Final Days In Germany

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The wunderbar semester has been finished and I have returned home. Dirk, the head of the FUBEST program told us that the true effects of our experiences and hard work abroad will reveal itself in time. It is good to be home, though much of the culture and opportunities Germany offered will be missed.

After mid-semester break I went to southern Germany and stayed in a town called Garmisch Partenkirche. Sitting in the midst of the Alps, it is breathtaking whether it is bright and sunny or snowing. There is plenty of mountain climbing adventures and skiing for those interested, as well as great cafés and Bavarian dining in town.

Afterwards I toured the towns around Berlin, which are a great, quiet retreat from the everyday hustle and bustle. Germany certainly gets excited for Christmas, with many huge Christmas markets taking up the open areas and whole city blocks. Tons of candy, cookies, and delicious glühwein (wine with Christmas spices, served hot) are sold alongside Christmas decorations and gifts. My first taste of glühwein was when someone brought it to class and the teacher excitedly urged them to share it, and I was eager to make some myself for my family.

Demands were high during finals week, requiring ten page papers for each class and several essays for the exams, but I reviewed everything taught in class and did fine. The FUBEST program does a great job inside and outside the classroom and everyone involved really cares. There was even a farewell dinner with the faculty attending.

I’m grateful everyday that this experience evolved from a poster on campus catching my eye a year ago to the Berlin semester which I was able to complete. The huge boost to my German language skills alone made the time abroad worthwhile. I hope to see a few MLC students taking this opportunity each semester and receiving its exciting benefits.

An update from Berlin

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We have just passed the mid-semester break and before long we will be seeing Christmas decorations. Experiencing this in another culture, as well as the 500 year anniversary of the 95 Theses in Germany is a huge blessing. The days are packed with classes, exploration, and university/social activities.

Like Henry and Karl, I take three hours of German class every morning and two afternoon subject courses, with no class on Fridays. I live with a host mother in southwest Berlin, just six train stops and five bus stops from the university (not actually that far!) What surprised me the most is the mix of ethnicities in Berlin and abundantly finding nearly all comforts of home, such as fast Internet and safe neighborhoods. Any thoughts about Germany being all about business should go out the window, the city does not go to sleep! I enjoy the casual stroll through beautiful autumn parks or through the many diverse neighborhoods with a cold beer in hand. A few dozen of us in the study abroad program (FU BEST) went to Wittenberg a month ago (cathedral below,) after which I went to Munich. I spent my excursion week in Dresden and Prague and was finally able to see some very cool castles.

I flew down to Rome (below) for our week off, and it was amazing to visit. The weather was perfect and there were countless things to see, after which I could relax with some Italian food and wine. Like Berlin, it is easy to stay there, since many people speak English. The more casual approach to public transportation makes the subway extremely crowded and made me appreciate Berlin’s much more. Going inside the Sistine Chapel and seeing Michaelangelo’s paintings above me was my favorite moment.

Berlin is a great place for finding things to do. As was mentioned before, the food here can be surprisingly good, with treats such as döners and currywurst immediately catching our attention. Every Thursday the university program has Stammtisch, during which we meet in a pre-selected bar and relax after a week of studying. Berlin is full of history, but for the true German environment the many other cities in Germany are more genuinely like the old country. Studying abroad, or traveling in general is a great experience which I highly recommend. It not only renews interest in the world around, but in the evangelical work we continually strive for, as well.

Herzliche Grüße von Berlin!

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I’m sorry to have kept everyone waiting. The time is flying here, but I finally got around to writing this. One of the things that I like the most about our experience at FU-Best, is that they give us so many different travel opportunities. Henry already mentioned how we have long weekends for traveling, and we just got back from a weekend in Munich. One of the other opportunities we had was a week-long trip to Dresden and Prague.

