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.

Berlin Day 2 - July 18 - Nina and Noah

Noah and Nina- 

    The date was Monday, June 18th. And this was to be our second excursion into the heart of the city, Berlin.

    We woke up this morning, had breakfast, and jumped on the train to be led by Wolfgang, Lene's father, on a tour of the city. We stopped by some cool buildings, like a memorial for victims of war and violence, the Brandenburg Gate. The gate is a symbol of the Berlin and German division during the Cold War, it's now a symbol of peace and unity in Germany. 

     We went to two Holocaust Memorials today, one was for the murdered European Sinti and Roma, groups of gypsies. The other was 2711 big, stone blocks. They represented the graves of the Jews that did not receive a proper grave. Each block had a different height, length, and position. 

     In between the memorials, we went to the Reichstag building. It is the meeting place of the German parliament. We had an audio guide of the glass dome. It gave an amazing view of the city. 

     After we got kicked out because we were loitering, we went to the Mall of Berlin. We spent 2 hours shopping and doing whatever we wanted in the mall. When it was time to meet up, a sort of a flash mob began. Of course some people in our group wanted to join in. At first they had the Cupid Shuffle playing, which many of us danced to, then the group who had started the flash mob did a dramatic interpretation of a story of life with and without Jesus. It was a very interesting dance.

     We took an underground train from the mall to our stop for a river tour on the River Spree. Once our boat finally came, we were given dinner and amazing views of the city. 

     After the tour, everyone went back to the hostel. We all said goodbye to Carly, since she was leaving early. Then we went to our rooms to hang out and write blogs (like this one!) until we went to bed for the night.

    Over all, we would say that it was a pretty good day and we look forward to what time we have left here before we fly back home.

                     -Nina and Noah

Berlin: Day 1 A.K.A The Wall - July 17 - Isaac Dean & Olivia Young

The first half of the day was a car ride with a stop at Marienborn (the east/west German checkpoint).

Olivia: In the van I sat next to Sydney and Jakob and we slept the entire way. It was pretty cool because we could walk into the buildings that they used to check the cars. There was one room where the cars would drive over a grate and the would be people below checking to make sure they weren't smuggling anything. 

Isaac: the car ride was lit, cause we were jammin' to High School Musical, but that's beside the point. While everyone was looking at the stuff Olivia mentioned; Jacob, Noah, and I walked across the lot to a watchtower-thing that was on the ground and we explored that for a while. I thought it was super cool. The whole things was a neat experience. It represents a time of darkness in history but it's nice to know we can learn about it so something like it never happens.

We arrived in Berlin to our hostel and had an hour to rest and unpack.

After that we went to the wall. The Berlin Wall. The wall that separated East Berlin from West Berlin.

Olivia: On the wall there were many different paintings. They wee suppose to have different interpretations but I didn't understand most of them. But the art was really cool to look at. There were some that were really colorful and others that were dark and weird. We were supposed to take a picture of one that we though was cool. I choose one that was a car breaking though the wall. I don't really know why I choose it, I just liked it. 

Isaac: Same, Olivia. Most of those artistic metaphors went right over my head. They still looked rad though. I chose one that looked like a demented Dr. Suess thing.

We then ate schnitzel at a schnitzel place

Olivia and I both agree: it was dope.

We ended the day with apple strudel back at the hostel. It was okay. Real sub-par.

Now we're blogging.

Now we're blogging about blogging. 

Woah.

Meta.

In all seriousness: today was a very educational day, and we learned a lot about the separation of Germany and the dark times it entailed.

- Isaac "SnaPoint" Dean

 &

- Olivia "Forever Young" Young

Waterskiing / German BBQ - July 16 - Matthew Edwards

As most people know Wednesday and Thursday I was in a wheelchair for most of the day against what I wanted. I never like being helped especially when I'm injured but after those two days I've found out that when you are in need their will always be people out their to help you. This was the first time I've been in a wheelchair and the main thing I didn't like about it was having to have people push me around I didn't really have much control over where I was going and when I did I wasn't moving that fast. Being confined to a wheelchair gave me a new look too people who need them, I never think about when having to go into buildings the stairs that lead to them I just think of it as oh there are stairs that's fine but when you're in a wheelchair it's always a challenge when coming up on stairs and how almost no set of stairs have anything to help you get up them. 

