Landmark College Berlin Study Abroad’s First Week
Everyone completed their first major academic project on Friday, to close a very good week. We are getting familiar with the area, and people are comparing the number of steps they walk in a given day with Rory in the lead with over 20,000. Everyone has a transportation pass that allows them to go anywhere in Berlin, and there is an U-Bahn stop just steps from our campus: Gneissenaustrasse. When we step out the door, there are quite literally hundreds of markets, restaurants, parks, and interesting places to explore. The weather has mostly been sunny and warm, and restaurants and coffee shops have tables on the street, with people out celebrating summer. We are close to Bergmannstrasse, which is famous for its culinary offerings at cheap prices.
The weekend is now here, with lots of opportunities to explore the area. On Friday afternoon, a group of us went to a large open-air Turkish market along a canal in Kotbusser Tor. On Saturday, I led a group of students to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial, and then Andy took students to the famous Berlin Zoo. Other students went to a major water park, "Tropical Island," about an hour from Berlin. There is a major "festival of cultures" taking place right in our neighborhood that draws a million people to Berlin. The four-hour parade will go right past our campus today (Sunday) and there are four stages with musicians, performers, etc.
Performer at the Festival of Cultures
The Market one block from Our Campus
At the Turkish Market
At the Zoo
More Student Journals from Last Week
The city of Berlin is absolutely gorgeous. I feel as if it is a combination of Paris and New York put together. The general vibe of this city is very positive, the people seem really well rounded and the streets and subway are really clean.
Today, after the bus tour, some friends and I went and checked out the holocaust memorial. The moment I stepped inside and started walking between the stones, I was hit with a heaviness that I haven't felt since reading the names on the side of the 9/11 Memorial. I understand that the scale of the murders and genocide are on another scale, but the feeling was very similar.
—Samuel Calle
…As we continued to look at the exhibit, there was a room we could enter through the base which led into what looked like a work room. On display were work tools that were used to create the concrete monument all those years ago. I could tell they were as old as they were because of the way they looked, with rustic features that showed an antique era. … for a few seconds it made me realize how different someone’s point of view about an historical era could be when something is right in front of you from that time. I believe this could be a lesson everyone could learn to get a clearer idea about what it was like to live in certain time periods.
--Ethan Meeder
On Wednesday, we attended a tour of the Olympiastadion. The original stadium was built for the 1916 Summer Olympics, however World War I prevented those games from happening. Berlin was then chosen again to host the summer Olympics for 1936. When the Nazis came to power, they decided to use the Olympics as propaganda. Therefore, they tore the original stadium down and started rebuilding a new one from scratch. The Nazis wanted a grand stadium that could hold more than 100,000 people. After World War II the stadium was occupied by British soldiers and eventually fell into disrepair. The stadium was renovated for the World Cup in 2006 and is now a multi-purpose arena, not only hosting the local soccer team Hertha BSC but also concerts and corporate events.
The tour had a mix of history and the discussion on the modern sports teams that now play at the stadium. As a student studying history abroad I wished there was a larger focus on the history, however I understand that the stadium tour is not just for students. The guide did seem knowledgeable about the history of the stadium, and had plenty of stories to tell that would satisfy both sports fans and history buffs.
-- Geo Michas
After visiting the Olympic stadium and experiencing Hitler’s demand for grandeur, Caroline and I worked on our discussion topic for class: the Enabling Act. The Enabling Act of 1933 solidified Hitler’s power as a dictator. One of our discussion question was what would happen if Hitler had not successfully had President Paul Von Hindenburg sign the Enabling Act? My response was that we needed to look at the events that came before and after the signing of this document. Prior to the signing of the Enabling Act, Hitler was in jail. After leaving jail he focused on “rebuilding” the Nazi party. Hitler felt the communists were rocking the boat and attempting to take over, which meant that many Germans were slowly accepting the Nazi’s power. The Reichstag fire of 1933 left the Nazi party with no home. The fire was claimed to be started by a Dutch communist in protest of the Nazis. This fire was Hitler’s opportunity to push the envelope and insisted to Paul Von Hindenburg that the communist were taking over, and take complete control.
--Meg Warren
In the Hakesche Hof Area
