It feels like almost no time has passed since by last post; time is moving very quickly in Berlin. I can't believe I am already in my third week here. All my friends that have studied abroad have told me that it goes by in the blink of an eye, and now I am starting to see what they mean. I am really enjoying my time here and I am going to miss it very much when my stay here is over. I have been settling in to more of a routine which is making it seem more like I am living here instead of being as much of a tourist. I really like being able to find my way around. I remember being so confused when I first arrived but now I can get anywhere in the city by simply reading a map. Yesterday we went to the "House of Democracy" near Alexanderplatz and met with our tour guide from last week's visit to the "Topography of Terror", Sebastian Gerhardt. He was a great and informative tour guide last week; he knew a lot about the history of Nazi Germany and I learned a lot from his presentation. During our visit yesterday we got to learn more of his background and experiences in Berlin. I learned that he was a young activist during the fall of the Berlin Wall and gave a lot of information about what life was like and more about the events in the time period in general. One thing he said that really stuck out to be was when he was telling a story about one of his friends from West Berlin. He said that his friend didn't really feel the effects of reunification until he moved much later to a part of East Germany, and that for the West it was just like they had gained a little bit more territory. I found this really interesting as we have been reading in class about the conditions in the East and how everyone was pushing for change and that the Fall of the Berlin Wall was a life changing event for so many. It is crazy to me to think that life could be so different in such a close proximity. This contrast was really interesting to me and I really enjoyed Sebastian's presentation and learning more about reunification. Another thing that I found interesting was Sebastian's focus on the funding of a lot of the organizations. He told us that the House of Democracy was completely self-sufficient in terms of funding and that gave them freedom that many other organizations didn't have because the others are obligated to play nice with the state in order to maintain their funding. This gave me the impression that the House of Democracy was more authentic in its aims, which I really appreciated. This weekend the program is going to a field trip in Munich which I am very excited for; I will update when I return. Ciao from Berlin!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
October 10, 2012
It feels like almost no time has passed since by last post; time is moving very quickly in Berlin. I can't believe I am already in my third week here. All my friends that have studied abroad have told me that it goes by in the blink of an eye, and now I am starting to see what they mean. I am really enjoying my time here and I am going to miss it very much when my stay here is over. I have been settling in to more of a routine which is making it seem more like I am living here instead of being as much of a tourist. I really like being able to find my way around. I remember being so confused when I first arrived but now I can get anywhere in the city by simply reading a map. Yesterday we went to the "House of Democracy" near Alexanderplatz and met with our tour guide from last week's visit to the "Topography of Terror", Sebastian Gerhardt. He was a great and informative tour guide last week; he knew a lot about the history of Nazi Germany and I learned a lot from his presentation. During our visit yesterday we got to learn more of his background and experiences in Berlin. I learned that he was a young activist during the fall of the Berlin Wall and gave a lot of information about what life was like and more about the events in the time period in general. One thing he said that really stuck out to be was when he was telling a story about one of his friends from West Berlin. He said that his friend didn't really feel the effects of reunification until he moved much later to a part of East Germany, and that for the West it was just like they had gained a little bit more territory. I found this really interesting as we have been reading in class about the conditions in the East and how everyone was pushing for change and that the Fall of the Berlin Wall was a life changing event for so many. It is crazy to me to think that life could be so different in such a close proximity. This contrast was really interesting to me and I really enjoyed Sebastian's presentation and learning more about reunification. Another thing that I found interesting was Sebastian's focus on the funding of a lot of the organizations. He told us that the House of Democracy was completely self-sufficient in terms of funding and that gave them freedom that many other organizations didn't have because the others are obligated to play nice with the state in order to maintain their funding. This gave me the impression that the House of Democracy was more authentic in its aims, which I really appreciated. This weekend the program is going to a field trip in Munich which I am very excited for; I will update when I return. Ciao from Berlin!
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