This time last year (today, in fact) I had just concluded the academic portion of my study abroad semester in Berlin, Germany and was taking a celebratory trip to Prague. And this seems as good an occasion as any to talk about the experience, now that I've had some time to reflect on it.
Almost none of that reflection has been negative. If anything, as time has gone on I've been even more glad that I did it. The memories are richer, I find myself remembering things that I had forgotten that happened, I almost never run out of stories to tell people (see this diary), and I finally learned to drink and appreciate beer!
And something to chalk up in the odd, but amazing coincidence department, a classmate from my intensive German course who is from Prague added me on Facebook on the 1-year anniversary of my trip to Prague and she had no idea that I went.
Anyway, on to my story and the pictures!
If you're still in college and haven't done study abroad, or you have college age children, I cannot recommend the experience enough. It's cost effective (usually only a couple thousand more than a regular semester in the States) and there are plenty of scholarships and grants available for those who choose to go abroad. In fact, many schools are now requiring at least a semester abroad in some majors.
My program, as a decent minority of them do, had no language requirement. To participate, I didn't have to know a single word of German (in fact I knew several), but while there we were required to take German language courses to better adapt ourselves to the culture.
Also included was a rented room in an apartment (with a Berlin tour guide, no less!) that was pretty much my home for my semester.
The decision to study abroad in 2007 was made in 2005, after the deadline had already passed to go in 2006. It was something that had always interested me (when I was originally a Spanish major, I had thought about finishing my degree in Spain).
Another factor that greatly influenced my decision for this particular program was the fact that at the time (and until recently), I had a German girlfriend. I also have plenty of relatives in Germany, but that was only peripheral to my decision. I really wanted to have the chance to finally be in the same country as her again, and to spend more time in Germany than a couple weeks during the winter.
The program was through IES (International Education of Students) and was called Business Studies in Berlin, a specialty program set up by the University of Minnesota and Penn State for the students at the Carlson School of Management and the Smeal College of Business, but open to any interested parties. That's how I got on, in spite of my GPA being borderline for acceptance, and the fact I was attending a satellite campus.
The first month there, starting about March 9th, we had our intensive language courses to try to get us as immersed as possible. That was really interesting. Prior to the course, we had to take placement tests. I didn't understand a word of the test, but because I'm a good test taker, I got placed a level above where I should have been (advanced beginner rather than introductory).
Once we got that sorted out on the first day of class, it was great. Because my German was so poor, I was immediately challenged and I could actually see my German improving not just day by day, but even hour by hour. It helped that the teacher made a point to ask me questions that required an explanatory reply (Warum kommst du auf Berlin?) and not just accepting "Für schule" or "Für Spaß" as a reply. Sadly, I've not used my German much at all since I left so my vocabulary's wasting away.
Interesting side note, to get to class, I had to walk past the American Embassy, through the concrete barriers and past the armed (and very, VERY bored) guards. Berliners will be so glad when our new Embassy opens up so they can have those streets back.
Towards the end of the month, the IES office in Berlin took us on our first of two trips to different cities. This one was to Potsdam.
This was an interesting trip, more from the history I learned than from anything I really saw. It was still early spring, so nothing was green and quite a bit of the beauty was lost on me at the time (I returned later in the summer and was duly blown away).
Potsdam suffered a fate similar to, though not quite so famous as Dresden. Very shortly before the end of the war, the British launched a massive bombing run on the city. The war would end within a week, and there was no strategic purpose for it. It was simply revenge.
After this trip, it was now April. This meant it was time to start our regular courses. Unlike most of the IES students (who enrolled at Humboldt) the Business students took classes at the Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft Berlin. This was great for me, because it was less than a 10 min. walk from where I was living. Most of the other students had to travel at least 20 minutes, sometimes closer to an hour to get there.
The first week was hell. Turns out, some of the classes we thought were offered weren't, and the ones that were were on different days and times, which conflicted with classes we were taking at IES. Finally, we worked it out. And I only had to miss half of the class periods at IES because of a marketing class at the FHW.
