First of all, I’m excited to say that I’ve had a really great week. I’ve really enjoyed being here in Berlin this week and I’m excited for all that we have planned! Coming up is a trip to Stockholm, Sweden with some friends, visiting my friend Jessica Jones who is studying abroad in Spain for my mid-semester break in February, a trip to Paris and Amsterdam with my program, and lots more! I have realized that this semester really is going to fly by.
Yesterday, we toured the Stasi (East German secret police) prison called Hohenschönhausen. When East Germany was still occupied by the Soviet Union after the War, they used it to imprison political opponents, and they used really physically cruel methods of torture to get people to sign statements of confession that sentenced them to more prison and labor camps. When the DDR, the East German government, was formed, they took over the prison and improved facilities, but shifted the cruelty and torture from physical to psychological. They used solitary confinement and the usual interrogations. I could go on for quite a while about all the things they did that I learned about, but I think what struck me the most was how when there is a change in power, the new regime kills or persecutes everyone from the previos regime. It kind of comforted me that there really hasn’t been much punishment for Stasi officials and officers, because the vicious cycle should be ended. I was talking to Michael about it and he made a really great point – that grace is sometimes better than justice. God loves justice, but he also calls us to grace and forgiveness, which is actually a higher road than justice.
This week I went to two museums for class. One was the Deutsches Historiches Museum and the other was the Bauhaus Archiv. The Deutsches Historiches Museum (DHM) is a really nice museum that takes you through German history from the middle ages to 1990. We were focusing on the exhibit on a divided Germany from 1945 to 1990. It is absolutely crazy to think about living in Germany at the time. The Bauhaus Archiv is about the Bauhaus style that originated in the 1920s. It’s a style of architecture as well as designs for furniture and other household items. It reminds you a lot of Ikea.
Other than museums and class, I’ve been enjoying hanging out with friends here. And I met two girls from the stint team (stint stands for short term international) with Campus Crusade for Christ here in Berlin for lunch one day! It was really great to meet them and talk about how our time in Berlin has been so far, what their ministry is like, the weekly meetings they have, and what fun things they recommended doing in this city! I’m acquiring quite a long list of cool places to see and hang out in.
I hope you all are doing well, and I am sad that my internet is kind of slow, so it’s hard to successfully upload things and reply to messages on facebook as well as skype. Plus the fact that the days go by so quickly! But, I love you all and am so thankful that you all are in my life, even if we’re not currently in the same country!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Leipzig and Dresden
This weekend we had a three day weekend and some friends and I went to Leipzig and Dresden, two cities that are a couple of hours south of Berlin. There were 9 of us altogether: 5 drove down on Friday and 4 took the train on Saturday morning. I went with the group in the car on Friday morning. We took our time driving down to Leipzig and stopped at Lutherstadt-Wittenburg (where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Catholic church), Dessau, and Halle.
Wittenburg was kind of what we expected - we saw the church and walked around the town. It was pretty and very old European. We ate lunch in Wittenburg and then got back in the car and headed for Dessau. When we got to Dessau it started snowing absolutely HUGE snowflakes! So we got out and played in the snowflakes a little. But then it started freezing rain instead. So we got back in the car and said good riddance to Dessau (there wasn't much that we could see anyway). We arrived in Halle and walked around the marketplace with a beautiful church. It was really cold on Friday, so we ended up in a bookstore enjoying the warmth and seats. We didn't really know what else to look at or do in Halle, so we were going to move on to Leipzig (where we were staying in a hostel Friday and Saturday night) when we decided to ask a bookstore clerk what they recommended we do. And one lady in line jumped in and told us we should go to this museum about a five minutes drive. And she offered to let us follow her there!! She was really nice and took us to the museum and we ended up eating dinner with her, her 18 year old son, and her German friend who is married to an Englishman. So, it was lots of fun and a great serendipity to meet such nice Germans and actually get to sit and have dinner with them! After dinner they took us around a little bit and showed us some things around Halle. And by that time it was getting pretty late, so we headed on to Leipzig.
