A Day in the DDR

Guten Tag, ihr Lieben!

We are more than halfway through the second week - or as the students sometimes, sadly, like to remind each other, " 30% of this experience is already OVER!" No matter how you slice it, the time is going by fast and we are trying to savor each day.  With the students together in class or on excursions from 9am-5pm, our days definitely feel jam-packed but since summertime in Northern Europe means sunlight until 10:30pm, (especially today, HAPPY SOLSTICE!) there is always enough time to relax with snacks in the park or a boat tour after class.

You may or may not know that the Language and Culture Programs follow a set calendar for the development of their class projects and excursions. Week One of the program focuses on Identity - the students are getting to know each other and their host families and figuring out how they identify. This brought some very interesting conversations as the students discussed what it means to be from certain regions of the U.S.A. and also what it means to be an American.

Week Two focuses on Community; for us, that means Berlin and learning about its varied past. On Tuesday we went to a new part of Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg, where we explored the Kulturbrauerei (cultural brewery). During our daily community conversation, where the students practice their language with Germans in the community, we stumbled upon a public viewing of the Colombia vs. Japan fußballspiel (soccer match). While this gave us a modern look at the multicultural city of Berlin in 2018 we were also able to step back in time at the Alltag in der DDR, a museum dedicated to everyday life in the German Democratic Republic or former East Germany.

Apart from those who have been studying German language or history for awhile, most people have only limited knowledge about this part of Germany's history. We usually hear about the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie but never about the fact that people couldn't get grapes in the grocery store or how it was easier for families to go to Hungary on a beach vacation than into West Germany to visit their families. This museum gave us a beautiful and in-depth view of the lives of GDR (or DDR as is it known in German) residents and the students really responded to this.

"I got to read a letter from someone in the DDR who said they wanted the world to be destroyed because it would be better than their life there" - Griffin

"It is crazy to learn about how fruits and vegetables were so rare...like apart from apples and oranges you couldn't get anything." - Maryanne 

"I didn't realized that they took their vacations in Hungary or that Hungary was so easily accesible to people from communist countries" - Cassie

"Sehr interessant" - Aaron

"I had no idea that Western goods were used as currency. I thought it was really interesting too about how they were always being watched. I think I already knew that but to hear stories about their neighbors spying on them." - Emi

You can check out some of the photos in our gallery to see some more impressions of this informative museum.

It is so important for us to have these types of excursions so that the students are able to make real-life connections with the place they are experiencing daily and a place that existed for so long in history. We are learning about culture and all the moving parts that make up a person and a country's narrative. I am proud of our participants for asking questions and engaging in our tours in such an active and mature way. As student ambassadors, they are a wonderful representation of the United States and it fills me with joy to see them taking advantages of these moments in the most sincere way.

Throughout the week we have more excursions planned that will help us get a more comprehensive view of German history and politics and I cannot wait to share that with you!

Danke und bis bald!

Julianne