Being Home!

      We have been home for almost two weeks now. After getting into the Nashville airport I learned my luggage never made the connection and had to head back to TTU for an SGA Meeting at 9:15. We pulled into Murphy at 9:03, and I was at the meeting by 9:12. Dedication at its finest. My luggage made it to me just after midnight, so with the time change I had been up for just over 24 hours. Needless to say the 9 am class the next day did not happen. The Jetlag only lasted for about 4 days, but getting my motivation back took just a little longer, so sorry I am just now posting this.

      It was odd being back because yes we had been on Spring Break, and it was amazing and I would happily do it again, but we did so much stuff it never really slowed down, so coming back and jumping straight back into things felt a little odd. I only just now got all of my luggage really unpacked and put away in its proper place. People ask me how the trip was and it's so odd to cram 9 days worth of traveling into a 5 minute conversation. I went hoarse the first few days we were back from talking about the trip so much.      

      Overall, the trip was far more amazing than I could have ever expected, granted I don't really know what I was expecting. The highlight of the trip for me was being able to hold a conversation with the man on the Metro Train, but when I went to the Kardstat I realized just how much German I didn't know. Hearing about all of the history was probably my favorite thing. I can't pick out one piece of it because there was just so much. It was so neat though to see all of the history we have learned about since middle school.

       The trip was amazing, our group was awesome, and the memories were unforgettable! Thank you to everyone who made this trip as great as it was!

Auf Wiedersehen!

-C

Final Days!

The last two days we were allowed to go off in our groups and see the sights by ourselves. Sunday morning Elizabeth and I made an American Breakfast for our host family. I woke up around 6 trying to pull together supplies for pancakes before the 4 year old woke up. After about 45 minutes I had only succeeded in finding flour, sugar, and milk. Not only are their baking supplies labeled differently, but they also measure things by grams. It was a rocky start with conversions, but it ended well! It was made even more fun because the boys helped with the pancakes while Elizabeth made eggs.

After this we all met up with Stefano one more time to learn a little bit more about the Wall. The area we were in had a wall reconstruction to show what "No-Mans-Land" would have looked like.

A time line on the construction of the wall leading into a reconstructed part of the wall.

Looking at No Man's Land from above

A crack in the reconstructed wall looking into No Man's Land.

 There were also pictures showing the construction of the wall, including pictures of it finished with signs asking guards on the East Side not to shoot at people who were looking over from the West.

One of the most moving things that I saw there was a statue that had been put up in all of the places the wall had done the most damage. It was a way of remembrance for those who had died, families that had been torn apart, and the general destruction the wall had caused.

We got a chance to go up into this tower which allowed us too look over all Berlin, and even though it was a kind of gray day, the sight was really something.

Apparently the weather that we had the last two days in Berlin was more spot on for how it should of been during this time of year. I was a much bigger fan of the sunny mid 50s, but the city was still pretty non the less. 

After we split up we walked around the Berliner Dom again and ate a bakery around there. We really didn't stay out too much that day because the wind was strong enough to blow someone over.

The next day we met up with some different people from the group and went from Hermanplatz too the KaDeWe which is one of the largest department stores in Germany. It was 7 stories tall with everything from Tiffany and Co and the bottom to an entire floor dedicated too books and toys, with restaurants on top. On one floor they had it divided up by countries and what food they were known for. In case you're wondering American's are known for Oreos, Angry Bird Fruit Snacks, and Poptarts. 

We got food after this, (even in Berlin sketchy Chinese food is still sketchy Chinese food-lesson learned) and then went to the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island. Students get discounts and so I showed the woman my Student I.D. but she was still really skeptical on if I was a student or not. I wouldn't really think there would be a market for fake college ID's, but the world is full of surprises. My favorite part of the museum was going through the Greek History. The Pergamon has some of the largest reconstructions of Greek buildings in the world. It was really interesting to hear how they were able to find and reconstruct them, and even now they still move pieces if they realize they misinterpreted a section. 

When we got home that night I went to the Kardstat, which is the grocery store across the street which isn't as big as the KeDeWe, but still pretty large. I wanted to get some stuff to bring home, except this time I didn't have someone with me whose German level was higher than mine. I was looking for Schnitzel mix but wasn't quite sure where to look. When I asked for help they verbed in ways I didn't even know existed. When I got back I learned that I had picked up Schnitzel Sauce, but that you can make your own Schnitzel breading and it's not too hard. Is there a German version of Pinterest where I could find that?

We went to a really fantastic Indian restaurant for dinner that night. I don't quite know what I got, but it was really good. The restaurant was too far away for us to walk, so we used one of the rent a car systems to get there.

Don't ever let a German tell you their car is big.

First we took a mini cooper, then getting home it was a 4 door, and that one wasn't nearly as tight. I spent the rest of the night pulling my stuff together for plane ride. The next morning we had a really nice breakfast with our entire host family before setting off!

