Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin!!

Berlin Wall

Check Point Charlie

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust Memorial

Sanssouci Schloss

My weekend trip to Berlin was quite the whirl-wind adventure! The trip was planned by ISO (International Students Office) and included the participation of about 25 people representing countries all around the world. The trip was partially subsidised by the University, which meant that we each paid only 45 Euro for the whole trip (including travel, museum entrance, two nights stay, breakfast, and one dinner...quite the deal!).

We began our journey Friday morning on our tiny pink bus. After a few stops throughout the trip we arrived in Berlin early afternoon and preceded to check into our hostel. This was my first experience with a European hostel and I am pleased to say that it was quite the positive one. The rooms had ten beds (5 bunk beds) which I shared with my fellow international students on the trip. Everything was quite clean and well kept as well! After check-in, we went to The Story of Berlin Museum. The museum was pretty amazing. Step by step we were taken through the history of Berlin dating back to the 1200s. Each room had a hand's on theme with new technology and great displays gallor. The museum also included functioning atomic bomb shelter, which although amazing, turned out to be quite spooky! After the museum, our bus driver took us around a little bit more of Berlin and then back to our hostel to enjoy our free dinner. The next morning, we were shown even more of Berlin as we got to see so many famous and historic sites. Check Point Charlie was most definitely a favorite. After getting our Passports stamped with old Check Point Charlie stamps, we hopped back on the bus and drove a short distance down the road to a piece of the Berlin Wall still standing. Later on, we visited the area in which Operation Walküre (Valkyrie) as well as the execution of the members took place. The bus tour then ended at the Brandenburg Gate. After a quick bite to eat and walk around the gate, we went to a Holocaust memorial. The memorial consisted of several cement blocks of all different sizes put into rows. Underground was a memorial explaining and displaying the history of the treatment of Jewish people before and throughout World War II in Germany. Although very open to interpretation, the memorial was very unique and awing. Later that night, we were given free time to walk through the city and enjoy the amazing Berlin sites in the amazing sunny weather. The next morning, we left for a town close to Berlin called Potsdam, filled with amazing old buildings and sites. We specifically went to see the Sanssouci Schloss ("No worries" Castle). The park which held the castle in its self was amazing, dotted with castles and ponds. We then walked through the town a little bit (and enjoyed an amazing scoop of gelato along the way). Eventually, we got back on the bus and returned to Oldenburg Sunday evening.

The weekend was definitely a trip of a life time filled with everything one could ever ask for!

School has begun!

The summer semester officially began this past Monday here in Oldenburg. With that said, this week (and the preceding days) proved to be some of the most stressful, but let me start from the beginning. The process of course registration for international students is very different than UW registration process..or of any others that I have heard of. The exchange students were told during orientation week that we do actually register for classes in any formal sense of the word "register". We needed only to attend the class we desired. However, finding the classes offered was also a challenge. We had to navigate through a maze-like website to finally end up at a seemingly random list of departments. From there, you choose a Fach and scroll through a list of classes offered. Furthermore, the class structure is (of course) very different than what I have ever seen. There are various "module" were there are a list of classes belonging to different categories...Seminar, Vorlesung, und Uebung. When I was initially looking through these classes, I really had no clue what these categories meant. I soon found out (after several different people explaining it to me) that a Seminar is a normal class which is usually smaller, a Vorlesung is a lecture with a large amount of people, and an Uebung is somewhat like a lab class in which you have practical practice. From there, I discovered that you must take the Seminar and whichever Uebung or Vorlesung is listed with it (which both may be). Even later, I discovered that as Exchange student, I don't really need to take both...(yes, I know, this is extremely confusing). Also as an exchange student, I can attend as many classes as I want, and drop the ones I don't want up until the final with no consequences. So while looking through these classes, I realized that each class is only offered once a week for two hours (quite a bit longer than our little 50 lectures at UW). To further the frustration, the foreign exchange student's German placement test, which would tell us which level of German we would be taking, was not until this Wednesday. So while trying to put together a schedule, I had to work around the idea that my 6 hour German course could be anytime during the week.

So finally on Monday, I had somewhat of a list of classes which I would like to try. After my first class, at 8 am Monday morning, I realized that this may be a little more difficult than originally thought (I am not quite sure why I though taking college level Deutsch courses would be remotely easy or possible...). After sitting through two hours (well an hour and a half since, although it says the class starts at 8, German classes actually start 15 minutes after the start time and end 15 minutes before the end time), I walked up to the teacher, with a slue of other exchange students, to discuss if we would be able to stay in the course. Then it was off to my next class, which followed the same pattern. In all I attended about 6 or 7 classes...2 of which I will be returning. The week was far from relaxing in any sense. However, now, I have a pretty clear idea of what I will be taking, I know what German language class I will be in, and I am quite happy with my schedule (Friday's off!). And on top of that the weather has been stunning with temperatures in the 70s and the sun making regular appearances all week. Now it Easter weekend and I know many exciting things are in store for my future.