Blog Q7

These pictures are all from the day we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was a solemn day for all of us as we saw and learned about what the Jews in Germany went through.

After a solemn day at the Holocaust Museum, we went to the Reichstag and took very many pictures, and this was one of my favorites.

After taking pictures at the Reichstag, our professors left us to be on our own and find our way back. We walked through a beautiful park and just enjoyed some fresh air and conversation.

From the park, we went to get some great ice cream! One thing I loved about Berlin and practically everywhere in Germany that we visited, is that you can find ice cream everywhere and for relatively low prices, which was great. After this, we found our way back home to St. Michael’s Heim and even though it was a long journey, it is one I will never forget.

First Week in Germany

Germany is a very beautiful place with cute apartments being one of the very first things we saw on the way to our residence from the airport. One thing that I did not expect was the fact that it felt as if they (Germans) lived in two different times: the past and the present. Ancient buildings were preserved and standing firm beside new, conventional and modern ones and we would sometimes find that a modern and well-known fast food restaurant or company is in such a building, like McDonald’s. I believe that the only thing I truly missed were water fountains with free water, free bathrooms and free shopping bags, but we all got the hang of it. One main thing that I wish was back home was the efficient, convenient, and comfortable transport system! It was a whole beautiful experience trying to get used to the system and getting around easily.

Elevator Speech

Germany was a lot of fun. We had two classes 4 days a week. Engineering and German language. We had our engineering professors in the hotel with us so it made studying really comfortable. They would stay up till late at night to answer our questions and help us with our homework. I think we all developed a good relationship with everyone. In Germany, we visited castles, beautiful churches and we went to different parts of Germany too. My favorite was Bremen. Being there was like being in a fairytale. The buildings were beautiful and there were musicians in almost every block. We went to concentration camps, holocaust museum I learned so much about the history.
I also learned how insignificant we are when we travel. When I first arrived in Germany, it was completely foreign to me. By the end of the trip, I learned a little German but when I went to Denmark for my last week which was only an hour away from there. I was in a completely different place. The three languages that I knew was just useless.
Overall, I had a lot of fun visiting new places, trying out different tastes, and building new relationships.

Some glimpses of our time in Germany

Group Photo at the Bus Stop

This was at the Europa Center, a place where there are a lot of shopping malls, cafes, and restaurants. This photo was taken right after we had bought some icecream and were waiting for our bus to head back to our hotel. This picture also almost looks like our International Passport (International Orientation of Calvin) but in Berlin.

 

Professor Nielsen

Professor De Rooy

They are our dear Professors. The first picture is of Professor Nielsen when we were in Wittenberg. He was telling a story about the place where Jewish resided in the past. The second picture is of Professor De Rooy. They would tell us jokes and stories about their experiences. Their jokes would make all of us laugh out loud and we loved listening to their stories too. We could not ask for any better Professors for this trip. Also, aren’t they so cute!

 

Bearlin!

One of the things that you notice in Berlin is the bear statues in almost every street. Out of curiosity, I looked it up and it says that there are approximately 350 bears in the city. Bear statues I mean, of course. Apparently, these bears symbolizes Berlin. They are called “Buddy Bears” and its story started in an artistic event back in 2001. When I learned about this, I tried getting pictures with as bears as I could in Berlin. This is one of the bears in Berlin near the huge Sony Center.

 


Berliner Dom

These pictures are of Berliner Dom at the Museum Island in Berlin. I visited many churches in Berlin and among all, this was the most beautiful church I had the chance to visit. The ceiling was so beautiful, I spent a long time just looking up and admiring it until my neck started hurting.

Taking a break

This picture was taken in Potsdam when we walked about 13 km (8 miles). It was a sunny day; we were all tired so we found a shade to sit and wait for our friends to catch up.

I had the best time of my life in Germany and I could not ask for a better group to go with.

(All credit for these photos goes to my friend, Kelsey Yen)

 

 

Elevator Speech

Travelling to Germany was a wonderful experience, the first week was kinda slow for me. Being jet lagged made it hard to focus during class and also finding my way around the city and the bus routes took sometime but I eventually came to feel at home in Berlin.  We had Engineering 202 class every morning for four days a week and we had German class every afternoon. the professors were wonderful both in class and outside class and they played a big part in making this trip memorable.

In the last week of our trip we traveled to Amsterdam to explore the city, and we visited places like the Queen’s Palace and we also visited Brussels, we we got to explore to city, visiting the EU parliament Building, The King’s Church, His Office and The NATO Headquarters. This trip was truly on I will never forget.

Köln

Worshipping at the cathedral in Köln was very different to say the least. First of all I think it was Catholic so it was already very different from the CRC that I am used to. There is next to no singing only hymn singing that was very monotone and in Latin. People also got on their knees and the benches were made so that people could be on their knees for long periods of time without feeling uncomfortable. I did enjoy the parts where we sang because it was interesting to listen and to participate in singing, even though it was in a different language.

I thought that it was a little strange to see people gathered in the back waiting to get into the church once the service was done but it did not really phase me that much. I mean it is a major tourist location and it is right next to the train station so it is kind of hard to avoid that. I just do not understand why more people did not just join in on the service even if they do not believe in religion. It is a very interesting experience and I know I would at least like to see what it is like.

Bremen

My first impressions on Bremen were that this city looked very ancient. The church in the center of Bremen was super tall and still standing from hundred of years ago. You do not see that very often in America. We walked through a very interesting shopping center where it was all just alleyways. It looked like something that wasn’t real because every shop was just a whole in the wall.

We also took a boat tour which described the history of Bremen. I liked this tour because we got to see even more buildings on the water and the professors would tell us about all the bridges we would go under because we were learning about them in Engineering!

What’s it like?

This was one of the beaches along Lake Zurich in Switzerland. When my friends and I went to Switzerland we swam in this lake and laid out in the grass afterwards.

This was when we visited the Colosseum in Rome. We could not find any public transportation so we walked half an hour in 90+ degrees Fahrenheit to see this. We did not stay long in Rome to say the least since it was so hot.

This was in Bremen, Germany. We went here as a group and although we did not stop to look at this view for very long I found that this view was simply amazing. It was the first time I had a seen a classic European style windmill and it looked amazing from across the water and in the trees.

Elevator Speech

The time I spent in Germany was incredible! I learned a lot about Engineering and the German culture. When we arrived in Germany it was a little bit overwhelming because of all the public transportation needed to get around and also the volume of our group. But you learn to get past that and just enjoy the people you are with while traveling around Germany. My favorite parts were when we would take trips as a group to different cities in Germany and we would listen to Professor Nielsen tell us about the history of the city we are in.

I will also never forget the experiences I had traveling independently with a group of friends to other countries in Europe. My group of friends and I traveled to Switzerland and Italy, both hugely different in terms of culture and landscape. Switzerland had huge, beautiful mountains with crystal clear lakes. Italy was very hot and had long and big beaches everywhere. I would not trade these experiences for anything.