Month: August 2019

Initial reflections on Germany

My first week of Germany was very successful. I recovered from jetlag a lot faster than I expected and I was able to adjust quickly.

One thing that I really liked in Germany is their great public transportation system. You can travel almost anywhere in Germany without having your own car. They even have German rail pass that allows you to travel countries near Germany! I wish United States had better public transportation. However, one thing that I didn’t like in Germany was people smoking everywhere cause I hate the smell of cigarette.

I missed my friends and family a lot and food. I wish they have Apple bees at Germany.

“So how was it?”

   This entire trip has been a great experience, in both the expected and unexpected. I knew going in that I would be doing all of the “fun travel things”, mainly seeing sights and trying delicious food and drink. And while this is all true, I also want to put focus on the things that I’ve learned on this trip, not just through the classroom but through my interactions with people and the city.

Continue reading ““So how was it?””

Germanyyyy: full experience

First Thoughts

I am on this summer program to learn about the culture of Germany, develop my german speaking skills and create new relationships with other students. My strength is to help others who are need of help in any way if is in the context of this engineering class we are taking. My prayer is to hope that nothing wrong happens throughout the whole trip.

Gerald Ford Airport. Saw some trusses.

 

Initial Reflections on Germany

Before I went to Berlin, I was expecting tall buildings and some archaic buildings made out of wood and sometimes cement. However, when I went to Berlin, I was really surprised because I was getting a feeling of familiarity. This was due to the cement buildings and short buildings, unlike the United States which use mostly metal and wood. Where I’m from, Ghana, almost everything is short and mostly made of cement.  Thus, I got a nostalgic feeling of home and feeling of curiosity towards the city.  Staying in Berlin has made me miss getting water and ketchup for free. It made me realize how I took them for granted.  What I am really going to miss the donner kebabs. If they brought it to the states, I would buy it every day.

 

 

 

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

This trip to the concentration camp made me feel emotions of anger, fear, and disappointment. I felt angry that something so evil happened, I am also disappointed in the people, for example, the churches, who allowed this evil to thrive and made me fear what will happen in the future due to the fact that this catastrophe was started by man, therefore meaning another catastrophe similar could be caused by another person.

 

 

Köln Cathedral

I have been to a lot of churches but that church was the biggest and one of the most detailed churches I have ever seen. I was even shocked and understood why it took them 600 years to make something this grand building. The church service was also interesting. Unlike, the catholic churches I’ve been to, they used incense. This use of incense changed the feeling I was receiving from the church. Throughout the whole trip, I never saw people waiting and standing for another service of a church. I was sad and happy to see that because even though most are coming as a tourist, there is always a chance God will touch some of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Reflections

These past weeks have been amazing! In my time in Germany, I had the opportunity to visit many German cities, including Heidelberg, Koblenz, Koln, Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, in addition to an extensive period of time in Berlin I believe living in Europe has helped me develop the skills I need to be successful in almost any city- how to navigate local transportation (trains, planes, buses- you name it), find access to amenities and enjoy the sights. Through our German language class, I’ve grown in my ability to communicate in another language, and have even been able to support in-depth conversations that lead to meaningful interactions and relationships with locals- an ability I’ll continue to work on in the future. I’ve met people from all-over, whether an immigrant couple from Afghanistan, a gaucho-turned-HVAC repairman from Argentina or a nice music store owner in Bremen-  everywhere I’ve found friends and learned to see the world in a new perspective. This time in Germany has helped me grow as a person, a student and friend, and as a global citizen in our community.

Initial reflections on germany

One week in and everything is positive. The culture, the atmosphere is exactly as I imagined it to be, after an entire semester in German class. As many of the summer program alumni suggested, Oriental snack has quickly become a habitual trip  for dinner , lunch and sometimes even breakfast. I did not expect such a disparity between east Berlin and west, they couldn’t be more different. If there is one thing I’d love to take back with me to Calvin, it’s the Döner shop; very easy meals to prep, yet greatly satisfying.