Alexa’s Blog – Day 8

May 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/19/13.

We were up early to catch a train to Salzburg, Austria for a day trip. The train ride took around two hours. Compared to all the travelling I have been doing recently, between planes and buses, two hours on a train seems like cake. I had my iPod with me and was able to jam during the ride and enjoy the lovely Austrian scenery. The Alps are so beautiful! It’s so weird to realize that there is actually snow at the tops of these mountains.

After we arrived in Salzburg we had lunch in the train station and departed to meet our new tour guide for the afternoon. Salzburg is iconic because it is the location of the Sound of Music film as well as the true events that inspired the musical and movie. Our tour guide had plenty to tell us about the film and the Trapp family as we frolicked about the grounds and gardens. Everything about the garden is stunning, from the architecture to the flowers to the landscaping. There is a huge fortress in the mountains beyond the garden that is so noticeable that it’s almost distracting.

After we were done in the gardens and had exhausted ourselves singing Sound of Music songs we crossed the bridge into the main part of Salzburg. On the bridge there are thousands of locks fastened to the chain links. Couples purchase and initial these locks, attach them to the bridge fence, and toss the key into the river to symbolize their never ending love. Which is great for them, I guess.

The new tour guide gave us a walking tour of Salzburg with Arnoud following at a distance. Salzburg is officially now my favorite place that I have been to so far. It’s the perfect little city, complete with cobblestone streets, fountains, gargoyles, a huge, gorgeous cathedral, horse-drawn carriages, beer gardens, river cruises, street vendors, cheese shops, gelato and ice cream, expensive chocolates, souvenir stores, an incline, the fortress, and above all, an amazing view of the Alps! I wish that I could just move everything from my life in Pennsylvania and bring it to Salzburg.

After the walking tour was over, our group split up and Carson and I decided to explore. We saw quite a lot, which is great considering she is still on crutches. We got a little too zealous and started climbing a steep road that actually turned out to be the path leading up the fortress. We turned around as soon as we figured that out.

The day started out sunny and warm, but it quickly turned chilly and rainy. We didn’t let that deter our spirits as we stopped at street vendors, got ice cream for a euro per scoop, and took in the Austrian atmosphere. It felt like we had just set out to roam the city when we realized it was time to meet back up with the group for dinner. We could have probably used at least another hour. Even though I have limited money I was able to get my mom a souvenir. She is into old-timey home decorating and cooking so I bought an oven mitt that can be used as a decorative item or for real cooking. It has a recipe for apple strudel written on it in German. The woman I bought it from thought that it was silly for me to be buying something not in English, but my family has German background and my mom may or may not have taken German in high school, so it’s close enough.

We had dinner on the third floor of a quant little café near the birth house of Mozart. Here, we experienced chicken for the first time since leaving the United States. It was magical.

After dinner we departed for Munich on the train and made it back to the hotel exhausted but fulfilled. I’m ready to look at the photos I took today and see what edits I can do – the fortress is all but washed out in a few of them. My camera is having some kind of lens issue and won’t work so it looks like I’ll be up taking care of that tonight. Hopefully all will be better by tomorrow because we’ve got the biggest photo op of the trip – Nueschwanstein Castle!

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 7

May 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/18/13.

Today we took the train to Dachau to visit the concentration camp. I knew that it was going to be an emotionally exhausting trip but I didn’t truly know what to expect. We were able to observe two remade barracks complete with bunkers, lockers, and bathrooms, the empty barrack markers, the crematorium and unused gas chamber, the Jewish and Christian memorial sites, and an extensive museum collection. All of it was very unnerving, but the worst part was the crematorium. It made me queasy just looking at it. I couldn’t help but imagine thousands of prisoners working, slaving, and dying on the grounds that we were walking on. In essence it was one terrible, massive graveyard.