Once we got to Leipzig, we couldn't find our hostel (we set out on this trip with no city maps...haha, I'm thankful we made it anywhere this weekend!), so we pulled up the train station to go in and ask for directions. Tom and I went in to ask for directions, but all of the desks were closed because it was midnight. So we ended up calling the hostel. Tom and I return to the car to find two Polizei (police) vans behind our car and the other three guys standing outside the car talking to the police! They asked Tom and I to show our passports, and they told us that someone called us in because we were sitting in front of the train station for too long! So after 20 minutes of checking our passports and car registration, they told us everything was fine and we could go on. And we asked them if they could give us directions to our hostel, and they ended up telling us just to follow them! So we finished the night with a police escort to our hostel! What a day!
The next morning in Leipzig, we met up with the other 4 and walked around Leipzig. We saw a church that Bach is buried in (I think!) and has his cello and violins and some other stuff in it. We also saw the town halls and an art museum. The weather was much nicer and warmer and that made it so much better to walk around and explore the area, which I am learning is what visiting European cities really is!
The next morning we drove to Dresden. A lot of Dresden was bombed during World War II, and has since been rebuilt. We saw the Frauenkirche (a church) and other churches and old(ish) buildings. The Frauenkirche was a huge restoration project. The outside of the church stood for a couple of days after the bombing and then crumbled, so they rebuilt the church using as much of the old rubble as they could. So, the new pieces are all white sandstone and the old pieces are darkened sandstone from the original church. It was beautiful (as were all the churches I saw this weekend). After more walking around, we got back in the car and headed back to Berlin! Coming back from this weekend made Berlin and my apartment feel more like home.
I do feel like I am enjoying my time here and being in Berlin more and more. It's exciting to think that I am actually living here! I have always wanted to live in a foreign country instead of just visit. And Berlin has a lot to explore and see, and I realized that after visiting some smaller cities this weekend.
And God continues to teach me to depend on Him for my energy, joy, peace, and strength. Everyday, his Word reminds me that He is so worthy of praise, no matter where I am or what happens. At one of the churches we saw this weekend, there was a really lifelike statue of Jesus on the cross, and looking up at it so overwhelmed me that I felt compelled to kneel. I've never felt so "at the foot of the cross" before and I felt so humbled and loved to know that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins. The hymn "When I survey" came to mind, and I was reminded of how grateful I am that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. And now the curtain is torn, and I am reconciled with the Father. And Jesus is no longer on the cross, but is risen and alive and seated at the right hand of the Father!
Wittenburg was kind of what we expected - we saw the church and walked around the town. It was pretty and very old European. We ate lunch in Wittenburg and then got back in the car and headed for Dessau. When we got to Dessau it started snowing absolutely HUGE snowflakes! So we got out and played in the snowflakes a little. But then it started freezing rain instead. So we got back in the car and said good riddance to Dessau (there wasn't much that we could see anyway). We arrived in Halle and walked around the marketplace with a beautiful church. It was really cold on Friday, so we ended up in a bookstore enjoying the warmth and seats. We didn't really know what else to look at or do in Halle, so we were going to move on to Leipzig (where we were staying in a hostel Friday and Saturday night) when we decided to ask a bookstore clerk what they recommended we do. And one lady in line jumped in and told us we should go to this museum about a five minutes drive. And she offered to let us follow her there!! She was really nice and took us to the museum and we ended up eating dinner with her, her 18 year old son, and her German friend who is married to an Englishman. So, it was lots of fun and a great serendipity to meet such nice Germans and actually get to sit and have dinner with them! After dinner they took us around a little bit and showed us some things around Halle. And by that time it was getting pretty late, so we headed on to Leipzig.
Once we got to Leipzig, we couldn't find our hostel (we set out on this trip with no city maps...haha, I'm thankful we made it anywhere this weekend!), so we pulled up the train station to go in and ask for directions. Tom and I went in to ask for directions, but all of the desks were closed because it was midnight. So we ended up calling the hostel. Tom and I return to the car to find two Polizei (police) vans behind our car and the other three guys standing outside the car talking to the police! They asked Tom and I to show our passports, and they told us that someone called us in because we were sitting in front of the train station for too long! So after 20 minutes of checking our passports and car registration, they told us everything was fine and we could go on. And we asked them if they could give us directions to our hostel, and they ended up telling us just to follow them! So we finished the night with a police escort to our hostel! What a day!
