I actually live in Mannheim, so no it wasn't a new experience for me.
I figured my location says US, however that was from when I lived there and created my account
//edit: By the way, everyone going to BMW (Hall 11) should check out the Forza 4 booth next to the new F10 M5. You actually get to drive the M5 ingame on Nurb GP Version. From what I've experienced so far, Forza 4 looks much better than Forza 3 (in terms of graphics). The car also feels really realistic when turning all driving assists off, and I was able to pull off some serious drifts!