5-12-13

I slept like a rock last night.  After a long day like that I needed to, and today I felt like my batteries recharged enough to get me through the trip.  Today was less hectic than yesterday, but nonetheless busy.

The group took the subway to Frei University to take a tour of a German university campus and receive a lecture on German media.  It was interesting to see how similar it is to American media, and the subtle differences.  For instance, the acceptance of certain obscenities in media is similar, but towards different things such as violence in America, or sexual content in Germany.

After the lecture the group was free to wander.  A few of us, including myself, visited the Checkpoint Charlie museum.  Very informative, but there are a LOT of things to read.  Bring your glasses if you plan to visit.

Later, we met with the others and went to the Brandenburg Gate for some sight seeing.  It was quite a monument!

A few from the previous small group broke off again to eat because we hadn’t yet.  We eventually chose an Australian place (because we hear Germans don’t like to eat German food and we want the full German experience. That evidently includes not eating German food).  The food was good but the service stunk.

More to come tomorrow!

5-12-13

Welp…We made it…

Seems like this photo sums up most of the past 24 hours.

But we did make it to Berlin. Eventually.

Once we found our way out of the airplane circus we took a brief tour of the city.  We drove past the Reichstag, the beautiful government buildings, embassies, parks, old East-West checkpoints, pieces left of the wall…

We stretched our legs a little around the Holocaust Memorial.  This memorial was created with no definite symbolism behind it, which according to our guide, was the artist’s way of forcing the viewer to draw their own conclusions from the rows and columns of cement.  A very fitting and appropriate monument, I think.

From there we went to our hotel for a short break before going to dinner.  If I could have looked at it long enough to take a picture of it, I would post that picture here.  Unfortunately I was starving and decided to just eat the food.  Plenty of food photos to come though!  For now it’s time to rest…finally.

Here we go…In the airport about to board a plane to France on the way to Germany.  A country that was so prominent in the 20th Century.  A country that part of my family came from.  These things alone are reason enough for me to be excited for this trip.

I traveled most of the continental United States in the past year but leaving the continent is another level of adventure.  The food we will eat, the people we will meet, and the lessons we will learn on this trip will stay with us forever.  I can’t truly explain the ways we’ll grow as people because I haven’t experienced it yet.  But we will keep you updated on those experiences in this website!  For sure, though, we’re learning something about our constantly evolving, constantly shrinking, globalized world.  A trip across oceans that once would change and redefine a person’s life forever we are making in a few short hours, in order to attempt to condense the experience of living in a country in a few short days.  It doesn’t seem possible, but it will have to be enough.

I know I will have a brand new appreciation for Pittsburgh when I come back.  That’s a wonderful thing about traveling; it reminds you how much you love home. Hopefully the Penguins will still be playing when I come back.

-Connor Mulvaney