Weeks 1 and 2
Hello from Berlin!
It has been 12 days since I arrived in the exciting and historic capital of Germany, and the experience so far has been incredible. Having gotten over the jet lag, acclimating to the new culture, and becoming familiar with the transportation system, I am finally beginning to feel “moved in.”
The first week was filled with orientation activities, which included hours of meetings, but also guided walking tours of parts of the city, where I got to see the historic district with the Brandenburg Gate and various governmental buildings.
It is so cool to finally be in the city and be able to visit famous sites whenever I want!
This past week was my first week of classes. Everybody in the program has German language instruction from 9-12 each morning. This is longer than I am used to, but we get a break halfway through which helps it move along. The first sessions of my other classes, music history and 20th century German history, also went well. Both are areas which I think I will very much enjoy studying. For the music class, the requirements include visiting various orchestra concerts in the city and writing critiques. For the history class, we will be visiting some of Berlin’s many museums outside of class.
A few days ago after German class some friends and I went to the remains of the Berlin Wall, called the East Side Gallery. Though it once divided Germany, today it is left standing as an international memorial to freedom.
There is still so much more of the city to see.
My host family has been extremely nice and helpful. I think it will be a great experience living in a home-stay, gaining the opportunity to really learn the culture of a German home life. My “host parents'” names are Hermann and Heike. They both know English well, but we speak German when possible. I am looking forward to seeing how my German progresses from now to the end of the semester. I occasionally watch soccer on TV with Hermann – Berlin’s team in the Bundesliga is called Hertha BSC. They play in the Olympiastadion, the home of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I will have the opportunity to attend 2 games there during the semester!
The apartment, in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, is about a 40-minute transit from the Freie Universität. To get to campus, I take a combination of the U-Bahn (underground rail) system and a bus. Here is a picture of the street I live on:
The general architecture of Berlin is one of my favorite parts of the city so far. It is so completely different from what I am used to in the United States. The food is also great, natürlich. I bought a döner the other night, and maybe it’s just because I was really hungry, but it might have been the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. Outside of my mom’s kitchen, of course. If you ever go to Germany, you HAVE to try one.
Next weekend, some friends and I will be going to Hamburg, which is in the northern part of Germany. The bus ticket and hostel fee for the weekend is cheap compared to what it would be in the United States, which makes traveling easy! I look forward to seeing the famous Hafenstadt – harbor city – whose port is the second largest in Europe, and also the newly completed Elbphilharmonie, an $800+ million concert hall project finished last month. A picture from Google images:
That’s about all for now! Many more pictures will be posted on my Facebook page throughout the semester, and blog updates will continue every couple of weeks.
I thank God that I have arrived in Berlin safely and that everything has gone smoothly so far. I am beyond thankful for this life-changing opportunity.
Tschüss,
Collin
A Final Irish Blessing
Hello family and friends that we haven’t talked to in awhile!
Well, it has been over a month since Fedd and I have been back in school; you could say we are over the “honeymoon” stage of reverse culture shock and more into the “ups and downs” of the good and bad days.
Overall, it was a hidden blessing that we came back at Christmas time; it was a time to look forward too, see numerous family members, and then be excited to come back to friends at school. Both of us have occupied our time with basketball (me) and softball (Erin) practices, along with being able to drive places on our own (no bus!!!) and hang out with our friends at MLC whom we missed so dearly while gone!
We’d be lying if we didn’t say we missed Ireland and wish we were back there. We miss being able to travel to a new place every weekend and only having a few homework assignments to do over the period of the semester. We miss our Irish friends and the relaxed Irish culture. But, we don’t miss the 20 minute walk to class every day, nor the weekly trips to the grocery store (thank you MLC cafe). We don’t miss the Skype dates or the 6 hour difference from family and friends.
So, in the end, I guess you could say that it all evens out. And in the end, we are beyond thankful and blessed to have had such an amazing experience. 10/10 would recommend.
If you are interested in hearing more about our trip rather than the usual “Amazing!” we say, we are doing a presentation on our study abroad experience in Ireland at MLC on February 15th at 11 and 12! We would love to have you there and answer any questions you might have about our travels and schooling over there! If not, I am going to try and record the presentation for others to view when able; so, we’ll see how that turns out.
I made one final video of some European Craic (fun) if you’d like to watch a little wrap up of all our adventures: HERE
Thank you again, for all your support, love, and prayers while we were abroad. Continue to keep Collin Wenzel, one of our classmates studying abroad in Germany, in your thoughts and prayers as he ventures around!