  We've been back for a week now and I think I am officially over the last of my jet-lag! Like the majority of my other trips, I love to live in the moment then come home and reflex upon my experiences during the excursion. Germany was amazing. I, especially, loved Berlin. Hamburg was awesome too, perhaps I would have liked it better if we gotten to stay longer. Anyways, the first part of the trip started out a bit rough with the non-arrival of our luggage and Elijah and me getting lost, or as he would like to say "exploring". Thankfully, the luggage all arrived and we learned how to work the public transportation system like professionals!
  My host family consisted of a mother, her boyfriend, and her two teenage sons. The mother spoke descent English, so it wasn't o difficult to communicate with her. I would say I spoke around fifty percent English and fifty percent German with her. The entire family also spoke fluent Portuguese and that was the language spoken at home, the majority of the time. With the rest of the family, I had to speak mostly German. One of the biggest realizations to me while I was in Germany, was still how much little German I know. They were a lovely family, whom I really enjoyed staying with.
  I know this is stemming from me being from the South, but it was a bit difficult for me that no one smiled, waved, or really acknowledged other people while on the public-transportation systems. Now, no one was ever rude or crude, but I definitely missed the casual smiles and waves and stranger small talk that one is likely to come across here in Tennessee.
  Upon arriving in Berlin, one of the first things I noticed was the graffiti. In the beginning, I was unsure what to think of it but during the duration of the stay, I came to like it and appreciate it more and more. It gave the city a since of its own character and self-expression. I loved looking at the art and pondering what the artist(s) was(were) trying to express through the piece.
  I loved the public transits! I do, occasionally, miss my car, while I am traveling, however, I can say for sure since returning, that I miss the U-bahn more (shout-out to Yorckstrasse)! Plus, there was always free entertainment on the U-bahn. There were unique individuals who liked to become loud and occasionally kick and scream, while others sounded like an auctioneers, while trying to sell newspapers and the people who smoked and drank on their commute to "work". Of course, this was only a small percentage of people. I promise Berlin is safe!
 There is so much more I could say and write, but I'll end with this statement: Germany was amazing and I  

cannot wait to go back in the future!
 
 

Back in Cookeville

And ... we are back!
Apart from being tired, how do you feel?
It always seems to me that I don't have time to digest what I see, hear, eat, etc. while I am away, and then all of it catches up with me when I am back to my routine in the US.

This year's group will be very difficult to top.
I want to thank you for your interest, your punctuality, your ability to adapt to all the things foreign to you, for venturing out on your own (I am astonished by how much you did outside of our time together), your warmth and caring attitude towards each other - it was a pleasure to get to know each one of you better. Thank you for sharing your experiences on the blog, on facebook and a special thank you to Konstantine for the daily videos. They are very well done and showcase TTU's spring break better than ever before. We all look so much cooler, don't we, if you put the music to us?

As a final mini assignment, please blog about the best, the worst, the most surprising and the most memorable moments in Germany!

I hope everyone got their luggage - mine was delivered past midnight.

See you around!
love, hugs, peace and all the best,
JB

The Final Day

I can hardly believe that the trip has come to an end, it feels like we just arrived. I've seen so much these last ten days, but I feel like I also missed so much of the hidden interesting experiences of Berlin and Hamburg. I feel slightly apprehensive about leaving, as I feel I'm not ready to leave yet, but I now have a few ideas of what I will see/visit the next time I have the opportunity to visit Berlin. Today was a dreary, rainy day, but we made the most of it. Sam, Ryan and I met up with Katie, Liz, Elizabeth, and Carolyn at Hermannplatz, then we visited the Olympic Stadion. After that we explored the KaDeWe for a while, grabbed some Döner for lunch, ran into Konstantine, Tyler and Cory, then hit the Pergamon Museum for a few hours. After that, we parted ways and Sam, Ryan and I came full circle on our trip by returning to Gendarmenmarkt and Fassbender & Rausch to purchase some chocolate. All in all, this has been an amazing trip, and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it.

 

Potsdam, Palaces, Pee-pee Breaks, Oh My!

Better late than never for blog posts, yes?

Potsdam is a beautiful place, and the train ride there was most enjoyable. Had entertainment in the form of Carolyn waxing poetically about her hedgehog as well as the scenery on the train.

The New Palace was very impressive. Kind of bummed we weren't allowed to go in, but the architecture outside was very pretty to look at.

En route to the second of the palaces of Frederick the Great, we passed by another large classy looking building, and after successfully convincing Stefano to take a detour, we came upon the Orangerie. 

And following the interesting tidbit that that was where the royals grew their citrus, we continued on closer to Potsdam's city center.

Stefano is hilarious, and I was not at all expecting him to announce a "pee-pee break" after seeing the New Palace and the Orangerie. Also, paying for a bathroom is something I've never done, but I guess you can be sure it'll be clean that way. The traditional windmill was beautiful, and the flutist we passed wearing a French baroque outfit was pretty cool.

