Month: January 2019

We arrived in Hamburg after a long journey from Berlin at approximately 12:00 pm. We then had two hours of free time to explore the city and get a bite to eat. Since it was extremely cold out, we decided to try and find a restaurant inside to warm up. A shopping mall sounded like the perfect place to warm up and eat some food.

After the free time was done we hopped back onto the bus and headed to the Hamburg port. This is the third largest port in all of Europe. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide that gave us a lot of insight into how the port operates.

It was really cool to see the cargo ships up close. The tour guide told us that an average cargo ship was around 360 meters long. This can really be put into perspective when driving by one in a 20 meter long boat.

After the tour we were able to see a car elevator that was right next to the river. This elevator was connected to a tunnel that led underneath the river. This might not seem to impressive with today’s technology but this was built in the early 1900’s! It was a great to experience Hamburg and the very important shipping industry that is there.

I miss the netherlands. This is not something that I expected to think on this trip. Don’t get me wrong, it not like I wasn’t excited to go there. I was eager to visit holland because my grandfather lived there until he was ten, and so visiting there provided a unique insight into hus life. Its just that when I signed up for this trip, I most looked forwards to seeing fsmouse monuments like the Eiffel Tower, the Berlin wall, and Notre Dame, along with famouse cities such as Munich, Berlin, Paris and Prague. I thought the Netherlands lack of fame would make it the least memorable or enjoyable place to be.

Looking back now, the Netherlands has serveral things that make it stand out from the rest of Europe. First of all, it by far has had the best churches. Now this may be because they were alos the first churches we went to in europe, but I think that the cathedrals we saw there had the most interesting design of any I’ve seen. If I compare the church we went to in delft to Notre Dame, notre dame wasnt even close. The Dutch church looked better, felt bigger and had a way cooler and cheaper tower climb thab Notre Dame. In Paris you got to the top of the bell tower and were surrounded by fencing, which obstructed your view. In delft, you walked out of the tower snd could see the entire city perfectly. Another perk of Holland was the prevalence of English. Aside from brugse, I don’t think that there is another place I felt more confident I could walk up to anyone on the street, ask them something in English, and they would be able to answer me. The Dutch have also had the most interssting looking cities. Germany and France both have historic looking cities, but the Dutch have the most interesting looking historic cities. They’re also the ones with the best made cobble stone streets, and each city has a unique windmill, some of which still work.

And last but certainly not least, the Netherlands has the most stuff I want to go back and see. I felt like we missed out on so many interesting museums in Amsterdam that I would love to get the chance to come back. I still didn’t get the chance to head into the inland part of the country and see my grandfathers home town. There alot left there to see.

All of this is not to say that Holland has been my favorite place to visit, but after two and a half weeks of travel it’s begun to feel more appealing than ever, and I can’t wait to get back there soon

We have had the opportunity to attend three church services, one at The English Reformed Church in Amsterdam, another in Reims Cathedral in Reims, and the final in the Church of our Lady in Dresden. Each service was a unique experience, but there were a few recurring themes that surprised me, because they differed from my experience of churches back home.

If I had to pick one word to describe all three churches, it would be the word: formal. The English Reformed Church in Amsterdam was slightly less so because a lady greeted us at the entrance and communion was served to the congregation. In other words, we stayed in our seats and passed the bread and wine around. It was a new experience for me to have wine instead of grape juice. That simple replacement from grape juice to wine made the service seem formal to me. As for the Reims Cathedral and the Church of our Lady, we were not greeted at all, and the congregation stood up and walked to partake in communion, adding further formality for me.

