I’ve said it a couple times already, but this trip felt simultaneously as long as a year and as short as a week. We saw so much history and culture, tried so many new things, and met so many interesting people. But, as all things must, our time in Berlin has drawn to a close. As I write this, I’m sitting in a chair flying over the Atlantic on our way home. I am extremely thankful for this opportunity, and I would wish for everyone to be able to do something like this. To not just visit a different culture, but live in it for a little while. To not just read about history in books or watch it in films, but visit it in person. To do something new and unknown to you, until you become comfortable with it.
Germany is similar and familiar in many ways, but different in many others, language and food being among the first things to come to mind. Most of what I knew about German culture was second hand information, handed to me by those who’d spent time there, and filtered to me through common “German” stereotypes. However, none of this is going to be able to give me quite as clear or accurate of an image of German culture than actually living there. By living there, you don’t just watch or hear of the culture, but end up getting sucked into it, living it for a while.
Along the same line of thought, reading about World War II is all good, and watching a documentary on the divided city of Berlin will teach you, but they don’t compare to seeing WWII bullet casings embedded in the old gate by your bus stop, or visiting Checkpoint Charlie yourself, or talking with your German professor about her childhood in the DDR. These are the sort of things you get when you live in a country for a while. You don’t just visit the popular attractions, but you also see the little things everywhere, like the bullet holes in the iron gate, or the gold bricks with the names of Holocaust victims inlaid in the sidewalks all across the city.
Sometimes the experience is something as simple as discovering how to use the public transit system. It’s not easy, but once you get on the wrong bus and find yourself at Checkpoint Charlie once or twice, you eventually get the hang of it. Maybe not the historical experience you were hoping for, but it still comes as part of the package of learning and living a new culture. I suppose what I’m looking for is the idea of autonomy. It holds weight to know that you can, if needed, figure out something like that in a completely unfamiliar environment, to not just survive, but thrive.
This trip taught me so many things, and I know it would not be the same if any one of my classmates had not been there. Whether I talked with them a lot, or only occasioned a few hellos, each of my classmates made a difference in how this trip went, and I just want to thank each one of them for their flexibility and positive attitude during this trip.
This trip has provided me experience that I couldn’t have gotten any other way. I know that as a student and career-hopeful, “experience” is often valued for it’s ability to land you a job. And don’t get me wrong, that is definitely a plus to this trip. But as much as that holds value, even more so do I value the personal experience it grants me. I can always look back and remember my time in Berlin, even when my last souvenir is lost and my TIU t-shirt is worn through. If any of you have the opportunity to do something at all like this, I encourage you to take it. You will certainly not regret it.