t feel safe. I decided not to go into my place because I didn’t want him to know that I lived there, just opposite him. I went quite far up the street, and whenever I glanced back, he was still staring at me, with his whole body turned towards me, and continued to stare at me as I walked down the street. I kept peeping back to check lmao I was panicked.

Then he started slowly walking in the same direction as me and I thought oh perhaps he just wants to go for a walk, and I was so cold and fed up I turned around and started to walk back to my place, acting as if I got a phone call to go back to town, thinking he would continue walking up that way. As I was walking past him, HE STARTED TO CROSS THE ROAD trying to get my attention saying HALLO HALLO very loudly and aggressively. Maybe he had good intentions but the whole situation just scared me and I didn’t want to take that risk so I ignored him and sped walked past.

Then I realized he had also turned around and was walking in the same direction as me and I was like oh no. I still can’t go in so I went back into town to wait for him to finish his smoke. When I came back 20 mins later he wasn’t outside and I went to take my bike off charge in the bike shed. When I came out to go to my front door (there is no back door) he was there again lighting another cigarette. Then he noticed me and turned his whole body again to watch me. At  this point he probably clocked that I lived there but I still didn’t want him to see me go in. I then moved slightly so I was behind a car, but I could see that he was watching me through the windows of the car.

I really don’t know what he wanted. Can people just leave me alone?? There was nothing to look at at all. Just proves clothes don’t mean anything. It was a cold morning, I was wearing sweats, a scarf, a hat, a coat, and sunglasses as it was bright. The only thing you could see was basically my nose. I also didn’t want to stop because I don’t speak German so wouldn’t have been able to communicate anyway.