Going to Germany of the SPIG trip was the best decision I have made in my time at Calvin.
Author: Matthew Winkle
Reflections on Bremen
Our day trip to Bremen was a very fun experience. After an eventful start to the day which included students getting on the wrong S-bahn train and wrong ICE train, we eventually all wound up in the city of Bremen. We walked to the city square, where we saw the iconic Bremen City Musicians statue and some sort of climate change protest.
The square was very old, with many impressive buildings, including an old cathedral. The city had a great atmosphere and lots of people were around. We walked around near the square, through some very tight alleyways, and back to the old fisherman’s section of the city. The layout of the city was much different than anything I had seen in the USA, as much of it was obviously designed without cars in mind. This was a testament to the age of the city.
We took a boat ride in the afternoon, which took us past some industry down the river. I found it very interesting how the city seemed to stop somewhat abruptly, and there wasn’t much in the way of suburbs around. The boat ride provided a great experience to relax but also show some of the industry near Bremen and the German countryside.
Reflection on Wittenberg
Wittenberg was very different than I thought. Growing up in CRC church, I had heard about Wittenberg and its importance to the church many times. However, when I told the man sitting next to me on the train I was getting off Wittenberg he pulled a face and said it was an “interesting place to get off.” This seemed strange as I assumed people would know the significance Wittenberg had.
Reflection on Sachsenhausen
Going to Sachsenhausen was an experience unlike anything I had ever done before. I had heard stories from the Holocaust and WWII plenty of times, but there is a huge difference between reading a book in a classroom and actually being on site with original materials on hand.
Week One Afterthoughts
There are many differences between the way I live at home and the way of life in Germany. One of the biggest changes for me has been transportation. I am accustomed to getting everywhere by car and almost never using public transportation, but here our only option is using public transportation. Learning the various systems and routes as well as etiquette on the systems was confusing at first, but I have started to get the hang of it.