Dresden was one of my favorite places that I’ve been, although to be honest, so many of the places we’ve seen have left an amazing impression. Dresden, we stayed at a hostel on the southern edge of the old city. This made it very easy for us to walk almost anywhere in the city. The old city was where many of the iconic sights are located such as the Historic Green Vault, and the Frauenkirche. The old city was completely destroyed during a firebomb raid at the end of WWII, but after the reunification of Germany, an impressive amount of time and resources went into restoring it, which has led to a beautiful downtown area. During the day we toured the city, and at night we would venture north of the river into the new city (which is really older due it not being bombed) to experience the nightlife there. The new city was a vibrant neighborhood that was ethnically diverse and full of people. My favorite event in Dresden was the concert that I got to see at the Frauenkirche with Henry and our new friend Andy Lopez from Santa Barbara CA.

Prague was a beautiful city and only 5 hours from Berlin with Dresden making a perfect halfway point.  The school arranged for us to stay in an international hotel that provided breakfast and dinner which was nice for a bunch of college students trying to hold some semblance of a budget while abroad.

Our first full day in Prague was Tuesday when we got a tour of the Jewish quarter.  It rained the entire time, and so I was thankful to sit in a warm restaurant and treat myself to some traditional Czech food.  That afternoon we went to a museum for the communist past of the Czech people where our tour guide gave us firsthand personal stories of what it was like.  On Wednesday we toured Hradcany castle on the hill above town.  We got to see the imperial residences as well as the cathedral and even the window where the defenestration of Prague took place.  On Thursday we got to see Karlstejn castle.  This along with the Wartburg gave us a great taste of what medieval castles were like.  We weren’t allowed to go into the main tower, however.  Because of the artwork inside, they would only admit 15 people per hour.  That night Henry, Andy and I went to a concert in St. George’s Basilica in Hradcany castle.  On Friday we toured the old town hall, enjoyed a free afternoon, and went on a jazz boat for the evening.

We have been in Germany for 52 days now.  Our conversation skills are starting to catch up with our grammar skills.  We are language mavens after all (professor Balge’s words, not mine).  As always thinking of vocabulary on the fly is probably the hardest part of a conversation.  We’re learning though.  It’s been a tremendous experience so far, and we’re only halfway through.

 

Hello from Berlin!

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We have been here for a little over three weeks now, and the experience has been incredible. Now that the jet lag is long gone and our lives are becoming a bit more routine we can start looking back on everything that we have done and seen since we got here. The day after we arrived we were already on our way to school to begin the orientation week. Our first week of “school” was just a series of meetings, and syllabi reviews but it was intermingled with various tours around the city. We took a boat tour and a walking tour during our first weekend which really helped us get our bearings and showed us a little of what Berlin has to offer.

One of our favorite things about Germany is the food. Berlin is a melting pot of so many different cultures and with that comes the best food from each. Döner is a Berlin staple and it may be the greatest thing I have ever eaten. There are food stands everywhere here and not only is the food amazing but its cheap and quite a few stands are open all night.

Karl and I live with the same host family about an hour away from our school by public transportation. Having to take a train, the subway, and a bus to get to class every morning has been a very new experience. Everyone starts off the school day with a three hour german class from 9-12 every day. Afterwards Karl and I have two and a half hour long subject course in the afternoons on Monday and Thursday. We are taking Exploring Classical Music and Themes and Issues in Transatlantic Relations. Those classes only meet once a week and its kind of nice to get it all out of the way at once. There is no school on Friday’s with the exception of occasional field trips near Berlin. The three day weekends make it much easier to do long distance travel throughout Europe.

Karl and I live on the far west side of Berlin in a district called Charlottenburg. Our host parents’ names are Drago and Maria and they have two daughters who are already out of the house. They have been very understanding of our busy and chaotic schedule and love to help us practice our german around the house. They both speak english well and have taught us quite a bit of conversational german. As we get a little further into our german studies we are going to try to switch over to only german with our hosts but for now we’ll stick to a few words and phrases. We are both excited to see how far our german progresses over the course of the semester.

 

Karl and I haven’t ventured out of Berlin yet but we have some big travel ideas coming up in the following weeks so look for another blog soon!

Tschüss,

Henry