The Reims service was in French and the Dresden in Germany, so I didn’t understand the majority of either service. However, I still noticed that, out of the three services, not one used a projector screen. I am not used to looking at the bulletin or the hymn book for lyrics, but it was also nice to not have to pause for technology issues, which sometimes happens in my church. Furthermore, an organ was played at each service. I love the sound of an organ and have missed it being played since my church’s organ player left, but it adds a formality to the service that’s not there when a piano or a guitar with drums is played. Sometimes between songs, the pastor would sing and the congregation would sing back, creating a back and forth for a few lines. I didn’t understand what was sang, but the interactiveness was nice. I’m still confused as to how the congregation knew which tune to sing to. Then again, especially in the Church of our Lady, people were singing quietly, so maybe they didn’t. Finally, each congregation waited for the pastor and clergy to leave before standing. That’s simar to my church, except we stand while they exit.

Each of these services was a great experience, they were just more formal than I’m used to. It makes sense, though, that there is a formal feel, considering the massive, yet beautiful and intricately designed cathedrals they worship in.

During our time in Europe so far we have seen many different monuments, memorials, historical sites, and many cathedrals. Visiting the cathedrals has been a very interesting experience. One of the things that struck me the most was that Europe is filled with so many restored and/or preserved cathedrals that serve no functional purpose other than historical sites. The majority of old cathedrals and and churches we have been too no longer hold church services. Many have an entry fee to simply get in to see the sanctuary, solidifying their status as memorials and tourist attractions.

I find it odd that people here do care a deep amount for the cathedrals and they are very important to the cities that they exist in, but only for their historical value. Participation in organized religion in Europe is almost non-existent based on what I’ve seen. In some countries, reports show that an overwhelming majority of people identify as atheist, such as the Czech Republic where a whopping 78% of people have no religious affiliation or beliefs. I don’t understand how in the span of a century, from the time when my grandpa was born in the Netherlands until now, Europe has gone from being staunchly religious to almost completely irreligious. People may claim to believe in God or that they say their prayers and are moral people, but they have no affiliation with organised religion.

Personally I find this reality saddening. Europe has largely turned its back on God, and I can’t help but wonder why. Talking to our bus driver Joop, who himself claims to be religious but said he never attends church services, he said that he thinks people are so irreligious because things are so good in Europe right now, and people think that they don’t need God because of that. This is a valid point, but it seems like the US should be seeing similar levels of irreligiousness as Europe, but yet the US is overwhelmingly more religious than Europe from what I have seen, read, and experienced. I don’t really have a good explanation for why Europe has given up on religion. It saddens me to see the current state of religion in Europe because of this and it has tainted some of the cathedral experiences with that knowledge in mind.

One of the biggest things I was apprehensive about on this trip was the things I had heard about the unfriendliness of Europeans. I had seen that this usually was not true in Germany when I had been there before, but I was apprehensive about the people in the other countries.

Europeans generally don’t smile to strangers on the street, but if you have a reason to interact with them, they can be very friendly and good natured. I have had many encounters with people here like that, where their seemingly cold attitude is peeled back and I am reminded just how much we have in common.

A great example of this just happened on Sunday when we worshipped in the Church of Our Lady in Dresden. I had empty room next to me in my pew, so before long, an older lady sat down next to me. I imagined that I was maybe in her seat, maybe in her eyes we were annoying tourists that actually didn’t care about the meaning behind the service, or any other situation that would cause her to dislike me. However, she treated me completely the opposite of how I expected. She looked over at me and gave a warm smile, and started to make small talk. Now I took a semester of German at Calvin, but one semester does you no good when a native speaker speaks quickly and quietly to you. I tried to explain in German that I didn’t understand her, but she didn’t mind. She just kept smiling and trying to treat me as an equal, not as the abrasive tourist that I probably was.

This was not only a great act of grace and an amazing friendly gesture, it gave a lot of food for thought. Sometimes in America, we forget just how much we have in common with the world. We are separated from most of the world by great oceans. The places we read about in the news feel very foreign, and even visiting those places doesn’t always give the feeling of familiarity or similarity. All it took for me was a simple interaction to realize just how much we have in common.

Sometimes I think we forget just how important it is to make contact with people. I surely forget the weight of it sometimes. Even small interactions with others can mean the world, and are essential to building community and reaching out to those who might be lonely or down.

