Elevator Speech
Germany was a wild adventure. It was a lot of fun to live in a big city without having to live in a big city full time. Berlin is a lot bigger than Grand Rapids, and that came with some perks such as learning to use public transportation to get everywhere. I feel like I got to know Berlin really well because we explored a lot of different areas of the city as we went out to eat or went to class. On the weekends, we would travel to other parts of Germany, so I got to explore the rest of the country as well. My favorite trip was when we went to Heidelberg, Koblenz, and Köln. We got to explore the ruins of a castle as well as climb a cathedral, both of which were very fun. One weekend, the Calvin students went from Lübeck to the Baltic Sea so we could swim, and that fun because we didn’t have a lot of beach days in Berlin.
During the last week of the trip, we had the option to choose where we traveled, so my parents and I went sightseeing in Venice and then backpacking in the Dolomites. Comparing Venice to Berlin was fun as the cities are very different. Venice is much more aimed for tourists, and the food is different because you are in Italy. Hiking in the Dolomites was a lot of fun because the mountains were gorgeous, but also very different from the mountain ranges I’m familiar with in the United States.
Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and I have made so many good memories. Someday I would like to go back to Germany, but probably not for a while!