Feverishly Taking on Berlin
Back in January we went on a trip to Berlin for four days! I had, an interesting time to say the least. I was sick, of course and for 2 of the days I had a fever. I spent the 7 hour train ride sweating miserably in my cabin unable to sleep. I took Ibuprofen but the fever was relentless. When we got on the metro to go to the hotel I could barely stand let alone carry my bag up and down the stairs, nevertheless I was a trooper. I got to the hotel changed my clothes, drank some water and joined the group for the afternoon and evening activities. We went to the headquarters of the Nazi party resistance movement and took a tour, in German. I don't remember much of the tour since I was trying to focus on not falling over in the middle of the exhibit, all I wanted to do was fall asleep.
For dinner we found the Berlin Burrito Factory and got our much needed fix in 6 months. They were delicious, black beans, rice, hot sauce and all. We got back to the hotel and had pillow talk time with Kaila before passing out with the hope that my fever would break over night. It didn't. I woke up in the morning feeling better but still sick. We went on a walking tour of the city in the drizzly, cold weather. We got to go to the Reichstag (Parliament) and watch the members work and discuss the topic of minimum wage. It was around 12:30 and the fever was back. Awesome. I spent the next few hours completely uncomfortable, hot then cold and sweating either way. This is NOT how I wanted to spend my Berlin trip. We went to the Holocaust Memorial in the city which was incredible, I have some pictures that I will post. After we went to the Bundeskanzleramt for a tour of the chancellory.
That night I was finally feeling better and went out for Thai food with Kaila, Rachel, Katie, Kat and Tricia. We had four hours of great conversation and wonderful bonding time. It was exactly what we all needed.
On Saturday we went to the Schoenhauser Prison where they held "enemies of the State" in east Germany during the GDR. It was insane. It was very similar to the House of Terror in Budapest that I had seen with Raymmah and Vishnu but many of the the rooms were still intact. We saw the tourture and isolation rooms, the interrogation rooms and were able to bring it close to home when our tour guide who was about 26 told us that his mother was a prisoner in isolation while he was alive. We as young American students are able to easily distance ourselves from Germany's history as if it could not have affected us personally. Listening to his anecdote we were reminded that it could've been our mother, aunt, father, cousin that was in this facility or blacklisted by the government forced to flee the country.
I had a similar feeling at the prison that I had when I was in Nuremberg back in August. It was suddently real, not just a story in our history textbooks from the distant past.
Walking through the city you can see the scars of both the war and the separation of East and West Berlin preserved by an engraved line in the ground representing where the wall stood just over 22 years ago. The presence of the wall and feelings toward the Berliners of the otherside still linger and from what I've learned and experienced this will be so for many years to come. In my Landeskunde class we learned that the number of "mixed marriages" in Berlin is incredibly low. When the term "mixed marriage" isused it refers to East and West Berliners. Twenty-two years later and the mixture of those people from the same country, from the same CITY living a mere 2 moinutes by foot away choose not to interact with one another or "mix" their genes with one another.
We ended our Berlin touring with a trip to the Jewish museum. I appreciated this because it wasn't entirely focused on the Holocaust aspect but rather Jewish German history as a whole. The museum was beautiful and much of our tour was focused on the architecture of the museum and why things were the way they were. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to go through the actual exhibit and for that reason I would love to return and get a little lost looking at the artifacts and reading the personal accounts.
That night a group of us went out to a bar and further bonded our friendships that we hope to keep for the rest of our lives. The people in my program are incredible and I truly am blessed to have met a great number of them. It's hard to feel homesick and alone because we've formed such a support system and care so much for one another like we've known each other for years.
Sunday morning we had another 7 hour train ride home. Everyone was tired but the ride was still filled with laughter and friendly conversation and remembering all of the funny stories from the past few days.
Even though I was sick for half the trip (my fever returned Monday and again Wednesday) it was a great trip and I had a really good time. It was just enough introduction to the city to get an idea and feel familiar with many of the famous historical spots so that the next time I can really enjoy the present state of the city.

