Hello all! I met a German girl during a summer school. We got to know each other over meals, chatting and laughing together, and I felt there was a good connection between us. Then I invited her to dinner over the weekend at a restaurant, clearly saying it was for a 1:1 meeting. She initially accepted my invitation, but over the weekend she changed her mind, saying she didn’t want to put herself in a dating situation to avoid any misunderstandings. She suggested we talk about it during the week, which I agreed to, and I told her I was interested in getting to know her better in a relationship beyond just friendship. A few hours later, she replied that she does encourage me to get to know her as I said it's what I want, but only as a friend because she doesn’t share my feelings, although she thinks I’m a kind and caring person. I'm from Spain, I don’t know how to interpret her response as a german girl. Should I accept the friendzone and keep texting her later on, or better give up? Some reads on the internet suggests that germans open up with time as they're not interested in getting quickly into relationship, but I've also read that a NO from a german girl is definitive and won't change until you die. I know germans are direct, so I don't understand why say first OK for the 1:1 meeting, then say NO.
Update: She said NO to the 1:1 meeting but was open to come only if I accepted her to be accompanied with her female friend. Which didn't happen because her friend was busy.