And with that, I will leave you with an Irish Blessing.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
#theluckofchrisandfedd
A semester in Berlin, Germany
Hello!
My name is Collin Wenzel and I am a Junior at Martin Luther College. I am getting ready to leave for Berlin, Germany, where I will be studying for the Spring 2017 semester. While I am there, I will be posting occasional updates to this study abroad blog. If you would like to follow along and read about my experiences and see pictures, keep an eye out for blog updates! They will be every other week or so. For this initial post, let me tell you a little about what my semester will look like:
My flight leaves this Saturday from Minneapolis, and from there I have two layovers in Paris and Frankfurt before reaching Berlin late Sunday afternoon, 19 hours later! Good thing I know how flying works. Just kidding, I don’t. This is my first ever flight. But how hard can it be?
I will be studying at Berlin’s Freie (Free) Universität. The name refers to how the university was founded in West Berlin during the Cold War, being positioned in the free western world. The university enrolls about 34,000 students, which is quite the contrast to what I am used to! The international program I am in has about 150 other participants, many of whom are from the United States. I will be staying with a host family during my time in Berlin.
Program registration is next Tuesday the 31st, and the next 5 days after that are orientation days, concluding with a welcome reception. My classes start on Monday, February 6th. I will be taking 12 US credits: two German language courses, and two subject courses, which I was able to select during the application process. The names of the courses I chose are Modern German History in European Context, and Exploring Classical Music: Baroque to Contemporary. I am looking forward to leaning about German history and culture from this perspective! My classes are all taught in English. The German language classes are taught each morning Monday through Thursday. My history class is Monday afternoons, and my music history class is Thursday afternoons. These two are each 2 1/2 hour sessions, but only once per week. One of the perks about this international program is that there are no classes on Friday! This gives an extra day for relaxing or study or travel.
Halfway through the semester I have a normal spring break, during which I plan on traveling to either Greece or Rome. Fortunately, flying within Europe is very cheap! International round trip plane tickets can be as low as 50 Euros. In addition to spring break, included in the program is a 9-day guided trip towards the end of April. I had the option of going to either Cologne and Luxembourg, or to Frankfurt and Prague. I chose the latter. Other things included in this international program are a semester pass for public transportation and several passes to museums, concert halls, soccer games, and day field trips. One of these trips is a guided “Luther tour” of Wittenberg during the first week of May, right before exams start.
The great thing about studying abroad through Martin Luther College is that all of my credits will transfer back to my pre-seminary program at MLC, and I will graduate on time with my class.
That’s about all for now. I would greatly appreciate prayers for safe travels during the next 3 1/2 months! While I am both excited and nervous, I have the confidence that God is always by my side wherever I go, and that he will bless my experiences.
Keep an eye out for my first update from Berlin in the next couple of weeks! I promise my next posts will be more exciting. Tschüss,
Collin
Week 14: Church in Switzerland
On Saturday the 17th, Erin and I headed off to Switzerland and Germany for a mini vacation before flying back on the 22nd. We flew into Zurich and met up with the Bachmanns, a WELS family that live right outside of Zurich. Sigmund, the father, picked us up from the airport and drove us into town where we adventured around for a little bit. Here are some of the things we saw:
After venturing around for awhile, we took a train out to where the Bachmann’s live and Sigmund picked us up from the train station. From there we drove to their house, which is out in the country of Switzerland, on farmland. We met Sarah, whom I had been in contact before the trip, and the youngest brother, Tommy. On their farm, they have a few animals – a pony, a horse, bunnies, a dog, and probably more animals that I am forgetting to list… We had a DELICIOUS Swiss supper with different kinds of meats, cheeses (yes, even Swiss cheese), veggies, breads, and spices. We felt completely content after a meal like that. We had a nice visit with them and then headed off to bed after a long day of traveling!
The next day was Sunday and you know what that meant… CHURCH! Erin and I had never been more excited for church; sure, we had been to mass a few times and do daily devotions on our own or watch MLC chapel online, but there was something about ‘church’ that we were missing while in Ireland.
One of the things that Erin and I wanted to do while in Europe was get in touch with the WELS chaplain and attend one of the services held over here. Throughout the month, services are held in England, Germany, and Switzerland. It just so happened to work out that that weekend that we wanted to travel to Switzerland and Germany was the weekend that Pastor Bruss, the pastor filling the vacancy in Europe at the time, was going to be in Switzerland. So we contacted the Bachmann’s about coming to church and went from there!
