I Was a German Major in College

You'd think I were part of a comedy routine with some of the random things I have told people. Sometimes, there's nothing worse than an introvert who can't seem to be understood when he speaks his native language.
For whatever reason, when I say that I was a German major in college, people seem to think that I was in the military of that country.

I was a German major in college
An der Universität war Deutsch mein Hauptfach.

I was a German major during the war.
Während des Krieges war ich deutscher Major.

It's not quite so funny in German because, well, the word 'major' as a military rank doesn't translate (i.e., it's borrowed). Still and all, "I was an English major...," or "I was a French major in college," doesn't seem to lend itself to such confusion.

I never did anything with my major. I'm not culturally attached to the country or to any of the countries where German is the official language. I still need to look up words, however I can generally get the correct endings for words when I pick up a grammar book and take the tests.

Why become a German major? Well, it was probably one of the few non-science subjects that I could take where no one would try to insert him-/them-/it-/herself in an attempt to help me with my studies. It also seemed--at the time--to be a language attached to a culture that was and is very misunderstood. These days I have even less and less interest in the behaviors of modern Germany and its people. I posit that one of the salient reasons for my disinterest is that my own country has become a fascist(ic) sh*t show that seems to mirror some of the atrocities of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.