Hot Takes
Germany is super different from what I’m used to. First of all, the other German students dress a little more formally. I could count on one hand the number of students I’ve seen with athletic shorts. For someone with no fashion sense, it’s tough to be denied your go-to outfit. For another thing, it feels like you have to pay for everything. Free bathrooms and water fountains are a scarcity, so you really have to plan out the little things about your day. Berlin is also a lot more diverse than I thought. There are so many different cultures here, with communities such as Turkish, Vietnamese, or Middle Eastern. It’s weird to hear so many people speaking German, especially when your mind thinks of English as the classic language.
As a whole, however, I love being here. There have been setbacks, like figuring out transportation, money, and getting hit by a car (with minimal injury, by what I can only imagine is the grace of God). My host family is nice, and we’ve been speaking German most of the time. For more complex conversations, like about politics or current events, we’ll use English. The experience of living in a large city is a new one to me, and it’s great to have so much to do within about an hour of me. We’ve already been to the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Berlin Zoo, and a Fußball match (as they call it) in the Olympic stadium, to name a few. Public transportation allows us to get to pretty much anywhere in the city, and while it may take longer than driving, it’s very easy to use and navigate.
Classes are a bit different than what I’m used to. For one, going to school in a secular atmosphere is a lot different than what I’ve been doing for the last six years, so it’s a lot to get used to. It’s very interesting to see what an education in this atmosphere is like. Josiah and I are taking a German class, an Art and Dictatorship class, and a Pop Culture class. Each class heavily involves German culture and has field trips every couple of weeks, something that MLC does not have, but really should (@prezgurgel).
Otherwise, things are going well. Josiah and I have been exploring Germany, and have been working on some future trips that we’re excited about. The highlight of the past weekend was our trip to Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Reformation. We put the day to the fullest use we could. We managed to visit the Lutherhaus, Melanchthon’s house, the Castle Church, the Stadt Church, and the Assisi Panorama, and topped it off with a short organ concert. As a whole, the history of everything we see is just staggering. Everything seems to have a rich past that is just waiting to be discovered.
That’s all for now. Attached are a couple pictures of my time. These are just a few first impressions of the city, and I’m sure these will change a lot more in the coming days. Bis später!
