An update from Berlin
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!
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!
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
Salzburg, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Prague
On Easter Sunday afternoon, I flew from Berlin to Salzburg for a 3 day trip. A couple of my friends had gone to Salzburg earlier in the program when I was doing something else, so I went alone. But, solo travel turned out to have its own advantages. Not that I prefer it over going with friends, but it was a good experience.
I walked around the city most of Monday, with the help of TripAdvisor to know what to see. There was a big palace and garden area near my hostel called Mirabell Palace:
I wandered around a bit more and crossed the Salzach River, which flows through the city, on one of the foot bridges.
The castle you see above the city is called the Hohensalzburg Fortress, and I went there next. It was first built in 1077. From the top I had a nice view of the mountains surrounding Salzburg.
In the afternoon I went to the Schloss Hellbrun, just outside of Salzburg. It was built as a summer residence for the Archbishop of Salzburg in the 17th century. I didn’t pay to go inside, but the palace grounds had a huge green park with benches so I ate a lunch there and walked the trails a bit. The famous pavilion from the Sound of Music is also located here.
The next day I took an hour bus ride from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden, in the southern tip of Bavaria. My goal was to get a really good view of the mountains, which is the main reason I went to Salzburg. The cable car which takes you up to the very top was under repair, but I could still hike the trails to the mountains, with the Königssee sitting inside.
Back in Salzburg the next day, I saw a couple more places where the Sound of Music was filmed before my flight left in the afternoon back to Berlin. Despite the 100% chance of rain and cold temps I really enjoyed Salzburg and it might end up being my favorite European city.
Two days after I got back from Salzburg, the international program’s nine-day guided tours started. Half went to Cologne and Luxembourg, and I was in the half that went to Frankfurt and Prague, in a group of about 75. Frankfurt is a very industrialized city, with a lot of banks. The skyline doesn’t look like much compared to US skylines, but in a continent that specializes in churches and castles as opposed to skyscrapers, it’s the most prominent skyline of any in Europe. Frankfurt was mostly destroyed in WWII, but there is a cool rebuilt Old Town section in a historical part of the city:
The second day we took a day trip to Heidelberg, about an hour away. Heidelberg has Europe’s oldest university, founded in 1386.
Martin Luther was also in Heidelberg in 1518, where he took part in the “Heidelberg Disputation,” defending his teaching. We translated the disputation in Ecclesiastical Latin with Professor Fredrich freshman year, so it was cool to be there. Heidelberg also has a castle in the side of the hills:
Heidelberg probably turned out to be my favorite German city. Back in Frankfurt for another day we took a tour of the European Central Bank, the center of the Eurozone. The next day we took the train to Prague, Czech Republic. The first morning there we had a guided walking tour of the city, seeing most of the historical places. Here is the main square of the Old Town:
Other things done in Prague included a tour of the museum of Communism history and taking a boat ride through Prague at night, with a live jazz band playing on board. The day before we left back for Berlin, we took a day trip to Karlstejn, an hour and a half outside of Prague, to tour the castle there. It was the castle of Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, built in 1348. Here is a picture from the top looking down to Karlstejn.
The program’s guided tour was a really nice way to relax, as the semester is wrapping up now. We enjoyed having everything planned out for us, after being on our own for so much small group travel. Back in Berlin, I just finished my term papers on Luther/Bach and Reagan. Writing the paper on Luther and Bach turned out to be a very valuable experience, as I learned all the ways in which Bach’s music is dependent on Luther’s theology. As of today (Friday), I only have 6 more days in Berlin. Tomorrow I am going to Wittenberg for the day with a group from our international program at Freie Universität. Next Thursday I fly to Frankfurt, and Friday morning from there to Minneapolis, getting down to New Ulm in time for my sister Megan’s graduation on Saturday. I very much look forward to being back at MLC for these couple days. It’s hard to believe my semester here is just about over – I am beyond grateful for the experience it’s been and that God has kept me safe the entire way.