Following that, we went to the older of Frederick's palaces, Sans Souci, which is actually the palace he had as a child. It is very much's a boys' place, as girls weren't allowed and his wife wasn't allowed to visit it or even be buried there. Frederick was though. Him and his 11 dogs.

The really condensed story of why there are potatoes:
Frederick: "Peasants! Grow potatoes since the soil is awful here and these grow well."
Peasants: "No thanks, we're good."
Fred: "Fine. - Guards, guard a plot of potatoes."
Peasants: "It's guarded stuff. We should totally steal it."
The End

His grave had a bunch of Roman busts around it in a half-circle. Not sure why, but they look pretty.

View from the bottom looking up. In summer there's greenery all over the bars, but in winter it looks kind of like there are a bunch of little prison cells.

So from there we followed a Pepto-Bismol pink pipeline to the city center. We got about an hour and a half for lunch and exploring. I ate curry wurst for the first time, which was delicious. And then we did a little shopping too!

This was the church we met up at after lunch. It was so gorgeous on the inside, and they started organ practice while we were in there. 

Josh made a new friend in the Dutch Quarter.

After the train back to Potsdam, we broke for a while before meeting up at the Deutsches Theater to see a production of the play "Lenz." I knew absolutely nothing about the plot or background or anything. And I didn't understand 90% of what the actors said. 

But it was superb. The acting was amazing, and I was completely entranced. I tried to look up a summary of the plot later, but it was still kind of confusing. All in all, a very good day.

~Elizabeth S

Last dinner in Berlin

We have 11 euros left and are trying to avoid the ATM before going home tomorrow. Dinner for under 11?  We can do it!

Very cool website: http://www.360berlin.net/en/prenzlauer-berg-2/kastanienallee
Last minute ideas ...
Enjoy your last day!

JB

Mornings

Neither Elizabeth or I are really morning people which makes things interesting in the wake up process. 

It goes a little something like this.

However, breakfast is totally worth it!

Hamburg!

So for day 6 and 7 we went into Hamburg and stayed at a youth hostel! It took a 2 hour train ride to get there and despite it being kinda foggy the view was really interesting. Between passed out college kids and the farm land it was neat to see the transition for Berlin to the more industrial based Hamburg. So the little green thing that is going to be in some of these photos is my traveling hippo named Rupert. My friend made him for me in high school and he travels with me where ever I go!

Rupert and I waiting on the train to Hamburg with my hippo shirt on!

Rupert hanging on out the train

Sleepy roommate is sleepy

Nap time is the best time

It was interesting to see houses as we were going through because they would either be really nice and really large, or very small and shackish with a thrown  together roof. There didn't appear to be a middle ground.
The train station in Hamburg had absolutely beautiful architecture!

We took a bus tour around Hamburg to see some of the big things. 

It was really interesting but what I hadn't realized was just how much money was in Hamburg. Some of the flats started between 15,000-17,000 Euro and had no upper limit. The architecture around the entire city was absolutely beautiful!

After this we went and took a boat tour around Hamburg.

Captain Rupert Ya'll

 We sat on the outside of the boat and it was in all German so we really couldn't understand that much, but I have never seen one of those freight boats that close before. We were able to see some of the lifts working them, and also went through a canal. A lot of the shops along the water also had a spot where you could unload equipment to them from the water.

Then after this we went into the tunnel underneath the water. The city realized that instead of building a bridge over the water they could building one underneath the canal so that big boats wouldn't have to worry about a bridge, and cars and pedestrians could get across. It was really cool. However. The first time we went down we took the stairs and if you've ever seen National Treasure it was very similar to that set up. The metal stairs rounded down the side of the walls. I'm not a fan of heights, but I'm even less a fan of falling. 

A big thanks to my friends who didn't laugh at me too hard as I kept three points of contact at all times. The tunnel at the bottom was totally worth it. It was really really cool to see the elevator that lowered the cars down to the bottom.

And for those who are wondering walking back up the stairs was just as scary as walking down them. 

After this we went to the hard rock (pretty proud of my Hamburg pin) and then went back to the Hostel to get settled in.

It was like a larger, brightly colored dorm room.

It was the first time I had ever stayed in a Hostel, and it was really nice system. The only flaw is that the bathrooms are motion censored and don't pick you up if you're in the shower, so hopefully you don't shower too long! they had a really nice breakfast laid out for us in the morning before our second day of adventuring! 

We saw a lock bridge where people whisper a wish or hope then lock it up and throw the key into the river.

Past this our day was filled with churches. Honestly, a lot of the names ran together but the stained glass in all of them was gorgeous! 

Then we went to the St. Michael's Church. It was absolutely stunning. Words can't describe how beautiful and intricate it was. 

\

Please take into account the back bend I did to get this picture.

Later that day we also saw a flash mob which was really awesome to watch!

Hamburg was a great city, but I am glad to be finishing our trip off in Berlin where I can catch up on the sights I wanted to see.

It also isn't right on the water, therefore less cold.

-C