I should start this by doing myself no favors in saying that I am terrible at chronicling my life in any form. I have tried journaling on a regular basis several times in my life and every time I have tried it has always ended up with me talking about how it would make more sense to keep a digital journal instead because it's not subject to the wear and tear of the real world but also maybe my handwriting will get better and what if the digital thing I journal with ends up going out of business one day also its too much work and... On and on and on. I also am not great at taking photos because I get too caught up in what's happening that I don't think about taking photos. Or I think about how that thing I am about to take a photo of has probably been photographed thousands of times before. With all that being said, a goal of mine for this trip is to get better at blogging. I say all this with the plan that my blog will get better as the month goes on.
Berlin was an experience I would sum up in one word by saying "busy." Never in my life have I been so completely surrounded by things to do and I've been to New York. It is also the first city in the first country I've been to outside of North America. Night one was pretty chill and I only remember a little about it. It had also been followed by flying for hours after being delayed and stuck in an airplane for 2 hours. Day one was fantastic, however. We had the best tour guide I have ever met give an in-depth lesson on every piece of history you could imagine about Berlin and Germany. After we were done we got amazing food and that evening we got some mediocre food from an ok german restaurant.
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| (Seated at the right wing. Plane coming into Berlin. Deep blue color caused by the window's anti-glare filter) |
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| Neue Wache Memorial |
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| Etching on the side of one of the pillars at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe |
Another word I would use to describe Berlin would be museums. I did not even think about museums before signing up for this class but Berlin is chock-full of the best museums I have ever visited. I would like to go back someday just to explore them in more depth and after being more educated on ancient history. On this day I visited the Pergamon, and an Egyptian artifacts history museum. That night I saw my first opera Oceane. I think my American brain is just too used to musicals to enjoy opera but we'll see how I change as this trip goes on. The music is fantastic but the fact that every line the entire time is sung is something I am not used to yet.
Day Three was the Berlin Philharmonic performing Elijah. Oratorio is the way to go. In the same way that some people watch a movie and say the book was better, I listened and watched this and thought "wow I enjoy oratorios way more than operas." The fact that the performers are forced to focus only on bringing you to the land of their story without using a set made this show so much more enjoyable for my imagination. I could see so vividly what was happening in my head and I liked it more than I did when the content was being presented to me more visually like in Oceane. I would like to see this performed again in my lifetime.
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| Inside the Berliner Philharmonie before the "Elijah" performance |
On day four we left Berlin and I was left with the feeling that I had barely scratched the surface. Berlin is filled to the brim with history that you could spend a lifetime taking in and still be left with miles of town unexplored. It is an experience I will remember for years to come.
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