Tschüss,
Collin
Weeks 9-11: Eisenach, Leipzig
The days are continuing to fly by in Berlin, with so much to do in the last few weeks here. On the first weekend after Spring Break, I went to Eisenach, which is about a five and a half hour bus ride from Berlin. Eisenach is a very small town in Thuringia, a state in the middle of Germany. J.S. Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685, but I was primarily there to see the Wartburg Castle, which sits on a hill in the Thuringian Forest. After I arrived on Saturday afternoon and checked into my hostel, I walked down to the Lutherhaus at Lutherplatz, in the main part of the city.
This was the house of the Cotta family, with whom Luther stayed during his pre-University schooling in Eisenach from 1498 to 1501. This was about 20 years before he was brought to stay at the Wartburg. I got to go inside the house and see the room where Luther lived.
After this I walked to the Bachhaus. Here there is a museum set up for the history of Bach, and Baroque music performances occur there every hour. Unfortunately, I got there too late to hear the last one, but I learned a lot about perhaps the greatest composer ever to live. I walked around Eisenach for most of the rest of the evening. The town is so distinctly German-looking compared to any of the other German cities I’ve been in. If I didn’t feel like I was in Germany before this, Eisenach dispelled all doubts.
The next morning after checking out of the hostel I took a 10 minute bus ride to the foot of the Thuringian Forest beneath the Wartburg. From there it was a lot of steps and ramps uphill to the castle. It was so cool to actually be there. I learned that so much history has unfolded at the castle throughout the centuries, with Luther being one of the most famous. I asked a kind-enough-looking German stranger to take my picture from the observation point before going on to the castle grounds.
Once through the arched gate, I found where Martin Luther’s study was, in the second story of one of the castle buildings. This is the place where he translated the New Testament from Greek into German. It was pretty incredible to be able to go inside and stand in that room.
After Luther’s room, I saw a tour group from England and tagged along behind them as they toured the castle building which holds the grand hall and a chapel. After leaving the Wartburg, I had enough time before my bus left for Berlin to briefly visit Georgenkirche, where Bach often played organ, and where Luther preached on a Sunday in May 1521 before he stayed at the Wartburg.
I spent last Sunday (the 9th) in Leipzig, a two hour bus ride from Berlin. Leipzig is a larger city than Eisenach, and is where J.S. Bach spent a lot of his career. When I arrived I headed towards the Nikolaikirche, which was the principal church in Leipzig in Bach’s day. One of Bach’s two surviving passions – St. John Passion – was first performed here. (Side note – last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a performance of Bach’s other passion – St. Matthew Passion – at the Berlin Dome. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.) Unfortunately Nikolaikirche was temporarily closed to visitors. Next I went to Thomaskirche, the most famous of Leipzig’s churches and the reason I wanted to visit Leipzig. Bach also worked at this church, where he wrote music for worship and directed the choir.
His remains were moved to the church after the church of his original grave was bombed in World War II. Martin Luther was also at Thomaskirche, where he preached from this pulpit on Pentecost Sunday in 1539.
Other things I did in Leipzig included visiting the Mendelssohn Haus, seeing a monument to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and going to the top of the Panorama tower for a view of Leipzig.
My bus left back for Berlin in the late afternoon. In between weekends I spend a lot of required time on my term papers for my music and history classes. For music, I am writing about how Martin Luther’s theology and music influenced the theological content of Bach’s works. For history, I am writing on the composition of Ronald Reagan’s speech in Berlin in front of the Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate. There are plenty of resources for both of these topics, but getting hold of them has been difficult – Freie Universität has fifteen different libraries spread throughout its huge campus. FIFTEEN. It makes tracking down what I need a headache. Suffice to say I’m using a lot of online resources.
I had the opportunity to attend Easter worship at the congregation of the WELS’ sister synod – the ELFK – in Berlin. On Easter afternoon I flew to Salzburg for a 3-day trip. At the end of this week, the international program’s nine-day tour of Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Prague starts. By the time we get back to Berlin, I’ll only have one more week of classes, a trip to Wittenberg, and exam week before my semester here is over. That’s all for now – watch for the next blog about the tour!
Tschüss,
Collin