Köln Cathedral was quite different than that of a church service at home. The building was clearly built with the intent of a acting as a place of worship and not much else. The building was beautiful and stood as a testament to the human desire to create and build magnificence. from the quick look around the basic floor plan was simple to understand. A lot of room was left for detail and reference to history. facing down and toward the congregation there were four statues of famed ministers from the catholic church. When the service started one thing that hit me good was the incense. I probably should have expected such a pungent smell. Other features that I noticed were the alter in the center and a small tower like podium for the main preacher.
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Jarvis #2
The first thing I noticed when arriving in Berlin was how similar it looked compared to other cities in the United States like New York city, Chicago and Grand Rapids. Stores are very tiny, especially restaurants. some places had seating completely outdoors. One of my favorite things about Germany is the law stating that candy can’t have artificial ingredients unless stated on the packaging. In my opinion this makes candy so much better. The emphasis on public transport was new to me as well. The streets are quite cramped and not as many people here can afford to own a car than in the USA. I was mostly excited about the food when arriving here and I can say I have gotten used to German city culture fairly trouble free.
Jarvis #3
The second great war was not one of humanity’s most glorious moments. You always hear people fantasize how history would be different if it didn’t have to happen. It wasn’t just Hitler that ordered to the third Reich to murder those multimillion people. In fact, I didn’t hear much mention of his name during the walk through the exhibits we visited during the trip. It was brought to light that anti-Semitism existed quite a ways before Hitler even came to power. Hitler didn’t become the villain because he convinced people to hate and kill the Jewish people. He grew the already brewing hatred against the Jews to such a great weight that it created social tensions even tighter than America’s social injustice. During the visit to Sachsenhausen, the tour went into great detail about the prisoners experience, how the guards treated the prisoners, how citizens on the outside viewed the prisoners. It was very graphic. The Holocaust memorial represented the memory of all the real people who were murdered under the order of the third Reich. Hearing the voices of all of these people who are now dead is very heartbreaking. Today the German government has given up the privilege to govern outside the view of the people. The glass dome atop the capitol building represents the lost trust that will most likely never be regained.
Sofie Q8
The summer was splendid. It included time spent in Germany, Amsterdam, and Italy, and in each country there was delicious cheese, incredible learning experiences and architecture, and wonderful times with now-lifelong friends.
Life was always exciting and even seemingly regular activities were made special. Engineering and German classes included jokes, laying on the floor breaks, and bread picnics. Nights at St. Michaels had group uno, gummy bear assortments, and movies. Ultimately, the whole trip feels like an untouchable time capsule with countless memories and moments of joy.
While I knew the people going on the trip in varying degrees, I never would have expected the depth of friendships that were developed over the last six weeks. Spending that much time with a select group of people (eating, sleeping, everything really) presented a unique opportunity to get to know people. The people in our room at St. Michels consisting of Elyse, Kailee, Ava, Jude, and myself quickly became some of my best friends. The inside jokes, meals, outings, and matching m&m shorts are only some of the things I love about our little group. Really I am grateful to have had such wonderful people to do this program with.
Also the bread in Europe is so good would recommend.
Samuel K A#3
After visiting both places, the amount of emotion I felt was immense. While touring the holocaust museum there was a section with old letters on the floor that were from victims or family members reporting about the situation of the Jews unfolding in Germany. I really was set back by dejected emotions from reading each letter. And at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, I read the life stories of both Jewish people and Nazi soldiers. In the end these were ordinary people that were forced into paths that would forever destroy their reputation/lives. Now I know today when I see gold stars on sidewalks across Germany, it means Jewish victims once lived there. It’s difficult to believe there was a time where the world was so full of hatred that one single man was powerful enough to destroy millions of lives of one single race. Everyday I pray to God of how thankful I am to have the things I have in my life. This always encourages me to pray for those that ask for prayer that don’t enjoy the same things as others.
Samuel K A#2
Although I am doing this blog post much later into the Germany trip, my first week impressions still sit fresh in my mind.
