For our last day in Berlin, we were given the whole day to do whatever we wanted. Elizabeth and I ended up kind of wandering around a bit and then ended up going to the Natural History Museum which was really fun. We then met up with the rest of the group for a final dinner together. Germany was such an amazing experience and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to come on this Maymester!
Today we saw the East Side Gallery which is an art exhibit made out of the remainder the Berlin Wall. It was probably my favorite exhibition I visited in Berlin because of the clear symbolism in the paintings. I have so many pictures and these paintings really speak for themselves. During our fourth day in Berlin, we went to Museum Island to see the German Historical Museum and have a tour on the period from 1918-1945. I saw a lot in this museum that we had learned about both in Search and in German. During our third day in Berlin, we went on a walking tour of Berlin's old Jewish Quarter. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic but unfortunately it was raining pretty hard. We then went on a tour of the Holocaust Memorial and experienced the museum underneath. Although the day was overall sad and somber, I think it was important to learn about these difficult topics.
During our second day in Berlin, we walked through the city, navigated the subway system, saw the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, and a memorial church. This church had survived the bombings of World War II. We then had lunch in Potsdamer Platz. We were then given the choice between too museums, and I decided on the Topography of Terror Museum. This museum was all about World War II. One of the most shocking pieces was a newspaper article showing the "Our Father" prayer but written for Adolf Hitler as "Our Hitler". Our journey from Otzenhausen to Berlin was a bit complicated at first because of a storm, but we made it to Germany's capital after several very long and boring train rides. We checked into our hotel after taking the subway to Sauvigny Platz. It was pretty late by the time we finally arrived that everyone pretty much went to dinner and then went to bed. It was an exhausting day of nonstop traveling, but I managed to have a delicious first dinner in Berlin with Elizabeth!
For our last day in Otzenhausen, we visited a medieval festival in Illingen to experience more German history and culture. We saw a giant owl, so that was the highlight of my medieval festival experience because I did my German presentation on animals in Germany.
We visited Karl Marx House in Trier which was turned into a museum on Marx's life and ideals. This was one of my favorite museums we visited because I felt like I was connected to Marx's life and really understood his theories and beliefs. We then had free time in Trier to explore the city. A few friends and I visited the Porta Nigra which was the gate of the city during the Roman Empire. We had our second visit to Saarbrücken to visit a Jewish Synagogue. I learned a lot more about Judaism and Judaism in Germany specifically. We then had free time for the rest of the day in Saarbrücken, so I went shopping and had coffee with friends.
We visited an industrial steal and coal museum which really connected our readings in Search to real life. We learned about the dangerous conditions that people had to work with. We walked all the way to the top of the museum so we could see the entire factory.
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