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!
Week 12: Paris
Hello beautiful people of the world!
Erin and I are a little behind on our blogs and vlogs, so we are going to try and catch you up on our lives! As finals rolled around, we had a week of for studying. The University of Limerick calls it “Reading Week.” But instead of studying for finals, we decided to take advantage of the week off and travel around.
First stop: Paris.
Hope you enjoy the video!
Link: HERE
Week 10/11
For this week’s blog, Crystal and I are both to tell you about our weekends, as I went to Kilkenny with some friends and she went to Dublin with the ISA group.
My friend, Aoibheann (pronounced Aveen), whom I met through hockey, invited myself and our hockey playing New Zealand friend, Ashleigh, home to Kilkenny with her this past weekend. Ashleigh and I took the bus, after our afternoon classes on Friday, to Kilkenny, about a 2-hour bus ride. Aoibheann came and picked us up from the bus stop and we headed to her house to watch the Ireland/New Zealand rugby match. For all who are curious, Ireland won in a big upset. After that, we had a lovely dinner together with her parents, younger brother and their Spanish exchange boy, Danny. We introduced Ashleigh to ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ after that and then hit the hay. We got up at half 9 on Saturday morning to head into town. We had a quick breakfast, grabbed some hurleys and headed into town. We went up the Kilkenny tower, which gave us an awesome view of the whole town. After that, we went to a little dessert shop called ‘CakeFace’ and split some desserts. Hyped up on sugar, we walked a little further to Kilkenny castle, which also has a huge park next to it. We pucked around in the park for a little bit – which mainly consisted of us chasing the ball since we couldn’t actually hit it properly. Aoibheann tried to teach Ashleigh and I how to play hurling, but it’s harder than it looks. If you’re interested, here is a short 2min video giving you a brief intro to the sport. ‘Pucking around’ would just be passing/hitting the ball around – it’s good craic. After that, we walked through the park a bit and then went to watch Aoibheann’s younger brother, Aod, (pronounced Aid) play a rugby match. We stayed til halftime then went back into town for lunch. After lunch at an ‘American diner’- Johnny Rockets, we walked home and just chilled. Ashleigh and I attempted to do some homework while Aoibheann got ready for a charity dance she was attending that night. Aoibheann left for the dance, Ashleigh and I had another wonderful meal with the O’Connors and then we procrastinated homework and watched movies til we fell asleep. The next morning, I went to mass with Aoibheann and her family; it was a small church on the outskirts of town (right next to the rugby pitch we were at the day before for Aod’s match). The service was very different than my usual Lutheran service, but I enjoyed sitting, listening and learning from their service. After mass, we napped and then had a big brunch before taking their 6mo old golden cocker spaniel puppy for a walk in the park. Cú (the puppy) is an energetic little guy who loves to run around. After taking him for a walk, we came back to the house, packed up our stuff, had another meal and then caught the bus back to reality, I mean campus. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and I loved learning more about Irish culture, food and sport and hanging out with my two amazing friends. It was just the relaxing weekend I needed before the hectic next couple of weeks filled with final projects and prepping for final exams.
Here’s a selfie from the top of Kilkenny tower:
As Erin ventured off to Kilkenny, me and some of the ISA kids journeyed on over to Dublin, the capital city. We got there around 11, checked into our hostel, dropped off our luggage, and walked over to Trinity College. Trinity College has beautiful, historic buildings, including a library that has a copy of every book printed in the U.K.! We explored the Book of Kells and the Old Library on campus. The Book of Kells is a manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament, written in Latin, and drawn/scripted with beautiful texts and tables. The Old Library is the oldest library in Ireland (ya don’t say?) and I couldn’t get enough of its authentic beauty. Once you walked into the library, it smelt heavenly (like books). I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when the Beast shows her his library (sidenote: excited about the new movie coming out). After that, we got some lunch and then walked around Dublin, exploring a little bit of City Hall and taking in the big city feel. Next on the list was my personal favorite, the Guinness Storehouse. If you ever have the chance to go to the storehouse, do it, even if you don’t like beer. The storehouse is huge, covering seven floors, with the top being a panoramic view of the city. Plus, you get a free pint of Guinness on the top floor, so that’s a bonus. Definitely a highlight of the trip. After the tour, we got some supper at the Hard Rock Cafe; this was my first time eating at a Hard Rock, so that was pretty cool! Following a late supper, the group of us strolled back to the hostel and enjoyed a good night’s sleep!
Sunday was another adventurous day, as we took a bus to Malahide Castle and Gardens outside of Dublin. The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and has been owned by the family until recently. The castle had furniture and decor that made it feel like people were just living there; the tour guide did a wonderful job at giving the history of the castle, adding in the family stories, and making the castle come to life. The gardens were also a lovely addition to the castle, covering acres and acres of the area. From the castle, we continued on the bus to Howth, exploring the lovely coastal area around Dublin. Dublin has some enchanting mountains outside the city and nice beaches too, which I would have loved to climb, explore, and just simply soak up more Ireland in. We ate some fish and chips along the Howth pier, with seagulls and birds surrounding us (getting inches away from our food!). They had a nice little flea market set up, which was fun to walk around and look at all the homemade and hand-crafted things. I ended up buying a ring there, which I was pretty excited about since I had been looking around at other places in Ireland for a while, but not a lot of people have rings big enough for my fat fingers! From Howth, we took the bus back to Dublin and then hopped on another bus back to Limerick!
Dublin has so much to offer; numerous things to see and do! Good get-away weekend from all the projects, essays, and presentations that pile up and can get stressful!
That’s it for this week, lads. We’ve got lots of projects and presentations, as we mentioned, coming up, so if you’ve any ideas on what our next blog should be, please tell us! Have a great week everybody, and thank you for your continuous support, encouragement, and prayers while Crystal and I have been over here!