Today has been an unusually good day. Nothing great or life changing has happened, but I haven't felt that overwhelming sense of loneliness that I have been feeling for the last couple of days. I'm very tired today. Having this long vacation has completely messed with my sleep schedule. When I had to go to sleep early so that I could wake up early for work, I couldn't fall asleep. I just wasn't tired enough and my brain was still going a mile a minute. I ended up staying up until nearly 1:30 in the morning. Not fun when you have to get up at 6:45!
While at work a girl came up to talk to me. Her name is Brittany and this is her very first semester in college. She's 18, taking German 1010, and planning on going on the study abroad trip to Germany this summer. She was asking me tons of questions about the trip. What was it like? How much money will she need? They ranged from the basic to the I wish I had thought of that question before! It was amazing to talk to her about all that we were able to do last year. I am so thankful that I was able to go to Germany this last summer. It was an experience that changed me. I was able to do so much and see tons! Of course there were many things that I didn't get to see or do, and that makes me sad, but what I did get to see and do was awesome! I got to live right down the street from the Templehof Airport.
It was a very important airport for the Germans after WWII. One U-Bahn stop away from mine was Platz der Luftbrücke, another important event happened there-the Berlin Air Bridge, when America flew in food and supplies when Berlin was closed off to everything after WWII.
I was able to visit tons of museum and see things that I never would have been able to otherwise. We visited Dresden. It was such a beautiful city. It made me sad to see all of the gorgeous buildings covered in soot from when America senselessly firebombed Dresden. However, the Frauenkirche rose like a phoenix from the flames and was rebuilt and is one of the most beautiful churches ever built.
We went to Weimar-home of Goethe, Schiller, and many more important German thinkers, authors, and composers.
However, it had a dark side. In the woods outside of Weimar, lies a camp that many of the residents of Weimar chose not to know about-Buchenwald Concentration Camp. This wasn't a concentration camp like Auschwitz, meaning it wasn't built as a death camp, though thousands did die there and death wasn't prevented, and many deaths were hastened along. On the front gates is the slogan "Jedem das Seine" which literally means to each his own, but really meant that the people going through the gates were getting what they deserved.
This place is nestled inside one of the most beautiful and peaceful places you could ever imagine. The sun was shining and the birds were singing and oddly enough I felt incredibly at peace, in a place that had no peace for a number of years. This camp was a political prisoner camp. Not just Jews were interred here, but POWs, Gypsies, political prisoners, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and criminals. They were worked hard, they were experimented on, and they were murdered. It's hard to imagine that any sort of feelings other than sadness, hatred, or despair could be felt there. But like I said it was one of the best days we had had. I didn't feel any of those feelings, other than my own sympathy and sadness for what happened there. Most of the buildings were torn down, either because of intense rage from the prisoners or because of age and decay. I'm not happy that such horrible things happened there, but I'm happy that we are able to learn from this. I'm glad that nature is starting to take over what was taken from it. I'm glad that peace was felt once more where war should never have touched.
Let's move on from such sad talk. We also visited Potsdam. It's a city on the outskirts of Berlin. It's a beautiful old city surrounded by tree covered hills (the Germans call them mountains, but really they're only hills).
Sadly the day was gray, rainy, and cold. We walked around the town and saw some amazing buildings. We walked through the grounds of Sansouci, a palace built by Friedrich II, King in Prussia during the late 18th century.
It's gorgeous and full of gold covered rococo designs. I could have easily spent days there, but unfortunately we only got about an hour. I think everybody in my study abroad group (at least the girls anyway) fell a little in love with Friedrich. We came home with some great memories and jokes that still make Dr. Packer cringe and try to defend Friedrich.
I'm so incredibly grateful that I was able to do this and visit such an amazing, diverse, and beautiful country. I wish that I had had more time, but I'm thankful for what time I did have. I wish that others could do that same some day.
Now it's time for me to get cracking on a history paper!