So next time you think about the coldness of Europeans, just remeber the eldery lady in Dresden. Remember how they are warm and friendly when they have a reason to interact with you. Remember how much weight one friendly interaction can have.

Today we went to Wittenberg where we were given a couple hour tour of the small city. Our tour started with the Castle Church where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church. The original door had burned down years ago but it was still cool to see a replica that was dedicated to Luther’s story. We then went inside of the Castle Church where we got to see where Martin Luther is buried as well as another important professor of Wittenberg. This was a really cool experience seeing the grave of someone who I’ve learned so much about growing up and have studied heavily.

Next, we walked towards the city square while our guide told us more about Luther’s life. Mostly about his relationship with his wife and how much money they made tougher. Luther owned multiple houses in the city of Wittenberg. In the city square, there is a large statue commemorating Luther and the legacy he left behind.

Close to the town square is the Saint Marien Church where Luther gave over 2,000 sermons over his life span. It was amazing to see the exact place where such an important theologian worked and preached to the citizens of Wittenberg. In the church, there were many murals and paintings of Luther showing the type of man he was and the life he lived. The most interesting painting to me was a painting for the students of the university. And the students signed on either the left side or the right side depending on if they passed or failed. Those who passed went to heaven while those who failed descend to hell.

Finally, we went to the university square where Luther’s house was located. Outside of the house was a gift from his wife that was very common in that time period. The university square continued to grow as Luther’s fame grew. What started as one building then became an entire square where students came to learn from Luther.

Wittenberg was a very cool experience and probably one of my favorite cities. It was very small and had a home like feeling to it. Learning more about Martin Luther’s personal life was very interesting.

Today we went to Gentex and Dynajet. Gentex is the world’s leading supplier of automatically dimming rear view mirrors. It was a very interesting facility that we visited. It was mostly a distribution center for the European clients, but there was also a fair bit of engineering involved. Something interesting, which one may not think of, is that the European customers demand well integrated designs to the car. That means the implementation of cameras and other sensors in potentially a very small area. To overcome this, they made use of the engineers that they have in their European office, though all the manufacturing happens in Zeeland.

I thought it was smart of Gentex to be vertically integrated so that the quality of parts can be ensured. I thought their technologies were very interesting especially since I still have some interest in chemistry and electrical engineering.

What was also interesting about Gentex is that they seemed to believe their future was in cameras and sensors because of the future for autonomous vehicles. They need these so that if the car is a ride share, they can ensure that nothing “against the rules” were to happen in their vehicles. Otherwise the owner could charge a fee for a broken rule. They were optimistic in their business plan for autonomous vehicles.

Dynajet was a completely different feel from Gentex. Dynajet is a very small company that produces commercial grade power washers. This is an understatement because their machines can produce up to 40,000 psi of pressure. This is enough to cut through concrete without damaging the inside rebar. I thought this was very cool because less resources are needed to repair structures in the traditional way which is by jackhammer. Jackhammers damage the rebar. The company basically assembles their equipment from parts ordered from 200 suppliers. The manufacturing floor was small but was fairly well organized. I was impressed with their technology and how compact it was. That is a cross-industry idea. I thought it was cool that I was able to see this on a small scale instead of a scale the likes of VW or anything similar.

Professor Brouwer pointed out an interesting belt on one of the machines. This belt was segmented in to small 1 inch to 1.5 inch pieces. These individual pieces were held together with metal and formed a jagged belt. I had never seen anything like it. Carsten, a manager at the company, said that it didn’t need to be a regular belt because it takes only a low power of about 0.5 kW off the engine. He also said that they have never had a failure of that belt which I thought was amazing.

Overall, both companies were interesting to visit, and each gives a good example of a well run business.

Running and European Culture

This isn’t a complete analysis of the culture in each of their respective countries, but just some things that I did and noticed that were different/similar to what I am used to running in Grand Rapids. I should also note that the majority of my runs were early in the morning, when the city was waking up.

