Three Months In Review: Lots of rambling

I think where German history started to click with me was when we went to Dresden. I'd learned a lot about the Reformation and how that shaped German history prior to this, but the true nature of the German willingness to persevere didn't hit me until Dresden. Here was a country that had been torn apart by religious differences in the 16th century, didn't unify until 1871, suffered a demoralising defeat in 1918, saw the rise of a totalitarian government and a genocide, was divided in two for 40 years, and yet managed to come together and make something of it. Dresden was important because you could see how the country had rebuilt itself through the buildings that lay in ruin for the entire GDR period. The people actually stopped the authorities from building over these places, and I think it showcased the spirit of getting on with life and yet remembering the past that I associate with Germany.

I say 'getting on yet remembering' in that Germany remembers their past, but doesn't dwell on it, wanting instead to move forward into the future. The remains of the Berlin Wall, the concentration camps, the rebuilt buildings in Dresden: they all serve to remind of what happened, but also stand as a reason to move on and prevent (especially with the concentration camps) the past from being repeated.

I think some of the most significant journal entries include: Dresden, Berlin, going to Buchenwald, Berlin again, Halle, Leipzig, and Munich. These were some of my favourite places we went, and some of them were not part of our class trips but had importance to me. Munich was interesting because it sort of brought the American stereotype of Germans about face (when we think of German, we're actually thinking of Bavaria) and made me examine it. I actually prefer this area (Sachsen-Anhalt and surrounding areas) to Munich. Visiting Berlin the second time meant I could see some things that we didn't get to see the first time, and it was the first time I felt confident in my German skills (we really did get lost, and had to learn how to navigate the U-Bahn/S-Bahn on our own, and I was so proud of us). Buchenwald was something I will never forget and visibly upsetting, but something that I'm glad I did regardless. The other three were class trips I particularly enjoyed--mostly all because I was really able to get a sense of what East German life was like and I enjoyed that. I think it's important to remember East Germany and how it shaped the East German states--it really makes them unique, in good and bad ways.

Funny to think that today my internship is over. It's been a bit rough simply because I get bored a lot and have to keep myself busy to get all my hours, but I still feel a little bit sad about leaving. I hope they like my gifts I got them--gotta make a good impression after all.

Shame I never got to finish the program translation though. :c

Mildly annoyed that no one bothered to inform me that I didn't have to go in for my internship today. I thought the bank holiday was tomorrow? Apparently it's a four day weekend.

Eurgh, internships. I just want something to do, guys. It's nice when you give me work to do, even if it involves me cutting name cards out. That's better than me being bored. :c

Canoeing, or, how we almost died.

Hahaha, I'd never have thought that I would first go canoeing in Germany. We went canoeing on the Elbe today, and while most of the time you go for say, 3 or four miles, we had to go above and beyond that.

22 kilometers, guys. That's around 13.5 miles.

Needless to say, my entire body hurts. I feel like an old lady and haven't left my bed except for dinner. Also, it began to rain halfway through our trip and then a barge came up the Elbe, and that plus rain plus wind created currents. I thought we were going to die, no joke. Apparently it was bad enough that our tour guide almost made us get out of the water, but we persevered!

I have never been so happy to see land again in my life. Good day though, except for the rain and almost dying, and canoeing is now something I would like to do more frequently, so I guess it wasn't all bad.

Berlin again!

Berlin was just as fantastic the second time around, but even more so because we had nice weather and didn't have to lug backpacks around. (Molly, Virginia, and I may have also gotten lost, but we found our way around so yay for skills!)

We were going to do a street art tour, but never managed to find the Starbucks near the Alexanderplatz, so then we went on a man-hunt to find the East Side Gallery ourselves. Let's just say that took hours--we got side-tracked by Checkpoint Charlie, souvenir shops, a strange yarn ball-esque sculpture, and a flea market. Eventually we (meaning me) managed to talk to someone who knew how to find the East Side Gallery, and made it there. It was well worth the time it took to get there, and I like Berlin even more than I did the first time.

(Also, found cookie cutters shaped like the Ampelmännchen*! So excited to get home and bake now.)

* These are Ampelmännchen. East German ones, natürlich.

Wörlitz!

Wörlitz was so neat! We had some awesome weather, for one, and we got to go run around in a massive park all day. Also, gondola rides, which are sort of terrifying but fun all the same.

The Wörlitzer Park was sort of the obsession of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau. He did a tour of Europe (which was the norm for all the fashionable rich kids in the 18th century) and came back to Germany wanting to create an English park of his very own. Thus the Wörlitzer Park was born: complete with a Temple of Flora, a palace, a baby Vesuvius, grottos, and a column Leopold brought back from Pompeii. Basically, it was like the 18th century German Disneyland; people would come there to learn more about other places they couldn't afford to visit otherwise and got to see Leopold's palace and the like.

Duke Leopold was a nice guy, wasn't he? His wife wasn't so happy about people touring her palace, so he built her her own house so she could go off and brood. Smart chap, our Leopold, haha.

So we had some nice weather, I got some good pictures, and we had a good time running around the park. Very good day!