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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Alexa’s Blog – Day 3

May 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/14/13.

Before our official visits even started for day 3, the students took matters into their own hands. We had free time until 1:00 pm, when we had to meet up for our visit to Deutsche Welle. But first, we took the train to East Berlin and checked out the East Side Gallery, which is a memorial to the Berlin Wall as well as a showcase to the beautiful artwork painted on the remnants of the Wall from renowned 1990s artists. Each and every piece was so unique and beautiful.

Yesterday and today, we spent copious amounts of time riding the train and just as it was starting to get easier to navigate, we were thrown through a loop and I was confused all over again. Thankfully we have some solid navigators in our little group and we arrived back at the hotel just in time to leave for Deutsche Welle. Which, of course, involved more time spent on the train. We ended but being a bit late for our meeting at Deutsche Welle due to a wrong turn and a lot of walking. My feet hurt just thinking about it.

At Deutsche Welle, we had a fantastic lecture from Fabian van der Mark, the Head of office managing director multimedia global (whew!) followed by a tour of Deutsche Welle’s inner workings. We were able to see the news rooms, control rooms, and even hang out in their studio before a broadcast. And – best of all – we went onto the rooftop and were able to catch a glimpse of the beautiful view of Berlin that these lucky journalists get to see every day.

Following the Deutsche Welle meeting, we had a short group meeting and scattered to find food (“scattered” being a word used lightly – seven of eleven of us decided on Italian next to the hotel) and took a stroll through Arkaden, a shopping center in Potsdamer Platz. And finally, our long day ends early. I can’t wait to get some rest. I feel like I’ve never been as tired as I was today. Here’s to looking forward to a very busy tomorrow.

 

 

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 2

May 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

The following events transpired on 5/13/13.

What a day! We got our first taste of public transportation by way of the U-bahn to our first big media visit of the trip – a lecture at Freie Universitat by Dr. Elfriede Fursich. She supplied us with a ton of great information comparing German and American media. I was most surprised that Germans rely heavily on the radio and it has been the staple in the media landscape for decades. Still going strong, it contrasts immensely from the United States’ addiction to the Internet and social media. It’s a lot to think about, and definitely got me into the mindset of thinking about why their culture is the way it is.

Freie Universitat is a lovely campus. On our walk to the main building, we passed clusters of housing that were absolutely stunning – traditional architecture, beautiful pastel colors and stucco texture, balconies and flowers – I was ready to move in right then! Dr. Fursich told us that the housing around campus used to be a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.

Our afternoon visit was followed by free time for the rest of the night. I ended up walking through Berlin to exchange my US dollars with our guide, Lorena, along with Aimee, Katie, Connor and Michelle. It was like having our own private tour. It seems like Lorena knows just about everything and she was telling us all about the American sector that we were staying in and currently walking through. There was a piece of the Berlin Wall outside of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and a sign that alerted travelers that they were entering or leaving the American sector. You could certainly tell – there was a McDonald’s and a Dunkin Donuts not far from the sign.

Katie, Connor, Michelle and I stopped in at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and were blown away at the history. There were endless rooms full of stories, clothes, and artifacts from the escapees and other important figures from the Cold War and the dark days of the Berlin Wall. The most chilling room of all was filled with terrible stories of abducted and missing children.

After leaving Checkpoint Charlie, we met up with the rest of our group and continued exploring until it was time to leave for the club. I had never been to any kind of nightclub before so I was expecting the stereotypical techno music, strobe lights and fog machine. That’s exactly what we got at Tresor. We had a blast! And it’s great that Germans can’t dance because it made me feel better about how ridiculous I looked. What a great night – and looking forward to day 3!

-AB

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Alexa’s Blog – Day 1

May 12, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

When finally we landed in Berlin after a long night and day filled with delays and lost luggage, I was so tired that I could even begin to think about starting our tour of the city. After meeting the tour guides, it was clear that there would be no time for rest and we would be promptly be thrust into all the splendor that Berlin has to offer.

holocaust memorialI am so thankful for our guides for keeping us awake and thinking. Today’s bus tour of Berlin was such an easy and convenient way to see the city and get the overview of some stunning landmarks that I can’t wait to see up close and in person in the future. We made a short stop at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and, like most Holocaust remembrance sites, the meaning and physical representation wour as chilling.

After taking a moment to recharge and browse some local shops, we ended the bus tour in front of our hotel, which apparently has the strangest and most European things – a pull-out bed, two bathrooms (sort of), complimentary beverages in the fridge, and a quirky layout and color scheme.

Our down time was short lived and we headed out to our first official dinner as a group at a biergarten-style restaurant that pulled out all the stops in our delicious meal. I also ordered my first beer tonight from an actual restaurant! It’s the little things you can do overseas that you can’t do at home that get you excited.IMG_1713

So far, I have been running on about an hour and a half of sleep since yesterday evening when we boarded our Delta flight. I do not sleep well on transportation (trains, buses, cars, you name it), and my parents had me paranoid about the small crack in the plane’s nose from a previous flight. Between the two issues, I did not sleep a wink from Pittsburgh to Paris, leading to a very testy, yet delirious Alexa all day long. Tomorrow aims to be much less stressful and I can’t wait to spend the day at Freie University and exploring Berlin!

 

Alexa

 

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Alexa’s Bio

May 8, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

IMG_1229Hello, dear readers!

My name is Alexa Blanchard and I am a rising junior at Point Park University where I major in multimedia and minor in marketing. I am so excited to blog about our once in a lifetime trip to Germany!

It’s hard to believe that in a few short days we will be boarding our plane at the Pittsburgh International Airport and headed overseas. I came from college a few days ago and between working, unpacking, and a collection of other responsibilities, I’ve hardly had time to relax. I can’t wait to get to Germany take a break from life for a while, even though we will still be plenty busy with our dizzying amount of media and cultural visits.

What am I excited the most about? I feel like there’s too much to list: tours of Berlin and Munich, a side trip to Dachau Concentration Camp (honestly I’m just going to cry the whole time), visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, taking in the nightlife, sampling the food, and exploring the country, just to name a few. I’m hoping to make it to a sports bar or two – who knows, maybe they’ll even be nice enough to put the Pens game on for me. It’s not like I can take a break from the playoffs.

That being said, I still have to pack, get some money changed, and just take care of business overall. I can’t wait to head back to Pittsburgh on Friday. Then on Saturday I’ll be ready to brave the Port Authority buses and hope they get me to the airport on time. Here’s to strategic planning!

Bis demnächst – until next time,

Alexa

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