This past month, I had the privilege of spending three weeks that I will never forget, across the Atlantic in the beautiful country of Germany. When I last wrote, I intended on journaling about my travels every week. However, due to poor wifi connections in several of our hostels as well as fairly full schedules I was unable to keep up on much writing while over seas. So, here I will share excerpts from my journal and my reflections on the culture and the traveling experience.
Journal:
Day 1: Day one in Weimar was long though I am really enjoying the scenery over all. Realizing how few people speak english is a bit stressful but I have no doubt I will adapt within a couple days.
Day 3: This morning we visited a concentration camp. It is a very sobering experience to stand where such evil was committed against so many people. It causes a great deal of sympathy and introspection to consider what each and every one of these people endured for months and years of their lives. And also the vast range of people whom endured it.
This evening after several train rides we arrived in Berlin. I am already in love with the city. It's beautiful here, they have everything I could ever want. We toured the city after getting some Doner and its absolutely fantastic. Other than language barrier its fairly easy to get around here. I am really excited to keep exploring the city in the next few days.
I've been noticing that families tend to stick close together here, especially on the trains. This isn't really surprising as this is generally also true in the states, however German parents seem to be much more mindful of their children. People also seem to take their jobs very seriously, not so much in an uptight way, but they seem much more intentional about it than americans tend to be. Even in jobs like the train car operators or store clerks they seem far less indifferent to their tasks than americans do.
Day 4: Today was a full day. We started our day with a visit to the SPD party to learn about their political positions as well as the political process here in Germany. Our hosts were fantastic and shared a lot of useful facts and perspectives during their presentation and q&a time. I personally enjoyed their view of ethical government, I am not quite as socialist as they are but I agree with their concepts of how to ethically govern and to do what is best for all people. I definitely agreed with their former chancellor's decision to refuse to join in the iraq war effort. I also enjoyed their perspective on the circular spectrum of government, especially with regards to extreme lefts and extreme rights.
After that myself and about half of our class went to checkpoint charlie and to buy some pieces of the Berlin wall. Over all a cool experience to stand in the midst of history.
After that we all made our way to a mosque here in Berlin. Over all it was similar to the other mosque experiences I have had in the past with the exceptions of the depth and clarity with which our host explained the misinterpretaion of muslim scripture which causes some muslims to radicalize into terror groups.
Day 5: Today we visited the German history mueseum. The artifiacts were pretty cool to look at, I didn't really get into the history behind most of it but it was cool to see.
After that I went back with another group to checkpoint Charlie for more shopping and curryworst. Then we headed back to the museum for cake and coffee.
After that we headed to the Bach oratorio at the Berliner dome which was absolutely beautiful. I deeply enjoyed both the music and the architecture.
Day 8: Today was our first day at the Bible college. There's a lot of negativity going around due to the lack of internet as well as the drastic change from the fast pace of Berlin. I am not yet sure how I feel about this place yet, however I will say that the wilderness and the town here are absolutely beautiful. I rarely catch myself just stopping to look at my surroundings and take them in, yet here I have.
Day 9: The food here at the Bible college is fantastic. I'm really enjoying getting to know the students here as well as immersing myself as much as I can in the way they do things.
This afternoon David, myself, and Papa Kim went for a walk to the train station, and then we went to and explored the monastery. The church is absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed papa Kim's explanations about how the catholic church works and what all of the architecture and symbolism means.
After that we went to Limburg to look at a cathedral there. The catholic icons and architecture truly inspires a sense of awe and sacred attitude towards God.
Day 12: We started out our day with a visit to the Nazi rally grounds and the museum connected to it. I learned so much about the rise of Hitler and the political maneuvering that went into his taking power, as well as how he built himself up into this image of a messiah and a fearless powerful leader performing a great service to his people. I never used to understand how a nation could allow such a horrible man into power until I visited this place. Between the propaganda and fear tactics used by Hitler and the Nazi party it doesn't surprise me that many chose to follow him or at least get out of his way. It also gave me some perspective on modern politics especially after our talk with papa Mark.
After the museum some of us went exploring and shopping. I didn't buy much but it was cool to see the city. I feel like I'm adapting fairly well to getting around in Germany and following basic social expectations and being able to speak enough German to shop and order food.
Day 13: Today we went to Stuttgart, and after a long journey we arrived in our hostel and then went out for an amazing dinner. After that there isn't much to Journal on as many of us went back to the hostel and went to bed.
Day 14: Today we started off by heading to the realschule for a class visit. We learned a lot about the educational systems in Germany and got to see what their class day looks like.The idea that one can attend different tracks of education starting in elementary school is definitely a foreign concept. It makes a lot of sense in terms of life preparation, but it does seem more limiting.
Day 16: This morning we visited a factory and learned more about worker's training programs and internships and classes and wages. The factory itself wasn't particularly interesting but the internship program definitely was. Certifications are a much more important in Germany. There is very little work here which is not skilled labor in the sense that one must get a certification to perform any job which results in all jobs being valued and respected.
Day 17: Today was our first day in Kehl, it was fairly uneventful. We explored the town, got some great Turkish food, and relaxed in the hostel.
Day 18: Today we went to Strasbourg and visited the European Union, learning about how the EU functions was really interesting. After that we got awesome soup and visited a beautiful cathedral. After that we did some shopping then headed back to the hostel.
On top of these entries, I have to say that I absolutely love Germany. The people, the social structure, the architecture, the history, the food. All of it. I'm realizing already that I will never be the same, Deutschland has forever made its mark on me. Without a doubt I left a piece of myself in Germany, and I will always carry that beautiful land in my heart where ever I go.