The next morning in Leipzig, we met up with the other 4 and walked around Leipzig. We saw a church that Bach is buried in (I think!) and has his cello and violins and some other stuff in it. We also saw the town halls and an art museum. The weather was much nicer and warmer and that made it so much better to walk around and explore the area, which I am learning is what visiting European cities really is!
The next morning we drove to Dresden. A lot of Dresden was bombed during World War II, and has since been rebuilt. We saw the Frauenkirche (a church) and other churches and old(ish) buildings. The Frauenkirche was a huge restoration project. The outside of the church stood for a couple of days after the bombing and then crumbled, so they rebuilt the church using as much of the old rubble as they could. So, the new pieces are all white sandstone and the old pieces are darkened sandstone from the original church. It was beautiful (as were all the churches I saw this weekend). After more walking around, we got back in the car and headed back to Berlin! Coming back from this weekend made Berlin and my apartment feel more like home.
I do feel like I am enjoying my time here and being in Berlin more and more. It's exciting to think that I am actually living here! I have always wanted to live in a foreign country instead of just visit. And Berlin has a lot to explore and see, and I realized that after visiting some smaller cities this weekend.
And God continues to teach me to depend on Him for my energy, joy, peace, and strength. Everyday, his Word reminds me that He is so worthy of praise, no matter where I am or what happens. At one of the churches we saw this weekend, there was a really lifelike statue of Jesus on the cross, and looking up at it so overwhelmed me that I felt compelled to kneel. I've never felt so "at the foot of the cross" before and I felt so humbled and loved to know that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins. The hymn "When I survey" came to mind, and I was reminded of how grateful I am that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. And now the curtain is torn, and I am reconciled with the Father. And Jesus is no longer on the cross, but is risen and alive and seated at the right hand of the Father!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I know that I really have not been writing on this blog often at all, and I'm sorry. Hopefully someday I will be able to begin blog entries without apologies.
Anyway, classes started last Monday (the 12th). I'm taking a German class from 9 to 12 Monday through Thursday, so that's a lot of German. But my teacher is really nice and I am learning a lot. Some Thursdays we have field trips, and today we went to the Berlin Zoo for class. It was really cold walking around, but we got to see elephants, lions, bears, monkeys, a hippopotamus, and the famous Knut (a polar bear born in the Berlin Zoo and really famous for being ridiculously cute. Unfortunately, he's grown up and is not as cute as the baby Knut was).
I am also taking a class called Contemporary Germany in European Perspective and one on the Architecture in Berlin. The one on Contemporary Germany in European Perspective is about how Germany deals with its past and how that shapes its politics and culture today. It focuses both on Germany and how it fits into Europe as a whole. I think it will be interesting and the professor (who is also the program director) is a really good lecturer. So far, we've had a brief overview of German history and a look at the political parties and happenings in the post World War II and Cold War eras in both West and East Germany.
In my architecture class, we will go through all of the time periods and styles of architecture in Berlin. We look at a lot of photos of buildings in class and my professor incorporates the history and other things that influenced the architecture of the time. Last class, we talked about a very influential architect in the 1800s named Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
In both of my classes, we are assigned projects that involve going to certain places in the city, so I am excited for these classes to help me see more of the city that I would on my own. And the information is definitely much more interesting because I am here and the places are familiar and close. It's pretty cool getting to learn about stuff in the place you are and being in the place where you get to learn about stuff!
Tomorrow I'm leaving to go to Leipzig and Dresden, two cities that are about 2 hours south of Berlin. I'll take lots of pictures and write all about it!
P.S. I've uploaded pictures onto facebook, so check them out if you'd like!
