Germanic Studies 2016

Concluding Remarks

7/25/2016

This trip was amazing, and it was more than I could’ve ever asked for from a study abroad program. I already miss Austria and Germany. I miss my professors. I miss my friends from the program. If you are a student and are capable of studying abroad, do it—don’t second guess it. It’s worth it.

Some concluding notes:

Study briefly, but study often, do not save it for the end
Do the readings on time. Study abroad is a lot of fun, and part of the fun is knowing the history while you experience it. Also, it will help you a lot on the final exam.
“You had to be there” — experiential learning is so important, and this trip taught me the importance of it

Goodbye

7/23/2016

Early morning flight to DC to start my internship in the US Senate. Goodbye Germany.

Finals

7/22/2016

Finals…

German 1: Final was hard, but that’s partially because I wasn’t very proactive about reviewing my vocab.
German 102: I hate to call a final “easy,” but if you paid attention and had a mild interest in the subject matter, then this final was fair and accurate. A perfectly structured final, Mr. Tokofsky.

We said our goodbyes in the park, sharing giant pizzas together and reminiscing on all the good memories. The past month has felt like an incredible permanent vacation, except today, I finally realized it’s not permanent.

The David Clymer

Thinking

7/21/2016

Studying. All day. With a few breaks.

Reichstag

7/20/2016

The reality that study abroad requires studying has set in. The German 102 class is exempted from much of the activities today, however, many of us chose to join in on the Reichstag tour (because it's the Reichstag).

*Edit: Going from the Reichstag in Germany to the Capitol Building in the U.S. within a matter of a week was amazing. Differences in architecture is one thing, but looking at what renovations and updates do and do not get done speaks volumes on the culture of the government. I.e. Germany has fleshed out their building with glass throughout. You can view voting members from almost all sides. On the other hand, I can only see half of the Senate floor even with staff-level security clearance. Physical transparency in parliament buildings and capitol buildings is both a physical and, often times, a metaphorical symbol of how transparent a government is. Interesting.

Eating Alone

7/19/2016

Usually I don’t eat by myself. In fact, I really never do. It’s just weird for me. But I had to write this report, and I needed to be alone. So I went to the nearby local crepé and ice cream café. Amazing food, amazing store owner, friendly people. Essay was also finished.

Success.

*Edit: Starting doing this more frequently in DC.

The Missing House

7/18/2016

The final report is due in just two days. Luckily I found my memorial: The Missing House. It's truly a unique memorial, as it uses empty space to convey themes of intrusion and portray the effects of the Holocaust.

Click below to see my full picture album on The Missing House.

Full missing House Album

The Great Weekend of Rest

7/17/2016

Mentally and physically exhausted, I came back and fell asleep for about half the day. A few students and our German 1 professor took a short day trip to Poland, but that was out of the question for me.

Calm weekend, but I needed the weekend to rest and catch up on work. Spent a good amount of time relaxing in the hotel room.

Update on classes:
German 1: By this point we have learned enough vocab to start making decent conversation. We spent the last week heavily focussing on grammar and different verb tenses. There is no exam on Monday, as our next exam will be the final on Friday. Many students have started studying this weekend and are spacing out their vocab memorization time.
German 102: Big themes for the Berlin section of this class: WWII, The Holocaust, and memorials. While we still spend time studying art, memorials and how their audiences interact with them along with their cultural and societal implications are now the big points. Subsequently, my second project is to do a written report on a memorial. I have still not selected my memorial, but I plan to do that tomorrow.

View from the hotel room

Getting Lost is Good

7/15/2016

Little update on class:
Way back in Vienna (feels like forever ago), I talked about a presentation about Otto Wagner. That was the first project for German 102. Each student in German 102 has to do one presentation and one written report. Since I did a presentation already, it was time for me to do a written report. The report has to be on a memorial. Berlin is full of memorials.

Sophia and I, both in German 102, took the 200 bus and went searching for memorials. We found ourselves at the Tiergarten where we found a lot of Prussian memorials (which are unfortunately excluded from the options we could do our projects on, as the scope of these last two weeks of class are around WWII memorials).

