Berlin Day 3 - July 19 - Katie Doty/Hannah Gardner

   Greetings to all our friends and families back home! Today Hannah and I, Katie Doty, were chosen to write the blog! We decided to write the blog in our own perspectives. So I will go first then Hannah. I hope you enjoy our blog of our last full day! 

   We started our day with breakfast at the hostel then hopped on the train to the inner city. Then we met Wolfgang and Suzanna and took a look at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

 The inside was beautifully decorated with ornate mosaics and tributes to the Kaiser.

 After that we walked to a mall but on the way we got Dunkin Donuts! When we got to the mall we split into groups and were given about 40 minutes to shop. I went with Annette and my dad and we went to various souvenir shops! 

    The group then boarded the train to Checkpoint Charlie! When we got there we had to walk a little farther to get to the old checkpoint. Once we got there you were able to take pictures at the guard post, which was in the middle of the street. So we got a huge group picture!

 Then we took a short walk over to the Jewish Museum Berlin. Once we were inside we were split into two groups for a workshop. The workshop started with an ice breaker where we had to line up according to how far away from Berlin you where born. Seeing as how I was born in Indiana I was the farthest away. Next we sat in a circle and talked about what we knew about the Jewish people in Germany during the time period between 1933 and 1945. After that we looked at comics depicting immigration. In small groups we had to decide what they were saying because there were no words. Then we explained to the whole group what we thought the picture meant and as we went around the group the pictures turned into a story. After that we had a short break to have a snack! Once that was over we walked to the exhibit and looked around a bit.

 We then walked out into their Garden of Exile. In my mind the garden represented exile because there were very tall stone blocks with plants at the top and the plants were overgrown so you couldn't quite see the sun. I thought this was significant because when you are sent into exile I can be hard to see a way out. [ pic of garden] we then went back inside a wrote letters as if we were people in the time between 1933-1945. After that we passed back the letters to different people and we had to pick out a certain phrase or word we really liked. Then we had to act out that phrase. Once everybody went we acted them out all at one time. Then our workshop was over. I really enjoyed our time at the museum and would like to go back to see the whole exhibition. 

   After we left the museum we split into groups and did more shopping! Although the some of us went to a trampoline arena, I decided to go explore the city of Berlin! All in all Berlin has been amazing and so has our entire trip. Our trip has been an awesome experience and I can't wait to be back! PS- Love you Mom, Sean and Kristian! Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

  Heya! Hannah here. Today started with a bang, it more like the aftermath of one. We went to the remaining portion of the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church. It was only a fraction of what it used to be, but the part that was left was artistically stunning and opulent. It makes you wonder what it truly looked like before the war. 

After that we got Dunkin Donuts! Sugar is a welcome addition to any group of teenagers. We went shopping again after this. After our shopping spree, we headed off to the Jewish Museum. 

We were all split into two groups. The focus of our workshop was emigration and what the Jewish community went through leading up to and during WWII. After examining a comic describing a man’s journey, we examined the building’s layout and as our guide encouraged, it's visitors. The people we saw were very subdued and thoughtful, at a lot of the memorials you see in Berlin, you always hear children laughing and playing. I always found that comfort in see the ability to bring life to something so sad, while I am sure others would find it insensitive. This wasn't the case in the garden of exile (see photo above of the garden) the garden of exile was an unsettling place because the entire garden was built on a steep decline but it was made in a way that you couldn't see the changes until you were stumbling through the maze of concrete pillars. 

After going through the garden, we started on some more creative outlets in the workshop. We were given twenty minutes to write a letter from the viewpoint of a Jewish person from 1933-1945.

After the writing we exchanged letters and tried to physically express one of the sentences or ideas of the letter. 

After the workshop, we all met up again and the group decided to take two different paths, go to a trampoline park or go explore Berlin some more. I chose to go to the trampoline park because I sometimes has the soul of a 5 year old and I have the pigtails to prove it. 

I was the only American in the group. The group was comprised of myself, Lene, Ann, Eli, Eli ( both pronounced differently), Isabel, and Leander. 

The park was fantastic for one hour we were able to jump in foam pits, play dodgeball with strangers (I promise it was more fun than it sounds) and jump to our heart's content. We also found out that one of the staff members was from New York, which was pretty cool. 

After an hour of joy, we got food and came back to the hostel. Berlin is an awesome city and this has been an amazing trip! Thanks for the memories that will last a lifetime.