November 8, 2012

On the roof of the Reichstag

View from the roof of the Dome of the Reichstag

Time is flying by in Berlin.  In exactly one month I will be landing in Seattle. I am starting to work on all of the final projects for the classes I am taking, and all I can think about is about where the time has gone. I am having the time of my life in this city and I am certain that I will never forget my time in Berlin.   About a week ago, we toured the Reichstag as a program. Ali got to come too, which I was excited about because I was really excited to see the building.  One of the most interesting things I saw in the tour was the writing of the Soviet soliders on the wall that had been preserved shortly after World War II.  I really admire how the German government as well as the people have come to terms with all of the history and memory that is present in their environment.  I just read an article that was assigned by Prof. Wagner and it talked about how "landscape is tied to memory" and that is a statement that I really agree with after all of my experiences in Berlin.    We got to go up into the Dome of the Reichstag which was really exciting as well.

East Side Gallery, Berlin

This was Ali's last weekend in Berlin, so we tried to do as many tourist-y things as possible. We waited in the long line to get to the top of the TV tower, but it was well worth the effort. We went at night so we got to see a 360 degree panoramic view of the lights of Berlin and it was very beautiful. I was able to point of some of the landmarks that I have come to be familiar with, like the Brandenburg Gate and the Berliner Dome, as well the general area of my apartment and Humboldt University.    Earlier that same day, we went on a bike ride to the East Side Gallery--which is a 2 km long stretch of what is left of the Berlin Wall.  Even though it is only about a 4 minute bike ride away from my apartment, I had not been there yet, so it was a fun and new experience for both of us. I got a real sense of the magnitude of the wall, as I have had trouble visually what it looked like even after all of my studies this quarter. The graffiti on the wall was very interesting and artistic. I am glad that a portion of the wall has been preserved because it allowed outsiders like myself to get a sense of what Berlin used to be like.

Inside the Reichstag Dome

On Tuesday, I went on an art walk with other students and our guide, Hans Konings, starting in the neighborhood of Wedding. It is a very diverse area, similar to Kreuzberg. We started out by going to an actual studio and getting to see artists at work.  One of my favorite was talking to a young woman who worked with wood to create amazing sculptures.  She was very passionate about her work and it seemed like she was becoming very successful.  All of the people that we talked to had a lot of creative capacity which is something I admire.  I saw a lot of really interesting art and talked to a lot of interesting people, but my favorite part of the experience was getting to talk to Hans. About half way through we all stopped to get coffee, and I had the pleasure of having him and his daughter sit at my table. I talked to him about his perception of Berlin and his own work. He is a very funny and interesting man, who was very knowledgable about all of the places that he took us.  He said that a lot of the non-state sponsored artists mostly care about having a place to live and a place to work, and little else.  He explained that is what made Berlin attractive because there are districts such as Wedding and Kreuzberg that can provide cheap rent, so that artists could move in and focus on their work. However, as I have been learning in Sabine's class, gentrification is becoming a problem and a threat to these low income/low rent areas.  Making Berlin more 'attractive' comes at the expense of the residents that having been living in those areas for generations and they make it more difficult for those people to remain in those areas.  The wood-working artist that we talked to said that she lived in Kreuzberg, and I can only imagine it is because it is still a place where there are cheap apartments available.   I really hope that Berlin doesn't succumb to becoming commercialized in every neighborhood because the diversity and roughness is what, in my opinion, gives Berlin its character. This week in class I have learned a lot about culture, diversity and migration. I really enjoy living in a part of Berlin where these things have manifested over the years, and I also have not witnessed any racism against Turks or other minorities, although I have read about it in class. This really connected to the walk around Kreuzberg that we did with the German students in the previous week, as they talked about the history of Kreuzberg and how it is at risk for gentrification. Usually when I am in school, I really don't enjoy doing reading in school, but the things I have read in both of my classes this quarter have been extremely interesting. The best part is being able to subjects of my reading in real life and having so much history in such a close proximity.    Tomorrow, I am going to visit Sachsenhausen concentration camp with Prof. Wagner and the class, and I am very curious as to how I feel after the experience.  

More later, Ciao from Berlin
Becca