Here is the day by day story:
Friday February 28th:
We got off of the train in Charlottenberg, which is a part of West Berlin. We stayed at a place called Happy Go Lucky Hotel, which was pretty darn cool. It had paintings on the side of it. This was my favorite.
I hope everyone knows that this is from the movie "The Shining."
That night we all went out on the town. It was awesome.
Saturday, March 1st:
On this day, we went to the Brandenburger Tor and the memorial for Nazi conflict in Berlin. I was so happy to see the gate. Just thinking about what it represents gave me chills! I got a lot of pictures of the gate. Here is my favorite one! Here is a full album of the Brandenburger Tor.
We then went to the Nazi conflict memorial, which was very cool. In my opinion, Germany has done a wonderful job of putting the past behind while still commemorating and remembering it. After we visited this memorial, a pretty cool thing happened. Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, was leaving a hotel right next to the Brandenburger Tor. I didn't get to see her with my own eyes, but it was cool to see the big crowd of Germans gathering to see her.
Sunday, March 2:
Today we had a free day! A few of the American ladies and I went to the DDR museum. It was so amazing, it is one of the most interactive museums in the world, or so I think I was told somewhere. This museum was dedicated to showing you how life was in East Germany during the Cold War. The trip to Berlin definitely opened my eyes to how severe and heartbreaking the Wall was for the city.
Monday, March 3:
On this day, we first went to the Deutsche Historischen Museum, which was very very interesting. I looked at German history all the way from 500 BC to present day. It is amazing just how extensive the history is, compared to American history. Also during this day, we went to a memorial for a group of soldiers who tried to assassinate Hitler. If you remember the movie "Valkyrie", this is the same group from the movie. It was very cool. We then visited another museum where we saw where a group of Jewish people hid during the war. The room was very tiny and dark. I couldn't imagine being stuck in there for so long.
That evening, we visited the Bundestag, which is the capital building of Germany. It was amazing! We saw where Angela Merkel did her work there and also the German Parliament. Here are some pictures of the Bundestag.
Tuesday March 4:
This day we went to Checkpoint Charlie. For those of you who don't know what that is, it was the checkpoint during the Cold War between the East German border and the United States controlled part of Berlin. A very famous tank standoff between the Americans and the East Germans happened here. Many people believe that if the tanks would have fired, World War III would have started. Here is a photo.
We also visited Potsdamer Platz which was no man's land during the Cold War. Now it is full of new buildings and shops. Later, we went to Topographie des Terrors which is located right next to part of the Wall that is still standing. In here they told a lot about the Jewish opposition during World War II. At one point I started to feel sick from reading all of the things that happened.
It really hit me hard here just how violent Germany's history is. I feel bad for current Germans because I think they have to put up with a lot of stereotypes from others.
Later that night, we went to a play called "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder" or in English "Mother Courage and her Children". It was really cool, however it was a three hour play and in German so I kind of just zoned out a bit.
Wednesday, March 5th:
This day, we went to the Jewish Museum. This was really cool. We had to go through security when we got there. This also happens at the Jewish synagogue in Berlin. Jewish places are very secure. The museum was really amazing, it was built to look like a broken star of David from above. A lot of the museum focused on Jewish oppression but a lot of it was also just normal history of the Jewish people. Here is a picture of a memorial for the Jewish people. It was very interesting.
After this we went to the Mauermuseum, or the Berlin Wall museum. This was really cool. A lot of the wall is still standing here and there is also still a watch tower on the East Berlin side. At this museum I learned about the people who lost their lives trying to escape to the West. It was heartbreaking. I didn't realize how lucky I am to have my freedom until visiting the Wall.
That night, Frau Arens invited us to come swing dancing with her. Four of the girls including me and two of the guys went with her. It was really fun! I learned how to do the basics of swing dancing (which is a lot different in Berlin than it is in Montana). When we were close to leaving a balding man with a bow tie asked me to dance. He was amazing and for the first time all night I finally felt amazing because I could pretend I knew how to swing dance.
After this, Professor Arens and her friends left and one of the American boys went to another part of the city. The rest of us had other plans. I had my first Berlin night club experience! Sorry mom and dad, and grandmas, but I must tell the story of the nightclub!! Haha. So we get there at about 9 or 10 ish, and there are still not many people there. It is free ladies night and also 2 for 1 drinks so we were pretty excited (except for the one guy with us). It was odd because the security getting in was very tight. I showed them my passport and had to dump out my water bottle just in case it was Vodka (it was water). Us four ladies noticed that no one was on the dance floor, so we went out and started dancing. We were all wondering why nobody else was dancing, but we didn't really care. Eventually more people came and the music got louder, there were flashing lights, it was so much fun! I would totally do it again given the opportunity (OK mom and dad, you can take off your earmuffs now).
Thursday, March 6th:
On this day we went to Potsdam. It is about 20 minutes outside of Berlin by train. Potsdam was beautiful and very historical. We had a tour of the historical part of town, in German of course, so once again I didn't learn all that much because I didn't know what he was saying. The tour guide was very nice however, and you could tell he was very passionate. He had a name tag on that said "Potsdam l(i)eber" which pretty much means, resident of Potsdam, Potsdam lover. It was cute. After the tour we went to the University of Potsdam. This was really cool. The University itself is not that old but it is built in a very old part of Potsdam. We had an international admissions woman talk about going to school there in the future. They have a masters program for Accounting, so I was pretty darn excited because I could totally see myself living in Potsdam in the future.
After the University visit, we went to Schloss Sanssouci, or the Sanssouci Castle. It was amazing. It was built in the 1700's and it was where Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia, lived. It was so amazing inside. We went from room to room with an audio tour and got to see original furniture that this king used to sit in, the flute he used to play, everything. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. However this whole trip has felt like a fairy tale so far! Here is a picture of the castle.
Friday, March 7th:
On Friday the group took it easy. We went to the East Side Gallery which is a part of the wall still standing with beautiful works of art on it. Unfortunately a lot of people vandalize it and put graffiti over the artworks. I was kind of upset about this.
This was my favorite painting on the Wall. It is a very powerful image of two politicians kissing. Someone decided to write "Faggots" over it, but I think the image is much more powerful than the word.
After the East Side Gallery we went to a different part of Berlin, if I recall it was called Kreutz(something). It was an interesting part of town. The streets were tiny and there was a ton of graffiti. It seemed kind of sketchy but in a cool kind of way. After this, we went back to the hostel. I went to a grocery store with my friend Tylyn and we got snacks for the next day's train ride. While we were there a man said to us "Hallo schöne Damen," which means "Hello pretty ladies." I was both flattered and proud that I understood what he said! Also in this store, we met this scary American biker man. He ended up being kind of a jerk. He didn't speak any German but he lives in Berlin, and he doesn't plan on learning it. I was upset by this because he seemed like one of those people who would get upset at someone going to America and not knowing how to speak English. He also tried to start talking politics, specifically about Obama doing a bad job. In my head I was thinking, The last thing I want to do right now is have a political debate about American politics in the middle of a German supermarket. So Tylyn and I awkwardly walked away from that situation.
After the grocery store we went to a bank to get money. I was having problems with my card but finally figured out how to get some cash. I also called my parents off of my friend's phone. It was nice to hear their voices. I miss them a lot!
Saturday, March 8:
We woke up early on this day to catch our train to Vienna! More stories about this to come.
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