Church was held inside the Bachmann’s house. They usually have a few families come from around the area, but the day we were there, it was just the Bachmann family. Sigmund and Sarah have 5 kids, 4 of which were at the service: Maria, Floran, Stefan, and Tommy. They have church every Sunday in their living/family room and when Pastor comes, they have communion. Here are some pictures of their house:
Sarah and Pastor chatting it up before the service. Sarah was preparing a fellowship meal for everyone after the service in the kitchen. 
The dining room. Their house was so festive in the Christmas spirit!
The living/family room where the church service was held. (Real candles on the Christmas tree that they light on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Epiphany.)
The church in Switzerland is small in size, but every member of that Bachmann family plays a huge role in the church. They all help get the service prepared, make the pastor feel welcome, cook the fellowship dinner, make sure the offering basket is out and the advent wreath candles lit. When we were singing in that living room, I felt like I was in a church of a hundred people singing Christmas hymns at the top of their lungs; heartful singing.
One thing Sarah pointed out to us while we were there was that every WELS church struggles with a different problem. The problem in Switzerland is that they don’t even have a church to go to; they have the service in their own home. Other churches may have problems deciding what time to hold services or what type of music should be played in the church. But in the grand scheme of things, does that really matter? We fuss over the little things, making them a big deal, stressing ourselves over it, forgetting our main motives for even going to church. When on the opposite side of the world, people are dealing with the struggle of not even having a church to worship in; nonetheless, they get excited every 3rd Sunday of the month because that’s when they actually get a pastor to come lead the service and give Communion.
When I look at the big picture, I realize how lucky I am to have a huge family of believers stretched across the globe. I am lucky to have a church to attend every Sunday, with someone guaranteed to lead the services every Sunday. I am lucky to have visited the church in Switzerland to realize the different struggles we face, but how those struggles are nothing compared to the life we will live eternally someday. I am lucky to have met and stayed with the Bachmanns and to watch and learn about what a servant-like heart really is. I am lucky to have my church mindset refreshed (still don’t like getting up early for church though…). I am lucky that there is so much to be thankful for!
The Bachmann family with Pastor Bruss –
(From left to right: Pastor Bruss, Floran, Tommy, Sigmund, Sarah, and Maria. Not pictured: Stefan, who played piano for the service)
Week 13: Our Final(s) Week(s)
After our trip during Reading Week to Paris, Venice, and Rome, it was back to UL for the last two weeks of school. Finals run from December 3rd and continue through the 16th, with Erin and I having three days of finals, one each day. Our other classes had final portfolio projects or essays as the final assignment, so it was nice that we only had three tests to worry about.
Our first final, on December 6th, was Physiology of Muscle Movement that we took as a Kinesiology class for our PE major. It was 50% of our grade and all essay; overall, it wasn’t too bad! Next, Erin had her math final on that Friday the 9th. You can ask her how that one went… (just kidding it wasn’t that bad…I hope.) On Monday the 12th, I had my physics final that was 70% of my grade; all the painful studying paid off and the test was better than I thought it was going to be! Both our physics and math tests were a full 2 hours of solid work. Our final exam was the 13th, a 25 multiple choice question exam for our Physical Activity, Health, Growth and Development class. The test was a lot trickier than anticipated, so let’s just say we were excited to finish that one!
Tests are taken very seriously over here. All coats, backpacks, and belongings are kept outside the examination room. In all of the rooms we took exams in, there were close to 340 students inside the room, sitting at individual desks, with examiners walking up and down the aisles. They checked out IDs to make sure that they were valid and that we were actually ourselves; only certain types of pens and pencils are allowed, with strict rules on calculator types. Erin and I were surprised we didn’t have to walk through a metal detector to get into the room…
But in all seriousness, we are happy our tests went well and are excited that we are done with our first semester abroad in Ireland. I can remember going to class on the first day and thinking to myself, “I don’t know how I am going to do this and pass my classes.” Nevertheless, time took its course and God has truly blessed us in bringing us this far. Although we won’t know if we passed our finals and classes until the middle of January, we are thankful for the knowledge gained through those classes!
So the next couple days we are taking in as much Ireland as we can — spending time with Irish and international friends, eating some fish and chips and comforting Irish food, traveling into Limerick and down to Cork for some last minute shopping, and enjoying the culture in whatever adventures we go on.
On Saturday the 17th, Erin and I fly out to Zurich, Switzerland, where we will meet up with the WELS church there. From Zurich, we are bussing up to Munich, Germany, where we will enjoy some Christmas markets and our final days in Europe. We fly back to America on December 22nd; the song, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” has never been more meaningful!