Today we went to a waterskiing area and it was very different then I expected. I expected it to be a big lake and have boats for us to get on and have the ski's attached to a rope connected to the boat. It was more of just a pond with ropes and towers circling the pond. To get started you were on a green platform and you would crouch down into a squatting position and hold onto the rope once it would run into the first tower it would accelerate you forward and you would have to stay in that position for the first turn then you could stand up. If you wanted to you could do jumps but none of us did any of them.(insert a 2 pictures of the pond and someone going on the course). 

After we did that we had a barbecue which had a lot of different German foods that we could choose from.

Hamburg - July 15 - Will Zimmerman

Even though Dan and Annette said today should be a rest day, Simon, Hanna, Luke and I decided we wanted to go to Düsseldorf. Last minute change: Hamburg instead. 

Long drive there, nevertheless, we strolled around the shopping centers and streets. Ate lunch at a fancy pants Italian joint called Vapiano. Muy delicioso. The afternoon was mainly shopping, walking around the harbor, and going to the Apple Store because Simon's phone was whack. Hamburg was very crowded. Full of shoppers and traffic. We ate dinner at a rest stop at the way back at a döner place. They messed up Simon's order but still good food. Had fun in the car and on the autobahn. Hamburg is a neat place. Had a lot of fun today!

Wewelsburg - Carly Kutschbach

Wewelsburg Castle

Wewelsburg Castle

Today, was the most somber and serious day of the trip so far. We went to Wewelsburg Castle. This was the base for the Nazi SS Regime. It was the location that Hitler chose to use as a school for his SS officers. They use it now as a museum and memorial. It is important that we learn about the SS as well as the survivors; this is because it is the only way we can understand how such a thing as the holocaust could happen, as well as remember that the SS officers were not evil aliens but average men that entered the Nazi  regime as a simple step in their lives. 

Propaganda

We started by looking at the ideology and propaganda of the Nazis. They believed that the Aryan/German race was the superior race. They retold the history of Europe to make it seem that everything originated from the German tribes. They painted the picture of a perfect and peaceful world that had only German blood, people with blonde hair and blue eyes. They ranked people by their eye color, skin color, structure, and nationality. They blamed problems on those who did not fit the perfect aryan race. They blamed other races for "infecting" the aryan race. The Nazi plan was to purify Germany, and eventually all of Europe. 

It began by riding Germany of disabled people. Then it grew to any person who was not Catholic or Christian, homosexual, or against the Nazi regime- for any reason. 

Propaganda

However, what was special about this museum was its focus on the SS officers. We read on the lives of many officers. They all had different biographies, different lives, and different reasons to join the force. None of the reasons to join the force included being murderers. In the end, people blamed Hitler for it all. But was he the sole person to blame? Did he truly kill millions of people by himself? No. So the SS is blamed. However, can you blame only the SS officers? There were many forced behind Hitler that weren't only SS officers: gestapo and German police. We also have to look at the public, because in reality they were not ignorant to all that occurred; they watched the Jews and prisoners be marched to concentration camps, they saw the distraction and disappearance of neighbors. Still, we can't blame everyone. Because what happened was terrible, the Nazi regime as a whole is to blame. 

Prisoner Hat

Prisoner Uniform

SS Officer Uniform

It was surreal to look at real SS uniforms next to the uniforms of those in concentration camps. To look at the pins and jewelry of the men and women who belonged to or supported the Nazis. 