These classes are different than any I've taken in the US. First of all, aside from the ones at IES they all met only once per week. Second, they weren't done in 50 minutes or an hour. The average class was three hours, and one of them lasted five. This let the professor choose a few topics for the day and really explain them in detail, walking us through step-by-step if necessary. There were also no textbooks. For two euro (about $3.75 now) we could buy a copy of all the texts we needed to read for one of my classes directly from the professor. Bound. The money was just to cover most, but not all, of his printing costs. That was the only class where we had required reading. There was also no homework. There were a few graded presentations, but that was it. Most of our grade rested on our final exam.
At the beginning of May, the IES office in Berlin organized a trip to Dresden, sight of the infamous allied carpet bombing near the end of WWII.
We stayed at a hostel, which was a first for me, and it left a favorable impression. Of course, it helped that I knew everyone I had to room with, but still, they can be dirty, nasty places. This one was nice.
We were given a boat tour on the Elbe, which was amazing. The river valley is actually quite beautiful. Not quite as picturesque as some others in Germany, but light years beyond, say, the Red River in North Dakota.
We also got to see the Frauenkirche, which had become a landmark to both the destruction of the Allied bombing and the Soviet oppression. After it was damaged (severely, but not totally destroyed) by the Allies in 1945, it was torn down and left as a pile of rubble as a war memorial, even though the wishes of the population wanted it rebuilt. And there it stayed until after reunification when a group of private citizens got together and organized its reconstruction with donations from other private citizens, tourists, government entities, and corporations.
It re-opened to the public in 2005.
Unfortunately, because the trip was so short I didn't have a chance to visit my relatives who lived near-by. Thankfully (I guess) one of them had needed to come to Berlin for knee surgery previously, and I got to see them then.
There's also an interesting story involving a street car and a Döner Kebap, but that's entirely in the "you had to be there" line.
I want to switch gears here and talk a little bit about the part of Berlin that I lived in, and what I did for fun. My district was Schöneberg, formerly of the American sector. In the days of the wall my apartment was very near Schöneberg Rathaus, which was the city hall for West Berlin. It was also the site of JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. A picture of the clock tower can be seen above when I mention the FHW.
It's about half an hour by train or bus from the city center, and is actually pretty quiet most of the time once you get off the main street. Quiet enough that I could hear birds chirping. There were plenty of restaurants and bars near-by for entertainment, but I rarely visited them. They were no longer in a touristy area (with the wall down) so I didn't trust their English or my German to get me what I wanted.
Access to the city was immediate. Two minutes away, I could hop on a bus to take me to Potsdamer Platz or Alexanderplatz within about 45 minutes. Or I could take a train to just about anywhere, with the possibility of having to wait about 10 minutes for the next one. There were days I would randomly ride around on public transportation (one of my fees at the FHW was a semester transit pass). It was on one of these days that I went to the last home Herta soccer match of the season, and bought my tickets from a scalper for a euro off face (is that technically scalping, then?).
I have to say, going to a soccer match in Europe, in person is simply an amazing experience. Quite apart from being in Hitler's Olympiastadion, the energy from the crowds is like nothing I've ever felt. You feel it long before you get to the stadium. You feel it when you see a 5 or 6 in a group getting onto a train, and it builds as you get closer to the stadium and more and more people wearing blue and white get on, until the train is crammed with people who are, for the most part, wearing blue and white. Then you get off and follow the masses past the tailgaters (Let me tell you, those guys REALLY know how to grill a brat!)to the stadium.
Once your at the stadium, the excitement builds just a little bit more. It was an average season so it wasn't fever pitch, but it never let down. The crowds were always singing their team songs or doing their chants. The beer was plentiful. It was also a very close match, but when it ended with the home team down a goal, there was a noticeable deflation as the masses returned home.
My two favorite places were Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten. The Tiergarten is Berlin's Central Park, and is nearly as large. I could lose myself there. I would wander around randomly on the trails listening to birds, thinking, or doing some reading for my classes (think campus mall that's a square mile). It was nearly always quiet, and never felt crowded. Some groups have their own section kind of staked off. I discovered this fact accidentally when I was walking around and suddenly found myself in the gay male nudist section.
