Friday, July 6, 2012

All Good Things Must Come to an End


I cannot believe that today is my last full day here in Berlin! These past 6 weeks have gone by so fast. I feel like I did so much, yet at the same time I did nothing. Either way though this has been the best experience of my life and I am so glad that I chose to study in Berlin.
These past 2 days have been very bittersweet for me. Yesterday classes ended, today my host family left, tonight I have to say goodbye to all of the amazing people I’ve met through Fubis, and tomorrow morning I fly home.
Yesterday, I was so excited to be done with class, which I mean everyone always is, but when it actually happened I was quite sad. Usually when you end class your completely okay because you know you’ll be back again next year and you’ll easily be able to see the people you met in your class whenever you want. However, it’s a completely different feeling when your done with a class where you know you’ll never be back again nor will you see these people really again and it was just kind of hard. However, I think my class ended in the perfect way. The agenda for our day yesterday was to take our final, play apples to apples in German (of course), and then to present our final presentation. So, we arrived to class and took our final, which was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Then after a little break we were suppose to present our presentations, but all of us weren’t really ready to present so we begged our teacher to push it back and let us play Apples to Apples instead and then after our next break we’d present and end class that way. Of course she agreed with us, so we all had fun laughing and playing Apples to Apples and then we had an hour break and we all just worked on our presentations. When break was over we came back and our group asked if we could go last (even though there was only one other group), but we just thought it would be more fitting for what we were about to present. So once again everyone agreed and we were quite happy. Now, our final presentations had no boundaries besides that it had to be at least 10 minutes long and that she wanted us to do something creative. Not to be mean, but the first groups project was a little boring and pretty generic. They went with our teacher’s idea of being a travel agency and just discussing a part of Berlin to the class. It was interesting, but there was nothing too special about it. Once they were done it was finally our turn. We could not wait we were so excited!!

So we started off by stating that our teacher said she wanted creative and that is exactly what we were giving her. Not only did we want to do a final presentation, but we also wanted to create something that would not only be memorable for us, but for all the people we have met through the Fubis program. So we decided to make a video. It first started with a video from our first day of class where a boy taught me the East Coast Swing Dance and flipped me in a weird way. Haha. Then, we created a game where we showed clips of us describing everyone in our class, including ourselves, and then made them guess who we were. From here, we went into clips of us interviewing people from different classes about what their favorite memory  was from the last 6 weeks here, what their favorite place here was, if they found love and where, if they were sad it was over, etc. After this it went into a slideshow of pictures that we took ourselves or off of other peoples facebooks that portrayed what the past 6 weeks have been like here. And then finally, it ended with two random video clips. One was of my group member singing Karaoke and the last one was of my friends and I driving to Munich singing and dancing to Backstreet Boys. My teacher and everyone else loved it. Not only did it showcase everything about our experience, but it was such a good representation of my group partners and I. My teacher even wanted us to present it at the farewell ceremony, but we would have to edit some things out of it to make it more appropriate so we declined on this invitation and instead we are just going to post it in our Fubis Social Group we created on Facebook.

                                                (My group partners and I)
Then after class, I went home because I knew it was the last night I was going to be able to spend time with my host family because they were leaving for Italy today. So last night Luise and her friends and I went out one last time together and we just reminisced about everything, how fast time goes, and how much we are going to miss each other. Then this morning, it was my host dad’s birthday so we all woke up early to celebrate and have breakfast together. This was a very nice way for us to end things. Shortly after breakfast though we had to say our goodbyes which consisted of a lot of hugging, kissing, and nice remarks. We were all really sad, but we all know that we will see each other again because we are basically family now.Shortly after they left too, my host mom texted me telling me how much she will miss me, hopes I have a safe trip back, and that I am always welcome here. Then my host sister texted me too just telling me how she loved getting to know me, how she is going to miss me so much, and how she cant wait until we meet again. It honestly was so nice. I am so thankful for the family that I was placed with. They are such amazing people.
Now I am just sitting around doing last minute packing and waiting until I go out tonight with the friends I made here within the past 6 weeks. Once again its going to be another bittersweet moment when I have to say goodbye to them.
However, im not going to lie I am really excited to go home and be with my family, friends, animals, and boyfriend! Ohh and to finally have some sun back in my life again. hahah

Monday, July 2, 2012

One of my favorite placings in Berlin....


I think one of the most interesting places to go to in Berlin is the Berlin Wall. For those of you who do not know, the Berlin Wall was a barrier created by East Germany to cut off West Berlin so that their different beliefs (East=Communist and West=Democratic) were not forced on them. This wall stood for 28 years and kept East Germans from fleeing to the West. However, in 1989 when the Communist party finally fell, the checkpoints were opened so that anyone could go from East to West Berlin. This was known as the fall of the wall and most of the wall was destroyed. Not even a year later East and West Germany reunified into a single German State. This was and still is a very significant, historical moment in Berlin, Germany, and the World.
Even though most of the wall was destroyed, there are still three main areas that stand. My favorite part is known as the East Side Gallery and it is located at Warshauer Straße.
This part of the Berlin Wall is a memorial for freedom and host approximately 106 paintings from artist all across the world. I honestly could walk along this section for hours and not become bored of the wall. The paintings are so interesting, intricate, meaningful, etc. Honestly anyone who witnesses them is amazed. Not only are you staring at a wall that once symbolized pain and separation, but you are also looking at a wall that now promises a better future for Germany and the World.












  (The three pictures above show my favorite piece. Awesome coloring and so much detail.)
 (In English: He who wants the world to remain as it is doesn't want it to remain at all)

These are just a few of my pictures from the East Side Gallery.