I really enjoyed Bremen as it was a whole different style of town as some of the others. While several of our trips have seemed like pretty modern areas, this seemed to be pretty old. It had things like really narrow streets that were only walkable, and many old churches. I really found the history of the churches and the events that occurred there so long ago fascinating. There were also more statues in this area, and those were really cool to see, and some of them were very large. I also really enjoyed the boat tour around the city and the schnitzel we had for dinner! Overall it was one of my favorite trips.
Author: Sam Sands
Sam Sands Q5
This is what our typical bus ride looked like. We took these busses as well as subways to get to everywhere in Berlin. About half of the busses were double decker, like this one, where we are on the second level.
Here is a guys picture in front of the Köln cathedral. It’s so tall that it’s hard to capture it all in the frame!
This is a doner box, which was a common choice for dinner. It consists of pommes (fries), meat, and salad, as well as several sauces. This was one of my favorite foods.
Myself and others took a day trip down to Munich to watch the Supercup final between Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. We had a lot of fun and the atmosphere was unlike anything we have in the States.
Sam Sands Q8
This trip to Berlin has definitely been the highlight of my college experience so far. Being immersed in a whole new culture – language, food, transportation, and more – has been an amazing experience and I’ve learned so much throughout my time. Some highlights were our weekend trips where we travelled to places like Köln and Bremen and got to see lots of architecture and history, and our time exploring Berlin as a group. I made a lot of new friends and enjoyed our time as a group!
Our normal day looked like waking up around 7, eating a breakfast of bread and meat, then leaving to catch the bus to class around 8. We had engineering class every day at 9, then we had a German class in the afternoon. Between classes, we explored and found new places to eat, and myself and others also took advantage of a gym nearby. After classes, we stopped at supermarkets to get dinner, then returned to the hostel to eat and do homework. Lastly, on weekends we had our trips around Germany!
I would encourage all engineering students to do this program. There is no better way to do a class like this than taking it in a foreign country!
Sam Sands -Q4
This past weekend we had our trip to Heidelberg, Koblenz, and Köln. One of my favorite parts was the Köln cathedral. When we first arrived in Köln, it was the first thing we saw after leaving the train station, and it was huge. Easily the largest church I have seen. The detail of the design was beautiful. The inside was even better, and worshipping there was a really cool experience. It was very much different from my home church. First of all, it was catholic. To me, it seemed very showy and dramatic at some times. Things like lots of incense and marching around the cathedral. Secondly, the building. My church is on the smaller side, so the size is a pretty big difference.
During the service, I did enjoy the organ. It was really loud and the sound carried and echoed around the whole cathedral. It sounded amazing and really set the mood of the service.
After the service, we left the cathedral and walked straight into the huge crowds waiting to get inside to tour the cathedral and get to the top of the spires. It surprised me that so many people wanted to get in, but none wanted to actually go to the service at the church, only see it.
Overall, despite the differences from my home church, it was a great experience and very beautiful.
Sam Sands – Q3
Over the past few weeks, we’ve visited both the holocaust museum and Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. Both were extremely sobering experiences, and I was really struck by the recency of everything. I’ve always felt like all of that was so long ago, but in reality it was still fairly recent. Being at Sachsenhausen also gave me a new view into the scale of the holocaust. The size and even the planning that went into creating the “perfect” concentration camp really gave me new eyes to it all.
At the holocaust museum, what really hit me was all of the personal stories of so many victims. It was so sobering to read story after story of families torn apart.
Another thing I’ve noticed is how these things are treated here. At home, it is treated as history – something that happened a while ago- but here it is far more, and is still really touchy and hard. There are signs of it all over – such as brass plates in the side walk where those killed in the concentration camps used to live. Overall, these experiences have been very sobering, but has been a good perspective to experience.