SS Officer Hat

But the most chilling part was the castle itself. The Nazis used it as the center for the SS, as I said before. They built the North tower for rituals. The ground floor was a dome shaped room made of stone. The center held an eternal flame and above was a Swastika. Now the flame has been removed and if you stand in the center and speak it is like surround sound, your voice blasts in your ears. Also, if you speak towards the wall, the sound travels across the room, directly to the other side of the room. It was chilling to stand there and hear the echoes of a million voices in a dark dome. The room directly above it was more formal looking. In the center of the floor was the "black sun" a symbol that was in the marble floor. It is unknown what the Nazis or SS used such rooms for. However, the symbols are so powerful that pictures are not allowed to be taken. We were told that current Nazis still visit the tower to worship the symbols and feel the power inside the rooms. They are not allowed to do this but it is hard to spot Nazis, especially because most of the symbols of the Nazi regime are illegal. 

Next, we went to the memorial part of the museum that focused on the concentration camp that was next to the castle. The prisoners of the camp were used to construct and fix the castle. The camp had an extremely high death rate of 1:3. We watched a film on the liberation of the camps; seeing the dead bodies as well as starving people cry as they were carried out and fed. There were interviews to listen to from the men that survived this camp. 

However, the camp does not still stand today. Two buildings that were apart of the camp have now been turned into houses that people currently live in and where the fire department stays. 

There is a memorial that has been placed. It is in the shape of a triangle, made by many small triangles to symbolize the triangles that the prisoners wore that labeled them. We placed flowers on the memorial and prayed. 

Concentration Camp Memorial

It was a very somber day, as we learned about such a mass genocide. We walked the floors that the Nazis did; as well as stood on the ground that the prisoners died on. It was all very surreal. But it is important to learn. So maybe one day we can learn from the past. 

I ask you all now to take a moment to pray for those who lost their lives on the ground we walked on, for all of the people killed by the Nazi regime all across the world. As well as the families and survivors. May God mend the souls of those that were destroyed by this terrible time, and the people who died rest in peace.

Köln/Cologne - Isaac Dean

Today we went to Köln, it didn't smell nearly as strong as I expected. Get it? 'Cause it's pronounced cologne and cologne smells strong. That's beside the point though:

First thing I see after I step out of the train station is this massive cathedral. The Dom as they call it. I have only heard tale of this place and lemme tell ya: it's rad yo, but we'll get to that later.

First we went to the sports museum and learned about the first Olympic Games in Greece, and their political significance. Then they tied that in with the two Olympic Games that were held in Germany, first being held in Berlin during the Nazi regime and the second in Munich under a democratic west German government. Those were also politically significant as the first was Hitler's plot to make Germany seem okay and the second to actually show that Germany was all good again.

Dirk Nowitzki

We ate some lunch, I ate most of Noah's fries, and turned my coke bottle into a geyser.

After that we had a little shopping time, I pushed Mathew around (which he enjoyed because I'm the best at maneuvering his wheelchair) then we met back at the Dom.

Dom

Okay, this cathedral is the bomb diggity. They started building this thing in the 1200's and now they're still restoring it because it's sort of crumbling apart, but the massiveness of this church isn't the main attraction, it's what is on the inside that counts: they claim to have the bones of the three wise men. As our tour guide said though (and I'm paraphrasing here) "we aren't even sure if the wise men were a thing, it just says some guys came and gave gold, incense, and myrrh,". The tomb they are in is pretty sick though. It's all gold and it looks like a house so there is some mad symbolism going on there. There was also this stained-glass window that was one made free World War Two that we talked about. Old people generally hated it and the young folk loved it. Overall, it was a pretty dope cathedral.

Group Photo at Dom

After that I ate McDonald's and wanted to die afterwards as I had eaten such a massive amount. 

The train ride back was awesome. That Noah kid is a cool dude. So are Olivia and Nina, I sat with them too. To be completely honest; everyone on this trip is a freakin' sweet homie. Germans and Americans. I think I speak for the whole group when I say we're all having a blast together.

And on a closing note I'd like to say to all of my fellow Americans on this trip: HAH, IN YOUR FACE, I BLOGGED LAST, I WIN THE GAME.

- Isaac "SnaPoint" Dean