Arnoud gave us a tour of most of the camp but let us roam on our own after we had finished looking at the crematorium. Behind the crematorium there was a path in the woods that had plaques representing a headstone, marking the memory of thousands of unknown Dachau prisoners. There were also sections that marked the location of a blood ditch and a wall that prisoners stood against before they were shot. It was all very hard to take in.

But it doesn’t stop there. After we were done outside, we went into the museum and watched a short film with real photos and clips from the Dachau camp. That was too much at times because it the camera got very close to the dead. And they were everywhere: stacked on wagons, suffocated in train cars, loading into ditches, remains in the crematorium, hanging on electrical fences…it was impossible to get away, and it was horrible.

After the film was over I went through the rest of the museum and found snippets of new things I hadn’t known about Dachau, all of which were very interesting but none the less horrific. There was one room that showcased the portraits of camp survivors called Recording Survival by Elija Bosler. Her work was exquisitely done and seemed very personal, but it was also very sad. I read the bios of each of the people she photographed and they all lost a huge part of their lives. Yes, the may have survived, but many members of their family did not. Some of them were completely alone once they were liberated. Just thinking of it is upsetting.

After we returned from Dachau, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Almost all of us decided on retail therapy to try to burn the image of what we had seen at the camp out of our eyes. I eventually broke off from my group because I’m one of those people who shops better by themselves. I ended up getting a few small things and moving on to explore. There’s a tiny shop around the corner from the Glockenspiel that sells sheet music and I was in there forever just looking at their collections. It was nice just to wander for a bit and have nowhere that I actually needed to be. Eventually, I walked back over to the Glockenspiel just in time for it to chime, and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a few hours before a late dinner. I ended the night with a quick trip to the bar with rest of the group before returning to the hotel to get some sleep. Tomorrow’s big adventure lies in Saltzburg!

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 6

May 17, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/17/13.

The day started bright and early. I’ve never been as tired as I was today. We were up at 4:30 am this morning for a very early flight to Munich. As soon as we got to Munich we were had met our new tour guide, Arnoud, and took a bus tour of the city before arriving at our hotel. We followed Arnoud to Marienplatz and lunch nearby. My first impression of Munich is that it is stunning. The architecture and atmosphere is exactly what I thought a European city would look like. In other words, what I thought was missing in Berlin. Not that I didn’t like Berlin, I just find Munich to be what I was expecting.

After lunch, we met back up in front of the Glockenspiel with the rest of our group and went to the Munich Tourism Office for our first Munich media visit. I liked hearing about the variety of attractions that the city has to offer. It’s all up my alley – sports, theatre, museums, music – it’s perfect. I would have loved to be here for Oktoberfest or the Long Night of Music. I think that everything here is so compelling to me. I was intrigued that the X-Games are going to take place in Munich for the next three years. Isabella had a lot of interesting things to say about working with tourism and public relations. I was impressed that she is doing such an important job a young age.

I had been pushing Carson in her wheel chair for most of the day and was getting pretty confident in my abilities. But a blow to my ego came when I tried to cross traffic and get her onto the next street: I didn’t hit the curb in the right place and she flew out of the wheelchair with all of her papers and belongings! Luckily she was able to react and stay standing but I felt so bad! Imagine if we hadn’t been that lucky. That was when I knew that I was 100% done with the day.

Our free time consisted of catching up on missed sleep. I left the hotel an hour before we were supposed to meet up for dinner to look around for a bank to exchange my American money. I wanted to put everything on my debit card but my parents recommended cash. I wish I had just done things my own way, because it has been a pain trying to find such a place. I got some money from the ATM to hold me over until Tuesday but I will have to be quite thrifty this weekend. It’s a holiday weekend and all of the banks will be closed until Tuesday morning. Arnoud has tried explaining where to go to exchange money but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I basically need someone to physically take me to get this done.

We went to a café in Marienplatz for dinner and had an assortment of very strange meats. I could handle most of it but there was a strange substance resembling spam that I couldn’t quite bring myself to eat. And naturally there was beer.

