After two long weeks of traveling, it's nice to be back in Bonn again. Sitting at Starbucks now, I've gotten really tired of my room because it's so small and lonely. And it kind of smells funky...
Berlin was a really interesting experience. In comparison to Madison-sized-German-city Bonn, being in the New York of Germany was a change of pace. I think what interested me the most about Berlin was the new-ness of the city mixed with the remnants of the old East Germany and destruction still visible from WWII. Basically, after the wall came down in 1989 all hell broke loose and the city was completely rebuilt. It's really an architectural wonder in that the city still has a "wall" going through it, meaning that wherever there once stood the Berlin wall now lies a double line of flat bricks. It was so interesting to see it because you realize that it really cut life in half. People living across the street from each other literally couldn't visit each other for over 10 years in the 50's and 60's, which is insane. My parents were alive at that time! It's not that long ago! It also blows my mind that my family lived in Germany during the weird time of East/West Germany. I wonder how different it was...
While we were in Germany, we did all the classic sight seeing stuff and also did the whole go to a techno club thing. (Berlin is famous for it's top of the line clubs, but I didn't particularly enjoy that experience as I had to pay TWELVE EURO eintritt).
The whole trip was sponsored by the international office here, so all of the Americans were there and a few of the other exchange students. We spent the first day exploring the area around our hostel, which was conveniently located really close to the Brandenburger Tor. We walked around that area, which includes this really amazing Holocaust memorial. It's a rectangle filled with 2711 large grey stones in a grid of all different heights that are meant to resemble tombstones. You can walk through it, and around the edges of the area (probably about one square city block) the stones only come up to your hips, but as you venture deeper into the memorial they stretch to about 3-4 times human height. They're all completely unlabeled and personally I think what makes it so interesting is the absolute abstractness of the memorial...how the architect (who also coincidentally also designed the 9/11 memorial in NYC) envisioned such a vague memorial that was so powerful and could strangely evoke so much emotion without a person even knowing what they were walking into. I didn't actually know what it was when I first walked in, but it was overwhelming in a really strange way that's hard to put into words. Totally interesting though.
We also of course enjoyed the local cuisine (supplimented by stolen sandwiches from the breakfast buffet at the hostel) which was currywurst and Berliners (but in Berlin the tasty jelly donuts are actually called Pfannkuchen). The donut you see me about to devour here was filled with the typical delicious plum filling. And I did enjoy half a liter of Berlin's finest brew...not as tasty as Rheinisch beer but hey, I drank it. :)
Anyway, other sights that we saw: Checkpoint Charlie, East Side Gallery (really amazing artwork painted on the wall in the old Soviet section of the city), we went to an old Stasi prison, which was really amazing because our tour guide was actually held there in the 70's for trying to 'escape' East Germany. He was a really fascinating guy.
Friday was an exciting day here in Europe because the first games of European Soccer Cup started. Germany played on Saturday evening, when we had all arrived back in Bonn. Most of my friends here met up at a big stadium to watch a public viewing of the game on a big screen TV. I think after watching a couple football games over the past few days, I finally understand the rules. (mostly). Apparently Germany is in a really hard group (against Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands, I think?) so it was a big deal that we won this game. What I like most about it is how inspiring the whole thing is, so much more than American Football. People get into the Packers, sure, but for Germany this EM (Europa Meisterschaft=european cup) is really a source of pride and hope for their country. It was really amazing to witness the craziness that ensued when Germany won 1:0 against Portugal, there were huge traffic jams, yelling, screaming, music, chants, flags...it was insane. I loved seeing how crazy people got at the end of the first game of 3 that Germany is guaranteed to play, I can hardly wait to see how the rest of the cup plays out.
Bis später leute :)
Berlin was a really interesting experience. In comparison to Madison-sized-German-city Bonn, being in the New York of Germany was a change of pace. I think what interested me the most about Berlin was the new-ness of the city mixed with the remnants of the old East Germany and destruction still visible from WWII. Basically, after the wall came down in 1989 all hell broke loose and the city was completely rebuilt. It's really an architectural wonder in that the city still has a "wall" going through it, meaning that wherever there once stood the Berlin wall now lies a double line of flat bricks. It was so interesting to see it because you realize that it really cut life in half. People living across the street from each other literally couldn't visit each other for over 10 years in the 50's and 60's, which is insane. My parents were alive at that time! It's not that long ago! It also blows my mind that my family lived in Germany during the weird time of East/West Germany. I wonder how different it was...
While we were in Germany, we did all the classic sight seeing stuff and also did the whole go to a techno club thing. (Berlin is famous for it's top of the line clubs, but I didn't particularly enjoy that experience as I had to pay TWELVE EURO eintritt).
The whole trip was sponsored by the international office here, so all of the Americans were there and a few of the other exchange students. We spent the first day exploring the area around our hostel, which was conveniently located really close to the Brandenburger Tor. We walked around that area, which includes this really amazing Holocaust memorial. It's a rectangle filled with 2711 large grey stones in a grid of all different heights that are meant to resemble tombstones. You can walk through it, and around the edges of the area (probably about one square city block) the stones only come up to your hips, but as you venture deeper into the memorial they stretch to about 3-4 times human height. They're all completely unlabeled and personally I think what makes it so interesting is the absolute abstractness of the memorial...how the architect (who also coincidentally also designed the 9/11 memorial in NYC) envisioned such a vague memorial that was so powerful and could strangely evoke so much emotion without a person even knowing what they were walking into. I didn't actually know what it was when I first walked in, but it was overwhelming in a really strange way that's hard to put into words. Totally interesting though.
Anyway, other sights that we saw: Checkpoint Charlie, East Side Gallery (really amazing artwork painted on the wall in the old Soviet section of the city), we went to an old Stasi prison, which was really amazing because our tour guide was actually held there in the 70's for trying to 'escape' East Germany. He was a really fascinating guy.
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| Before Germany's Sieg |
Bis später leute :)
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