The Netherlands🇳🇱

I had to run in the parks because bikes and cars will run you over with no mercy, it’s like making them stop or slow down for you is the worst thing in the world for them.

Luckily there was a park right next to our hotel in Amsterdam that was a 2 mile loop on a wide concrete path.

There’s a bunch of activity in the parks. There were still so many bikes, but because of the unwritten but understood directional traffic, it was a lot safer and easier. There were a surprising amount of other runners in the park.

There were also an absurd amount of dogs! The biggest difference that I noticed was that the dogs minded their own business. None of them got in anyone’s way (that I saw) and none of them were on leashes. It may be a small difference, but for some reason, it took me by surprise.

Also, in the other mornings in the Netherlands, I was able to find some bike paths to run on, where it was early enough that there were almost no bikes to deal with.

There was also no snow.

Belgium 🇧🇪

In Brugge, I ran on the outskirts of the city, there was little to no traffic because I woke up before the city. There were some early risers, mostly other runners. The whole city is just under 5 miles in circumference, which was nice to run. All of the paths were packed dirt, something strange to see for a city sidewalk. It was in Brugge that I met someone who went for a run, and got to talk to him for a bit. The few dogs I saw were off leash and tame.

There was also no snow.

France 🇫🇷

Paris immediately struck me as the most similar to the United States in terms of big city feel and smell. I found my way through the streets to get to the river, where I ran the docks along the major river most days. This seemed like the common people’s choice too, as there was a healthy amount of people also running along the river. The more I looked around each run, the more I noticed homeless people sleeping beneath the bridges I ran under and every now and again I saw some rats run across the sidewalk. When I ran past passenger/tourist boats, most of them had guard dogs leashed to them that barked very intensely at me. It was also weird casually running past the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Statue of Liberty.

There was also no snow.

Germany 🇩🇪

In Every German city we have seen thus far, runners were almost nonexistent in the morning. A couple people were walking their dogs, leashed on the sidewalk but free in the parks. Cars here are not afraid to hit you, so it’s your job to watch out and stop at stoplights, because they just fly through when they have the green light.

There has been snow in Germany, though it hasn’t been bad, the sidewalks have all been well taken care of.

Czech Republic🇨🇿

Prague running is interesting. I saw almost no one in the morning except for one man telling me to stop claiming he was the police to try and pull the “show me your passport” scam. The running was pretty available along the river, as there were always paths and few to no stops. However, the paths are super uneven and if you’re not careful you can hypothetically strain a hamstring a bit.

No snow here.

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. It has roughly 3.7 million people, which makes it the second most populous city of the European Union after London. It is one of 3 independent cities in Germany. It has a rich history, both good and bad.

In the 13th century, it gained importance as an junction between 2 historic trade routes. In World War II, it was subject to 363 air raids, which destroyed most of the city and forced its citizens to flee. After the war, it was split into East and West Berlin, each a separate city in East and West Germany. West Berlin and Germany was the United States and Allied forces side, and the East side was owned by the Soviet Union, and was divided by the Berlin Wall.

Its current economy is based on high tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, notably with several disciplines of engineering. It is also a popular tourist destination.

From my own personal experience in the city, it’s busy. We are right in the thick of the city, and looking out the windows I can see lines of restaurants, several story buildings, busy roads and sidewalks, and streetcar rails. I went out for a short walk around to check things out and the plaza area nearby was bustling.

Some other information about Berlin that I really like has to do with the Berlin Marathon. It is hailed as the fastest world-record-eligible marathon course, as the world record has been set there 8 separate times on the men’s side and 3 times on the women’s side. The current world record of 2:01:39 currently stands on the course as of 2018.

We woke up to a cold, but beautiful morning. The trees were all covered with ice crystals.

We stopped in Wittenberg to see where Luther taught and lived. Saw the church where he posted the 95 articles theses and the other where he preached. We had a great tour guide.

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Then off to Berlin for a bus tour of the city and then we toured the Berlin Dom church, including city views from the top!