The one thing I have noticed about Munich is that it is very difficult to navigate if you want to go to specific places. Getting to Morienplatz on my own was easy but when I tried to find a certain shop or street I was completely lost! What are you doing to me, Munich?! I don’t like this feeling! It’s my one and only complaint about the city so far, but I’m sure I’ll get over it in a few days.

Also, the wifi in the hotel is sketchy. Just throwing that out there.

Reporting from the Z floor,

-AB

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 5

May 16, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/16/13.

Today’s media visit at Axel Springer was my favorite visit yet. We talked to Rudolf Porsche of Axel Springer and the Akademie students, which was very enlightening. Their work on their ‘masterpiece’ about the low voting turn out is such a great opportunity for them and hugely relevant since Germany has elections coming up. I was impressed by all of the students and that they are taking their education seriously. All of them are so multi-talented and charismatic that it’s hard to remember that some of them are even younger than we are. I loved getting the chance to talk to them. Katie, who is 18, was particularly amazing to all of us because she has already published four books! We had a great time talking to her about the differences between America and Germany after lunch. She found it funny that smoking cigarettes has a negative stigma in America, where in Germany it’s a bit of a romantic thing to be a smoking a cigarette and working on your hard-hitting news story. I loved hearing about the background of the other Akademie students as well – there was even a girl who had spent time in America, and her American accent was flawless. At the end of our visit, a few of the students took a small group of us to the 19th floor where there is a lavish bar and restaurant that overlooks the city of Berlin. It was probably the best view I had seen of the city so far.

While we were at Axel Springer we also talked with the assistant to the editor-in-chief of Die Welt, Leeor Englander. I was responsible for having a surplus of questions ready for him to keep the conversation going, but as it turns out I hardly needed them – he was so interesting and passionate about Die Welt that the words just kept coming. He talked a lot about the extensive innovations that Die Welt was doing to stay ahead of the journalism world and stand out. He showed us their news room, which was small and orderly but stocked with the latest in technology – Mac computers, full Adobe suites, several different models of iPads, smart phones – they seemed like they had everything they could ever need. Leeor also touched on a project he was a part of called Jew in the Box which was about stereotypes of the Jewish people. It was fascinating to hear about his culture and the prejudices he faces every day, and an interesting deviation from the news world that we had been talking about all day.

We had dinner in a small restaurant in Mitte, the center of Berlin. We enjoyed beer and schnitzel and paid Zack to eat an anchovy. The night ended with frantic packing and a short trip to get spaghetti ice cream. I got some for poor Carson, who is still stuck up in the hotel during down time, but it all but melted on by the time I booked it back to the hotel. I wish we could push her around in a wheelchair or a shopping cart.

Overall, this was my absolute favorite day. Everyone at Axel Springer was so engaging and relatable. I am sad to leave Berlin and our wonderful tour guide, Lorena, but I’m so happy that we ended on such a great note. Here’s to adventures in Munich!

-AB

 

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 4

May 15, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/15/13.

Ah, another busy day in Berlin. Today was special because the weather was lovely – the sun was out and everything! That’s a huge change from the chill we’ve been dealing with since we arrived.

We started our day at ZDF sitting in on their late morning talk show, which was wonderful. The hosts seemed so laid back and the audience was calm and collected – the exact opposite of what American talk shows seem to be like. I couldn’t understand what was going on but I was able to get the gist of it from their visual aids. It hardly felt like we were on a television show at all. The set was so convincing as a cafe.

After sitting in on the show, we were able to get a short tour of the studio with a group of Palestinians followed by a meeting with Wulf Schmiese, one of the hosts. He is an insanely interesting guy with a background in hard news and it was different to see someone with his experience now hosting a talk show, of all things. It did get a bit awkward at a point because one of the Palestinian women proceeded to go into full-on lecture mode on poor Wulf over an issue in their country. I was impressed at how quickly Wulf bounced back from that and was able to give them an answer that turned things away from their struggle a bit.

