I finished up my time in Berlin with some final sightseeing and culture program activities with Goethe. Some highlights included a walk based around street art:
Note: The last piece is on the underside of a subway track.
I also visited the Grunderzeit Museum, a museum with a wide collection of antique furniture from the late 1800s, a period in Germany known as the Grunderzeit (Founding Time).
Although the furniture, and in particular the old musical instruments, were interesting, the most interesting aspect of the Grunderzeit Museum isn’t really the museum itself, it’s the women behind the museum, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf:
For simplicity's sake, here's a link to the Wikipedia article about her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_von_mahlsdorf
Initially, I learned about the museum and Charlotte through seeing the play based upon her life, “I Am My Own Wife”, in Minneapolis last fall. The play is fantastic (I highly recommend seeing it-it’s had a number of showings in the US) and it was great to see the museum in person knowing Charlotte’s story in advance.
I also had a wonderfully delicious potluck with my course from the Goethe Institute where we each brought a dish from our home country. There was so much delicious food from all over the world eaten with a wonderful group of people. In typical Minnesota fashion, I made tater tot hot dish.
Finally, on my last day in Berlin, I did a photo shoot with a few friends throughout the city. We wrote words that encapsulated our time in Berlin on our bodies (usually on our arms) and took photos at various locations in Berlin (primarily in or near public transit stations). My personal word choices were “Humble Pie” and “Understanding/Appreciating”. The latter I picked as it summed up my academic experiences in Berlin. Learning to live and speak in German is probably one of the hardest experiences I've gone through. Simply put, learning to speak a foreign language is something that does not come easy to me and as someone who’s been wonderfully fortunate to be able to get through school pretty easily, it was a new challenge. Although I adjusted pretty well by the end of the time in Berlin to living in German, I still find it challenging at times to express myself and am continuing to eat a huge piece of academic humble pie.
The understanding and appreciating, on the other hand stands for understanding change and appreciating continuity, which refers to my thoughts regarding German politics and history. As I’ve mentioned on the blog before, as I’ve learned about Germany’s history, I’ve been continually struck by its ever changing nature and have realized how lucky I am to live in a country with a comparatively stable political system. Now thinking about it more, I suppose it also refers to understanding and appreciating the new culture I'm living in.
Overall, Berlin was a wonderful experience. I loved getting to explore and live in such an exciting city, thoroughly enjoyed my course at the Goethe Institute, and was lucky enough to have a wonderful host family experience with Ulrike. If nothing else, the amount I’ve missed Berlin since leaving and the excitement I’m feeling at the prospect of going back for a weekend trip this summer with a friend, make it clear how much Berlin meant to me. And who knows, maybe I’ll wind up living there again someday?
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