Day 71-73

Museums, class, museums, class.. museums, museums, museums!!! So much to take in! I'm surprised I didn't have a constant headache!!

Monday we went to the DDR museum. http://www.ddr-museum.de/en/
This museum confused the heck out of me. It was all about life in the DDR but everything seemed to be portrayed in a positive light. What was really creepy was that I could see similarities from the US. Socialism doesn't sound that bad when we're talking about new apartment buildings and living space along with cheap/free rent for newly weds and even cheeper when you have kids. It even looks promising when you see all of the smiling faces, production and positive home life. The museum was set up in a hands on fashion and you could touch and interact with just about all of the museum. Not all of it was sunshine and daisies however, they also portrayed the military behind a smoking entryway. There was an interrogation room where you could hear a converstation between the interrigator and the accused. The feeling in this side of the museum was very tense and uncomfortable, like you were walking on broken glass.
This is def. a museum to check out if you visit Berlin. It's fun and interactive and gives a different perspective on East Germany.

On Tuesday we went to the German History Museum http://www.dhm.de/ENGLISH/index.html and the Bundesrat http://www.bundesrat.de/EN/Home/homepage__node.html?__nnn=true.

I loved the German History Museum. I wish we had more time to go through it. You need at least a day to see almost everything. There was so much to see and learn from. This museum continued to link my theme for this trip that there is more history to Germany, and Europe, than WWII. I kind've walked around in awe, we only had an hour or so to go through the museum, which really was a shame. If you experience a rainy day in Berlin and don't want to walk the streets this is really a great place to go. We saw everything from the Romans, to knights, to artists to you name it! It was almost overwhelming. No it was overwhelming. haha

After the museum we went to the Bundesrat. This is another part of the German government that behaves like the legislative branch. The Bundesrat has representatives from each German state. Inside we got to see where decisions are made and had a small discussion with some German citizens and our tour guide. Looking back I realize how unique this was to visit a part of the German government. It was like a visit to Washington DC to see how the Senate or the House of Representatives works. This really opened my eyes to the reality of living here in the future.

Wednesday we visited the German Cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutscher_Dom and the French Cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz%C3%B6sischer_Dom, along with the International office and Checkpoint Charlie (and the museum).

The German Cathedral and French Cathedral are no longer churches but rather museums. The German Cathedral houses a complete history of German politics and the French Cathedral houses a museum on the persecution of religion in France. The German Cathedral was amazing. I wish I could make everyone go through this museum to show the German perspective of National Socialism. The information (conviently in English and German) was well organized and easy to follow. I wish we had more time to go through it.

Checkpoint Charlie was a sight for sore eyes. It's neat to see a positive American symbol in a foreign country. I was really excited to go into the museum since I didn't get a chance to the first time I was in Berlin. I wasn't let down by what was inside. I can't believe the methods people used to flee the GDR, hiding in luggage, digging tunnels, fake passports, swimming... everything imaginable. What I really liked about the museum was that it was once used as a checkpoint for those trying to escape, and as a meeting place for those planning escapes for people on the other side.
There were also sad stories about people who failed to escape and those who died trying. One boy was shot and left to bleed to death between the walls. One man dug a tunnel and was shot to death at the opening. Some escaped and had to leave their families behind.
One thing I found really interesting was that one German soldier on the east side said to think about the lives that were saved by the soldiers who purposely missed those trying to escape. Some soldiers risked their lives by failing to do their jobs. It's unbelievable to think about what terrors we see in war time and to see what risks and sacrifices are made for others. Like one man who helped over 300 people escape through different borders in his car.

Monday and Tuesday we also had class and got to know more and more about the German government and how it works. The classes lasted around 3 hours each time, but we always went over due to all of the questions Su and I had. Our discussions were really interesting and we had to prepare for our "mid-term" on Friday.

Tschüß!!