Summer Program in Germany
Don’t.
Germany is a country world renown for it’s beer, so I encourage anyone who is here and of legal age to give it a shot. Beer is heavily ingrained in the culture here, and frequenting something like a beer-garden is a cultural norm.
But for those who insist on staying alcohol free, or want a break from it, I have compiled a list of beverages that contain no alcohol (<0.5% legally) and my review of them.
Continue reading “Tim’s Guide to Alcohol Free Drinks in Germany”
Summer program in Germany was a success and fascinating experience. I enjoyed seeing a lot of cool German cars on the streets. Plus, I went to Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes museums and saw awesome cars in chronological order. I was able to see a lot of beautiful churches and buildings on every weekend trip. I loved to eat and drink Döner, currywurst, and beers. I also explored one of the beer festivals with good music and a massive crowd. Last but not the least, I was happy that I spent my time with good colleagues and professors.
It was a great experience for me to attend the worship at the high mass in the Köln cathedral. The cathedral was huge and beautiful. It was impressive how the cathedral survived even after the world war, and Germans did their job so well that they could maintain the structure. I liked that I could listen to amazing organ music during the worship, which is not a common musical instrument used in churches back home, and the burning of incense was also interesting to see and smell. On the whole, it seemed more like the worship leaders were being more serious and holy even though I could not really understand sermon. But still, it was a wonderful experience.
Bremen was a very beautiful city! Continue reading “Reflections on Bremen”
Going to Germany this summer was an amazing experience and I am super happy to have been apart of the group. Getting the opportunity to live in a different country for 6 weeks was quite interesting. It was difficult at first to get a feel for the culture and for how Germans do things but after about a week or two, I felt comfortable doing things on my own. We had class for the first 5 weeks in Berlin. We studied statics and dynamics in the mornings and a german language and culture class in the afternoon. The classes went very well, I never felt stressed out and the material was very fun to learn. In the afternoons we would get food, go grocery shopping, and experience the german culture. I never felt bogged down with homework, which was very nice. The two hardest parts of the trip were definitely not having air conditioning and not having access to kitchen appliances (other than a microwave). This summer was very hot and there was very little rain to cool things off. When we were blessed with a cool night, it was extremely relaxing to lay in bed under the covers and enjoy the cool weather. It was crazy how after spending so much time in Berlin, it started to feel like home. The last week in Europe, I traveled to Croatia with my friends and enjoyed the nature of Europe. There are some very pretty lakes and beaches that I would recommend going to. Since Croatias official language is Croatian, it was surprisingly comforting to hear people speak german, even though it’s not my first language, because I felt like I could at least understand a little bit of what they were saying. I am very grateful for everything I was able to experience and I am blessed to have made it back home without any injuries or misfortunes.
As I sit alone in the Detroit airport tonight waiting for my connecting flight home, I reflect over the last six weeks of my travels and life in Europe. Continue reading “Final Reflection/Elevator Speech”
I thought Bremen was such a cute little town. I loved walking through the tight alleys in the schnoor and seeing all the little shops. The story of the Bremen city musicians is a very clever story and it was awesome seeing how integrated that story is in their culture. It was an amazing experience and it was definitely one of my favorite cities that we visited.
“How was Germany?”
Germany was great! We spent a week at Calvin before going to Germany. We were all very sad to hear that Professor De Rooy was unable to make the journey when we set off from Calvin. We then spent five weeks studying Statics and dynamics. We would spend the weekdays studying and the weekends traveling around Germany. Every weekend we went to a different place although our main base and place of study was Berlin. Continue reading “Course Assignment #8: elevator speech”
In a country with so many elaborate churches, why do you think religion has lost its importance and does not appeal to people like it used to? Do you think this could happen to America in the future? Why or why not?
In a religion and philosophy class in high school, I heard about a European evolution of religion. Continue reading “Course Assignment #6: Reflections on Wittenberg”
When someone asks me “so how was your trip to Germany?” I would say something like “uh… it was good” (ha ha) and then continue with a quick summary of this eye-opening and exciting trip…