Anyway, classes started last Monday (the 12th). I'm taking a German class from 9 to 12 Monday through Thursday, so that's a lot of German. But my teacher is really nice and I am learning a lot. Some Thursdays we have field trips, and today we went to the Berlin Zoo for class. It was really cold walking around, but we got to see elephants, lions, bears, monkeys, a hippopotamus, and the famous Knut (a polar bear born in the Berlin Zoo and really famous for being ridiculously cute. Unfortunately, he's grown up and is not as cute as the baby Knut was).
I am also taking a class called Contemporary Germany in European Perspective and one on the Architecture in Berlin. The one on Contemporary Germany in European Perspective is about how Germany deals with its past and how that shapes its politics and culture today. It focuses both on Germany and how it fits into Europe as a whole. I think it will be interesting and the professor (who is also the program director) is a really good lecturer. So far, we've had a brief overview of German history and a look at the political parties and happenings in the post World War II and Cold War eras in both West and East Germany.
In my architecture class, we will go through all of the time periods and styles of architecture in Berlin. We look at a lot of photos of buildings in class and my professor incorporates the history and other things that influenced the architecture of the time. Last class, we talked about a very influential architect in the 1800s named Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
In both of my classes, we are assigned projects that involve going to certain places in the city, so I am excited for these classes to help me see more of the city that I would on my own. And the information is definitely much more interesting because I am here and the places are familiar and close. It's pretty cool getting to learn about stuff in the place you are and being in the place where you get to learn about stuff!
Tomorrow I'm leaving to go to Leipzig and Dresden, two cities that are about 2 hours south of Berlin. I'll take lots of pictures and write all about it!
P.S. I've uploaded pictures onto facebook, so check them out if you'd like!
Monday, January 12, 2009
First Few Days in Berlin
Sorry that this blog post has taken me a long time to write/post. I don’t have wireless internet in my apartment, so I don’t spend a lot of time on the internet. I’m working on getting internet in my apartment but I don’t know if that will actually happen anytime soon. But the campus at school has wireless so I can use that until then.
I arrived in Berlin on January 7 and was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was covered in snow!! Everyone said that Berlin was cold and dreary and I just didn’t picture it being snowy or ever actually snowing. It flurried a little bit the morning I arrived on top of the snow that was already here. So, even though it is cold, I think the snow makes it a little more bearable. I’ve seen kids sledding and that’s always fun.
Honestly, being here has been a lot harder than I expected. Even though a lot of people speak English, all the signs and menus are in German and people speak really fast German to you until you ask them if they speak English. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Mostly, though, people are helpful and do speak at least some English. At first the public transportation was really overwhelming. There are buses, the U-Bahn, and the S-Bahn. The U-Bahn and the S-Bahn are both trains; the U-Bahn is underground (but sometimes it runs above ground) and the S-Bahn is above ground (but sometimes it runs underground). But, I am learning and it’s really not so hard. One concept that is essential is that to get somewhere sometimes you have to take the bus to the correct S-Bahn station or switch trains or take the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn and then the bus. But, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn no longer scare me because they gave us a map that is really helpful. I like the S- and U-Bahns far more than the buses because they are a new experience for me and it’s fun hopping on and off. And I don’t really have an equivalent bus map so I don’t always know what bus would take me where. Plus, they often don’t run the whole route, so you have to make sure your stop is before the last stop they’re going to. The number and last stop of both the buses and the U- and S-Bahns are on the front, so that’s helpful.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were orientation days and pretty full of walking and riding around the city. On Friday we walked around all the Freie Universitat (Free University) buildings and then toured a bunker, that came out at an U-Bahn station (that was weird!) In case you were wondering, It’s called the Free University because back when the wall was still here, the only university was controlled by the communists and some of the students wanted academic freedom, so they started this university with no books and sometimes held classes in candlelight! That’s a pretty hardcore legacy. On Saturday morning, our director, Dirk, lead us on a walking tour or the historical part of the city. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, some bricks marking where they wall had been, the new government buildings, and many other important buildings. I took lots of pictures, but I’m afraid they all look pretty dreary because the ground and the sky are both white-grey.