After the shock of the randomness of that particular event, it didn't really surprise me. Once the weather was nice enough, I even sunbathed there. They could tell I was American and never bothered me, although I wouldn't have minded the conversation.
Potsdamer Platz, however, is the antithesis of Tiergarten. It's modern, it's busy, it's touristy as hell. But it has some MONSTER movie screens! Whenever I wanted to see a movie (with a few exceptions) this is where I went. They show the original versions of movies here, so for American movies, I got to see them in English. If I had wanted to see French (there were none) they'd have been in French. The theater is entirely underground, and the screens were larger than any I'd been to in the states. It helps that it's the site of the Berlin Film Festival, as well s most of the premieres in Germany, but the recent history of the square has to do a lot with it, too.
I saw Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Die Hard 4, and a few others there. I was very nearly there for the premiere of Shrek 3 (I arrived as they were disassembling the stage). The food in the restaurants is always good, a bit more expensive, but not too bad, and is a nice place to go before or after a movie.
I see this diary is already getting away from me, so I'll cut out some of my trips and just close with the one whose anniversary I mentioned in the intro.
On the great European Tour, there are a few cities you HAVE to hit. Rome, London, and Paris are the big three. I would add Prague to that list. I had a great time there, even though (or because) I was all by myself.
First of all, the train ride (once you get past Dresden) is simply breathtaking in narrow valleys with castles on the cliffs and very picturesque towns. Perhaps I enjoyed this part too much because when I arrived in Prague, I was thoroughly disoriented. Usually I have a pretty good grasp on North, South, East, and West, but here I had no clue. I wasn't even sure which way to go to get to my hostel.
After about 15 minutes, in which I walked back and forth in front of the train station trying to decide which was the most likely route, I struck what turned out to be the correct path, found my hostel, room, and got settled in. I made sure to pick up my free map of the city (lest I get lost) and set out.
Now, I could probably write a diary or two for each of the three days I spent in Prague. However, that would perhaps not be the best use of this forum.
I went without a plan, and so I missed out on quite a few things (mostly along the museums line), but what I did see more than made up for it (I think).
My first night, I saw fireworks and (foolish American) thought the American Embassy was celebrating the 4th on the weekend.
The next day I learned that it was actually the 650th anniversary of Charles Bridge. I was walking through Old Town to the square, where I noticed there was a Renaissance fair. Very few people in the area spoke English (a surprise for me being used to Berlin) and it took some time before I found a German speaker who could tell me what was going on.
The plan for that second night was amazing. Aside from the mock tournament, there would be a brief theatrical reenactment of the history of Prague and Bohemia at the Old Town entrance to Charles Bridge, at midnight a horse parade and at 2 am, jousting! Forget the clubs and the absynth, who could pass up the opportunity to see jousting!
All of the events were amazing (the mock tournament being very cheesy with their battle cries and very fake fighting), but my favorite was the history reenactment. My specific memories have faded pretty significantly, but I remember (not understanding a word of Czech) getting a very good idea of what was going on.
The walk back after the jousting was miserable. I had been standing in the square by the bridge for about 9 hours at that point with no food or water, and I could only walk so far before I'd have to sit and rest my legs. But at no time did I feel like I was in any danger, walking in random streets at 3 in the morning.
I visited Prague Castle a few times in the 3 days I was there. I saw the changing of the guard, went to the top of the bell tower, but was unable to visit the crypt (being temporarily closed).
I was disinclined to leave Prague, but I kind of had to. At the time, I didn't think the trip was that great (I still prefer Bruges) but the experience has really improved with time and I've learned to appreciate it a whole lot more.
There is so much more to write, but I don't want to take up everyone's time. So, I shall say ask whatever questions you want in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!
As one last gift, here are some more photos, including some great Prague sunsets!
Charles Bridge, Prague
Prague Castle at sunset
Prague Castle at dusk
Prague Castle at night
Gedächtniskirche, Berlin
Me at Burg Eltz, Rheinland-Pfalz