After our ZDF visit concluded, we visited a chocolate shop and had lunch at Maximilian’s near the American district and enjoyed more wonderful German food. I was inclined to be cheap today so I played it safe with potato soup, cabbage salad and a beer. The food here hasn’t disappointed me yet.

Our big day continued with a visit to Deutsche Presse Agentur, where we had a meeting with Christian Rowekamp and Michael Keppler who talked about their mission to serve their clients before they served themselves. They had such a great perspective with DPA that was unfamiliar to me because they are so committed to being behind the scenes and staying there. I loved Michael’s photo of the Pope’s hand – I swear I’ve seen it before. I want to look for it online to see what American publications have featured it, because I know I’ve seen it before.

The DPA newsroom is exactly how I think a newsroom should look like. It’s separated yet open. Everyone in their own department but no one is confined into cubicles or on separate floors. I think that unity is important for all elements of news to flow together. It seems like everyone at DPA would be close knit for this reason.

After leaving DPA we headed back to the hotel where I caught up on some much needed rest. I ate leftovers and crashed on my bed. I definitely needed that recharge for the Reichstag visit.

The Reichstag was absolutely stunning. Places like these hold so much history and seem like they have a life of their own. The outside is beautiful. The inside is beautiful. I can’t say enough about this place. Historical sites are one thing that I prefer to do alone. I like having my own time to process all the information, read, analyze photographs, and just enjoy myself at my own pace. The photographs on the ground floor of the dome were so compelling. I was captivated by them, especially a photo of a young man carrying his bike through the hole in the Berlin Wall. There was another photograph with a caption that said: “NSDAP parliamentary group leaves the auditorium; only Joseph Goebbels remains as an observer.” How chilling.

Now that I have some time tonight relax and reflect before another crazy day tomorrow, it’s safe to say that I couldn’t be in Germany with better people. I was a bit nervous initially signing up for the class because I went in knowing one person, and I know that I’m inclined to be very quiet in class and not interact with anyone much. I find it difficult to talk to people. How am I going to go on a 12-day trip with people that I see in class once a week? Thankfully, everyone in this class is just awesome and we’re all pretty weird, which definitely helps. I speak sometimes, too! If anyone reads this, you are wonderful and don’t ever forget it!

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DAY 1 – Start of an adventure

May 12, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
jewish mem

Me standing in the middle of a Holocaust memorial in Berlin

 

What a day. I am exhausted. But it had to be done. We had to push through today even though many of us were sleep deprived and slightly off-put by loss of luggage.

Despite crying babies, delayed flights due to lightening strikes and emergencies and rain, today was beautiful.

It was beautiful because of the wave of culture we just dove into.

It started with Paris. Even though we were just in the airport for a transfer, the fashion, the language, the poise and even the modern bathrooms were such a delight to behold.

Both of our tour guides went above and beyond to make us comfortable and to engage into the history and culture of Germany at the same time.

Half-dazed, I could still appreciate the fascinating and mysterious memorial for the Jews of the Holocaust in Berlin.

I managed to take as many photos as possible of all of the magnificent buildings, monuments and even relics of the Wall while on the bus and walking through Downtown. It was a wonderful hands-on history lesson.

Berlin is a different world. Modern architecture stands near aging cathedrals. Bicyclists speed past pedestrians on the sidewalk. Men wear bright blue skinny jeans with sweaters around their necks. It’s a little bit of a culture shock, and I love it.

As Americans, we are always searching for the antique and the ancient – where we came from – how were things back then. It is a yearning I am finding that will probably never be satisfied. But some Americans who tour Europe and other places bring upon themselves a bad reputation because they fail to respect these old cultures while they seek to expand their own.

My hope is that we not only diverge from following in the footsteps of those tourists, but also that we change the minds of some natives about Americans.

I’ve waited my whole life to come to Europe and I have rehearsed through my head many times what I would probably be doing and seeing – but never in a thousand years would I have guessed it would be anything like today. But that’s OK because something different is never necessarily something bad – it’s just the start of an adventure.

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