Classes start tomorrow (Monday, which might be today, depending on when I post this). I’ll have German language class from 9 – 12 Monday through Thursday (yikes!) and then two classes after that on Wednesdays, ending at 7. Four of our Fridays will be field trips to various places. And we’re taking a trip to Paris and Amsterdam in March. So, lots of things on the schedule, which is good!
This blog post would not be complete without mention of how good God is. He has been so faithful even so far, as he has comforted me and sheltered me in the cover of his wings (Psalm 91) when I am tossing and turning at night and wishing I was back home. I look forward to how he is going to challenge me, grow me, and draw me to greater dependence on him this semester. And my prayer is that in him I would really be able to enjoy him and my time here, no matter what happens.
I arrived in Berlin on January 7 and was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was covered in snow!! Everyone said that Berlin was cold and dreary and I just didn’t picture it being snowy or ever actually snowing. It flurried a little bit the morning I arrived on top of the snow that was already here. So, even though it is cold, I think the snow makes it a little more bearable. I’ve seen kids sledding and that’s always fun.
Honestly, being here has been a lot harder than I expected. Even though a lot of people speak English, all the signs and menus are in German and people speak really fast German to you until you ask them if they speak English. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Mostly, though, people are helpful and do speak at least some English. At first the public transportation was really overwhelming. There are buses, the U-Bahn, and the S-Bahn. The U-Bahn and the S-Bahn are both trains; the U-Bahn is underground (but sometimes it runs above ground) and the S-Bahn is above ground (but sometimes it runs underground). But, I am learning and it’s really not so hard. One concept that is essential is that to get somewhere sometimes you have to take the bus to the correct S-Bahn station or switch trains or take the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn and then the bus. But, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn no longer scare me because they gave us a map that is really helpful. I like the S- and U-Bahns far more than the buses because they are a new experience for me and it’s fun hopping on and off. And I don’t really have an equivalent bus map so I don’t always know what bus would take me where. Plus, they often don’t run the whole route, so you have to make sure your stop is before the last stop they’re going to. The number and last stop of both the buses and the U- and S-Bahns are on the front, so that’s helpful.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were orientation days and pretty full of walking and riding around the city. On Friday we walked around all the Freie Universitat (Free University) buildings and then toured a bunker, that came out at an U-Bahn station (that was weird!) In case you were wondering, It’s called the Free University because back when the wall was still here, the only university was controlled by the communists and some of the students wanted academic freedom, so they started this university with no books and sometimes held classes in candlelight! That’s a pretty hardcore legacy. On Saturday morning, our director, Dirk, lead us on a walking tour or the historical part of the city. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, some bricks marking where they wall had been, the new government buildings, and many other important buildings. I took lots of pictures, but I’m afraid they all look pretty dreary because the ground and the sky are both white-grey.
Classes start tomorrow (Monday, which might be today, depending on when I post this). I’ll have German language class from 9 – 12 Monday through Thursday (yikes!) and then two classes after that on Wednesdays, ending at 7. Four of our Fridays will be field trips to various places. And we’re taking a trip to Paris and Amsterdam in March. So, lots of things on the schedule, which is good!
This blog post would not be complete without mention of how good God is. He has been so faithful even so far, as he has comforted me and sheltered me in the cover of his wings (Psalm 91) when I am tossing and turning at night and wishing I was back home. I look forward to how he is going to challenge me, grow me, and draw me to greater dependence on him this semester. And my prayer is that in him I would really be able to enjoy him and my time here, no matter what happens.
Monday, January 5, 2009
I'm off!
So I'm leaving for Berlin, Germany tomorrow afternoon! I should arrive Wednesday morning jet-lagged and exhausted, but excited for the semester in Europe. I wanted to set up this blog so you all could hear about what's going on and all the crazy experiences I'll hopefully be having! So, please check the blog often. :) I was thinking about writing emails every once in a while, but I thought I was more likely to write on a blog more often than send out mass emails. So, I hope this blog is entertaining and keeps you updated on my life. I would love to hear about yours as well! So, facebook and email me!
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