The excursion was fun nevertheless, as we quickly got lost and found ourselves in Großer Stern and then on the top of the Victory Column.

These days are not always spent following concrete plans, but they seem to always be the most busy and fun. Within reason, getting lost in this city is a good thing.

View from the top of Victory Column

Food and Jazz

7/14/2016

Another day, another tour. We spent a lot of time at the Berlin Wall Memorial studying the cultural impact of the Berlin Wall. A few of us broke off from the group to grab food at the Nacht Market in Kreuzberg and then went to a jazz club with in-house jazz expert, David Clymer,

Aesthetic

7/13/2016

Recuperated from yesterday’s rest day, a few of us went to Bocci 79, a design exhibition in a former Berlin courthouse. By far one of the most aesthetically pleasing experiences of the trip. Just take a look at the pictures. This might be one of my favorite experiences so far.

Next we went around the Kurfürstendamm mall and got tappas.

Solid day.

Laundry time

7/11/2016

We did a four-hour walking tour led by Professor Tokofsky. We saw many important memorials and were given hints to what we could do our projects on and even a few final answer leads.

We walked alongside the path that the Berlin Wall once used to stand. In all my history classes of my educational life, I’ve always shrugged off the significance of the Berlin Wall and its effect on history. However, being in it’s actual former location made me notice the massive effect it had on East and West Berlin.

Jessica, Taylor, Emily, Katy, and I stopped by Alexander-Platz, one of the more touristy areas, for some gnocchi and crepes and we dispersed from there.

Elaine and I met at the hotel to go do laundry after. Laundry is a pain here. Try to be efficient with your outfits.

As I write today’s entry, I notice that the days left in this insane program are coming to a close. Mildly sad yet mildly excited to make the most of these last two-ish weeks.

Another Travel Day (Dresden to Berlin)

7/10/2016

Today is the last between cities travel day. The next travel day will be, for many of us, a return back to the US.

We spent some time walking around Dresden’s Old Town and sat at a few cafés, and then quickly got on to the bus to Berlin. However, 15 minutes after we got on the bus, we stopped at a war museum (Militärhistorisches Museum). One of the most thorough and comprehensive war museums I have ever visited in my life and a perfect precursor to Berlin. After arriving in Berlin, our final destination, checked in to the 4-star Victor Hotel, grabbed dinner, and went to sleep.

Berlin is exciting. It’s packed with so much to do, and I’m extremely excited to explore it. Unfortunately, I have my second chapter test tomorrow for German 1. But after a brief hiatus of excitement, we can resume again.

Interesting things noticed at dinner:

Germans are aggressive. We are told to be aggressive back to them
“Free refills” is a foreign term here
Water sometimes costs €5.50

Travel Day (Munich to Dresden)

7/9/2016

Everyone was tired from the Wine Festival the night before, and we had a long bus ride to Dresden. On the way there, we stopped at the previous border between East and West Germany, watched a video, and ate currywursts (bratwursts smothered in curry sauce).

After a quick stop at the hostel in Dresden, we went on a walking tour of Dresden’s old town, got a Czech dinner courtesy of UCLA, and went back to the hostel to rest for another day of travel.

What’s been going on in last week’s classes:
German 1: We had our first test on Monday. We’ve started to learn tremendous amounts of vocabulary and also how to finally start to piece together sentences.
German 102: Munich was very much the starting point for Adolf Hitler. We learned about his rise to power and how The Weimar Republic came as well as the artistic movements that followed it.

Hofkirche

Last Day in Munich

7/8/2016

During the day, Jenny, Jessica, and Logan took the train back to Marienplatz. We walked through the market, got iced tea and schmalznudeln at a café, and got spaghetti bolognese at a nearby restaurant. By that time, it was time to head back to our hotel. We got there around 6 PM, got bratwurst, danced, and taught the local German children how to whip and dab—definitely not my most proud “American moment.”

A wonderful way to bring the week in Munich to a close.

*sigh*

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