After a week in Germany, I was amazed by the amount of easily accessible transportation options in the city of Berlin. I knew that Europe had better industrial transportation than America, but I am impressed by Berlin’s many bus and train stations! I wish America took better notes on this during the industrial revolution. I unfortunately wasn’t very excited that I discovered Berlin is very much like any other city: busy, dirty at times and lacking nature. However, a good surprise is finding out the amount of bikers and scooters in Berlin. I did not expect so many people to travel by bikes and scooters. And although I’ve come to enjoy and not mind Berlin transportation, I did miss driving my own vehicle as more weeks passed.
Samuel K A#1
When I heard the opportunity to go to Germany for an engineering class, during my college tour, I was immediately drawn. I wanted to experience the cultural life of European countries. See the world from a wider perspective; a slightly less spoiled country. To now be here on this trip, I attempted, as my personal strength, my best to make friends and get along with everyone. For, I do well with fitting in with groups and matching people’s energy. Additionally, my dad’s goal for me in college was for me to study abroad, so he was super eager when he heard of the opportunity, too.
During this trip, I kept my mind straightforward and simple for the class outcome. I looked to do well in this class and pass with a good grade. And I prayed for everyone to have a fun time while also being safe and protected under the grace and love of God.
Caleb C. Q4
The Köln Cathedral is the most beautiful structure I’ve seen so far on this trip. We attended mass on Sunday morning, which was interesting. The whole service was in German, so I really didn’t understand any of it. In addition to that, I’ve never been to mass before, so I wasn’t really familiar with the structure of the service at all. My home church is Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church. I couldn’t really pick up any similarities or differences because I simply didn’t really know what was happening the whole time. In my opinion, the best part of going to that service was seeing the interior. The stained glass was super pretty and intricate. We also got to climb to the top of the Köln Cathedral after the service. The view from so high was breath taking. It was definitely worth the five hundred steps I took to climb up it and down. While exiting the church, I saw a lot of tourists just standing right in front of the door, watching the service and taking pictures and videos. It made me realize that the Köln Cathedral had become less of a church to worship God, but instead more of an attraction for tourists. If I were to live in Köln, I don’t think I would go there because I don’t really feel spiritually connected during the service, plus I don’t really understand German.
Caleb C. Q3
On one of the tours, we saw the holocaust museum. All on the outside of the museum stood hundreds of grey stone rectangular pillars in memory of all those who suffered and died during the horrible events of the holocaust. Walking through the pillars really made me realize just how many people were affected by the holocaust. We also visited the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Walking through the gates, through the barracks, through the bathrooms, and front opening, I began to grasp the immense size of the concentration camp. I always imagined these camps much smaller, but being there in person, standing where thousands of Jews and other prisoners of war stood for role call, I felt a feeling of sadness for all the unjust death, fear, and suffering that occurred here about a century ago. It all feels so much more real when I visited the concentration camp. Textbooks and history classes can’t describe what it feels like to be surrounded by walls in all directions with ringed barbed wire on top, and a machine gun on the main entrance tower always ready to fire at anyone trying to escape. Even though the holocaust is an embarrassing period of history for Germany, I think that they display it all for people all around the world to learn from their mistakes, and to prevent anything like that from ever happening again.
Caleb C. Q2
After being in German for about a week, I really like it here. I didn’t expect the traffic light signs to use the yellow light before a green light appears, or for the pedestrian light symbols to be different than the standard white man and orange hand like it is in America. I also didn’t expect so many people to use the public transportation system or ride their bikes and scooters everywhere. Even though life in Germany has been great so far, there are still a few things from home that I miss, such as AC, screens on my room windows, free bathrooms, and free, readily available water. Without AC is fine on cooler days, but on warms days, its quite uncomfortable. And without screens, a lot of bugs fly into my room since I have to leave the windows open to help cool the room down during the night and day times. Water costs about 2 Euro per bottle and bathrooms about 50 cents per use, which adds up over time. Thankfully the inn I’m staying has free unlimited water and bathrooms. If there were things that I could take back to Germany with me it would probably be a food called Döner. It is pretty much like thin pieces of meat mixed in with french fries, salad, and sauces. It is very tasty.