Calvin Engineering Summer Program in Germany 2017

Me looking at some rocks in the distance.

Me with some buds on top of a rock.

Me on a old bridge between a couple of old rocks.

I don’t know what I think of this whole Germany thing yet. On one hand, it’s exciting to be in a foreign country and all, but I don’t think I like it. It may very well be because I have never lived in a large city before, and it is a huge change from rural Iowa life. However, it may be something else. This trip has really highlighted how many things we take for granted as “normal.” For example, most public bathrooms here require you to pay. That was quite a surprise when I found out I might add. It’s other things as well. No one smiles here. I’m cognitively aware that Americans smile much more than other cultures, and I know Germans tend to be more reserved with outward expression. It still bothers me though, even though I know people don’t mean anything by it, it’s just how they do things. There are so many cultural behaviors that seem normal until you go somewhere else.

The differences aren’t only cultural though. They are also pragmatic as well. I can honestly declare that I think the Euro and German pricing models are far superior to their US versions. Euro bills change size and color based on value, providing tactile feedback on value. A far superior system than homogenous green bills. The coinage is great too. The coins are worthwhile amounts! Dollar, 50 and 20 cent values make the coins worth using. Don’t get me started on public transit. It’s fantastic. It really is. The US system is abysmal in comparison.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip here.

 

Worshipping in the Köln cathedral was a very cool experience of which the highlight was the beautiful organ music. The atmosphere was almost magical, reverent and imposing, but it was ruined for me by the constant babble of tourists from the back of the sanctuary. They provided an incessant hum that kept strong throughout all the prayers and times of silence. It made me feel sorry for the worshippers and clergy who frequented the cathedral and had to deal with the tourists all the time. That being said, I am very glad I had the opportunity to attend a worship service in such a cool place.

(These thoughts were recorded at the beginning of the program, they just didn’t get posted until the last day.)

I’m on this trip because I wanted to experience Germany. I wanted to walk the streets of Berlin and live in a place thousands of miles from home. I grew up in a small rural town in Iowa and I’ve always wanted to see the world. I traveled to places around North America, but I’ve never been beyond it. This was my chance to study and live abroad during my time at Calvin. While this may imply that I am here to be a tourist, my intentions are completely different. I hope to live, in some small way, like Germans do. To see things from their point of view. To learn about how their history influences who they are today, and what they think of the world.

More practically, I want to learn what it’s like to live in a city. How to get from point A to point B without the cars that are a vital facet of rural Iowan life. How to find food, housing, and other necessities without superstores or the convenience of a home. I want to learn the language, but also to experience not being able to communicate. To know what’s it’s like to be a stranger in a strange land.

My hope is that by the end of the program I will have learned how to live in another country, at least in some small way. I will, of course, learn about Statics and Dynamics, as that is the engineering class I will be taking. However, the lessons I learn outside the classroom will be more important.

I hope that not everything goes well on this program. That may sound strange, but there is a method to my madness. While I hope nothing seriously bad happens, I do hope something will go wrong. Such that we must adapt to it. That we become uncomfortable and must change our habits and grow from the experience.

Visiting Sachsenhausen was a moving experience. Upon entering the camp, and going up the the main gates, the thing that struck me the most were the words, “Arbeit macht frei.” I imagined what it must have been like to walk through those gates and see those words, knowing that you might never leave that place alive. I think Germany does a good job of remembering the evils that took place in their country in the past without bringing them to the forefront of everyday life. The camp is there, and it is not hidden, but at the same time it is not advertised around the city. I think that this is relevant to life in America today, with the controversies surrounding the removal of Confederate icons that represent a certain heritage to some but pain and suffering to others.

After being in Germany for a week, one thing that struck me is how normal life is just normal life no matter where you live. I had an idea in my head that Germany would be a special place with extraordinary food, people and culture, but after spending some time here I realised that you get used to the normal things in life wherever you are. I miss free refills for drinks, and I miss free water. I wish the drinking age was lower back home.

While in Wittenberg, we visited the church that Luther nailed the 95 theses to and began the reformation. This was a very different city from the ones that we had visited before. One thing that many of us noted was that it seemed that Wittenberg was a town that was working hard at becoming a major tourist attraction. This was especially true with the 500th anniversary of the reformation just a few short months away. This  seemed very weird to a lot of us because the only really monumental part of Wittenberg was the Church. Other than that, Wittenberg is really just a small town in Germany. Continue reading “The Tourist Church”

I know this post is a little after we went to Bremen, but here it is anyway. Continue reading “Bremen: reflections”

This is a picture of one of our meals in a restaurant in Köln. This dish is known as the Jaegerschnitzel. It’s a traditional German dish made from breaded veal cutlet with mushroom sauce. This is my favorite meal in our entire German trip

This is a picture of the wine barrel we found in Heidelberg. According to Wikipedia this wine barrel can hold up to 219,000 liters of wine.

I took this picture of a monument describing the distances of certain cities throughout the world. Djakarta (or Jakarta) is listed to be approximately 11,084 km away.

One of our weekend trips’ destination is the city of Köln (Cologne). This city is very famous for its massive Cathedral. As a result, the city is filled with tourists from all over the world (I even met some Indonesians travelling here as well).

On Sunday, we attended the mass as a group. It certainly was an interesting experience to me as I have never been in a Catholic high mass before. The mass started with a group of priests carrying the bible and a cross. They also had some incense that had a very interesting smell. To some, the whole mass might seem somewhat ritualistic but in my opinion the things that they did reflect their adoration for God. Even though I didn’t understand anything from the sermon (because it was in German and we had no translation), I thoroughly enjoyed the whole “ritualistic” aspect of it. It makes our adoration for God seem much more real.

Being a famous tourist spot meant that the church had many visitors all the time, even some times during the mass. It didn’t really bother me that much because the visitors weren’t being too loud and they were somewhat respectful. However, I believe that it would’ve been so much better if they had translators so that everyone can understand the sermon (considering that most of the people in the mass are tourists anyway).