My program organized a trip for us to Berlin from January 15-19. It was almost our whole program, which was like 30 people. It was definitely too many people for my liking. We took a train the morning to Berlin, it took about 6 hours to get there from Freiburg. When we got there it was too late to really do anything, so we just had dinner and then hung out in our rooms. Our hostel was in a Turkish district of Berlin, Berlin has the biggest population of Turkish people concentrated in one city. Berlin is a really interesting city because there is so much history there, beginning with the Berlin Wall that stood for almost 30 years separating the East from the West. There are still parts of the wall that are standing, and the East Side Gallery has a lot of remains of the Wall displayed as art work for all the graffiti on them. Berlin has definitely made a name for itself, it is the Capital city of Germany and it has become very cultured and artsy. They have kept a lot of history from when Berlin was split in two, such as the Ampelmaennchen or the pedestrian crossing signs, they are different from all of Germany and it is a reminder of which parts of the city were considered "East" or "West." The Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) is also a large symbol for Germany and it was part of the Eastern side of Berlin when the Wall was up.
Our first day in Berlin we went to see the Holocaust Memorial and Holocaust Museum. The memorial is called Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (A Memorial to Murdered Jews in Europe.) The design was created by Peter Eisenman, he wanted create the memorial leaving an impression that the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. My friends even took a picture on top of the memorial and a german guy scolded us for it, but we were told the memorial was supposed to be an every day thing to walk through, and make your own interpretations, there are no names or dates on the stones, therefore not making it a grave yard for those who died during the Holocaust. It was really easy to get lost in all of the stones because they are all different sizes and some ground is flat and some is hilly. It was finally revealed in 2005 and there have already been 3.5 Million visitors to the site. We also went into the museum/information center underneath the memorial, it was really depressing because it told horrific personal stories of what happened to some of the Jewish families. I had the feeling I would expect after seeing a Concentration Camp after I left the museum, it was really in your face and very sad. That is about all we did that day and we also saw the Brandenburg Gate because it wasn't far from the memorial, and also right next to the Brandenburg Gate is the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby out the window.
On Saturday we went to the Reichstag ( the site of the German Parliament) it is a really cool building, and also where Angela Merkel's office is (the German Chancellor.) We had a tour inside the Reichstag, but for me it was pretty boring because I am not extremely interested in government and politics, I have had plenty of classes on the German government, but it was cool to actually see where it all happens. The glass dome on top of the building is seen in almost every book about Germany, so it was really cool to take pictures of that, since it was on my first German language book. After that my friends and I went and had coffee and also bought some souvenirs. My thing now is buying a cool picture from the places I go to so I can frame it and use it as art work back home in my apartment, so far I have gotten a picture from Paris, Chamonix, and Berlin, they are all really cool. We also went and took more pictures at the Brandenburg Gate and saw the large sculpture from afar that Hitler had moved so that when he had his parades in Berlin he would pass it every time. There were a lot of things that I never got to see in Berlin, like going to the museums on Museum Island, seeing the site of Hitlers bunker underground, Potsdamer Platz and the East Side Gallery. That night we went to see a play that we had read in one of my classes, it was called Wir Negativen (We are negative) it was so funny and a really good experience to hear German and be able to understand it! I love when I can go see something like a movie or play and be able to follow along when it is all in German, it is such a rewarding feeling and reconfirms that I am here for a good reason.
On Sunday it was terrible, I didn't want to do any of the things we did, first we traveled to a Stasi Museum, the Stasi were the SS Police and a whole Museum dedicated to them. My first thought was that it was going to be very interesting because it is a part of WWII history that we aren't thoroghly taught about. Once we got there, there was a woman that talked for hours, and the 'museum' was hardly a museum, more like a bunch of rooms with random posters on the wall. The woman even locked the doors from the inside to make sure we couldn't leave, haha, well I'm sure that wasn't her intention but it definitely seemed like it. One of our teachers even abandoned the tour and sat and waited for it to be over. A couple guys found a window in the bathroom and jumped out it, one of them actually broke his foot, oh what we do when something is so boring it's like pulling teeth.
After that wretched museum we went to the Jewish Museum, which was surprisingly a lot better, the architecture of it blew me away, it was so different. The museum was more aimed toward where the Jewish people originated from, really not much about the Holocaust, but more just preserving their history. I was pretty upset when the day was over because it had all been wasted on museums, and museums are definitely not my favorite especially when I have to be lead around with a big group. We all met at a Steakhouse/Pizzeria (I know, weird mix...steak or pizza) and our program treated everyone with their own pizza and salad.
The next day we woke up fairly early and dropped out bags off in a van and we had the whole day to ourselves to explore wherever we wanted to in Berlin. I went with Joanna and Kelly. First we went to Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie was designated for the one passage between West Berlin and East Berlin when the wall was up, it was for foreigners and allied troops. There is a sign and on it is one Soviet soldier and on the other side is an American soldier. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west, and — for some East Germans — a gateway to freedom. I got a picture with the fake guards and also got my passport stamped with a Checkpoint Charlie stamp.
After that we walked to the Berliner Dom, which is a huge Cathedral next to Museum Island. It was built between 1895 and 1905. It is one of the coolest looking cathedrals I have seen yet. Kelly, Joanna and I all climbed to the top of the church too, the view was awesome, we could even see all the way to the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag, and it was also an amazing day outside, so that was nice for picture taking.
Next we traveled to Ka De We (Kaufhaus des Westens) basically a big mall of West Berlin, we went in but everything was so out of anyone's price range, basically like a Nordstrom, but everything was pretty to look at. We also got to see this church that was destroyed greatly during WWII but they kept what was left still standing and it had a memorial tower next to it, it is called the Kaiser Wilhem Church. It was a really cool site, especially since they kept it like that. After shopping we had no more time left and had to return to the train station to meet our group. I had such a great time in Berlin, I would really love to go back! So much history and a huge turn around from what it used to be.
Until next time. This weekend I am going to Switzerland to see Simona and her family, we will probably go skiing too!
Auf Wiedersehen!
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