So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

It was a great privilege to guide and observe this squad of twenty-two students as they approached experiential learning in the city of Berlin. The Norwich tenets of “I will try,” and learning by doing were exemplified by the group throughout the three weeks. June 4 marked the departure day for roughly half of the people involved in this course; others ran out the apartment leases and continued their German adventures through June 8. As the last students make their way home for their next summer adventures, it seems fitting to share one last post and say auf Wiedersehen to Germany and the supportive readers who have followed our journey.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night    I hate to go and leave this pretty sight…

As I think about my experience in Germany with this great group of students, it is challenging to write a meaningful, grand summary of the experience. Perhaps the best way to provide insight to the readers and impart some of the many things learned and accomplished throughout this trip is by sharing a few short stories. 

#Adulting

This trip marked a number of firsts for students in the group. For some it was their first time in another country; for others it was their first time flying unaccompanied; for many it was their first time planning meals for a week, and shopping for groceries while balancing a budget. It was fascinating to see how the group approached this challenge—initially with questions and incredulity, but eventually with ease. Even more interesting was the number of students who wrote about meal planning / grocery shopping and other aspects of the trip as “being an adult” tasks.

Frittata -- Prof.'s tip for how to turn grocery leftovers into a meal for any time of the day.

But not too much #Adulting...

Serenity Now!

The students were asked to reflect daily on their experiences by writing in a journal. They were challenged to go beyond writing an itinerary for the day and to truly contemplate their experiences and discuss what the daily activities meant to them. Many wrote about working through feelings of frustration and confusion or a sense of being lost only to find something amazing. Still more contemplated what the experiences they had now would mean for their futures and how what they learned would impact their future thinking--professorial catnip.

It was exciting to observe the human behaviors the group was attuned to and the connections they were making to their past experiences. Many students commented that they felt everything in Berlin was hurried and that everyone went about their day so purposefully. They felt like an imposition when stopping people and interrupting their flow. Despite this, students shared that while they were in the subway station looking at maps to plan their route, people went out of their way and approached them offering assistance. In one instance, a group of students asked an older gentleman for directions. Although he spoke no English, he communicated with gestures, and upon seeing their confusion, pulled a map out of his pocket and gave it to them. These experiences led to a lively discussion as to whether Berlin was “friendly,” which turned into a debate as to whether it was “more friendly” than other large cities. Following this discussion, many commented about how frustrated they get when someone in their town appears lost and disrupts the flow of things and they pondered over how many people in their own communities would reach out to help someone visibly in need of direction. 

Reflection at the Chinese Gardens in Gärten Der Welt Berlin

,,You want me to do what? I wouldn’t walk up to random people on the street and talk to them at home—in English.’’

"Someone" had the idea to force the students to interact with locals in a number of creative ways and on a number of different levels, definitely the assignment that caused the most apprehension. So the students set off to:  greet everyone they passed on the street with a “Hallo or Guten Tag,” make small talk with someone based on an object in view, ask a passerby for directions, and ask a local to share a timeline of their daily routine. 

Although it wasn't readily apparent to many of the students, through this exercise it became clear to me that the perspectives of many of the students shifted. It was wonderful to hear multiple conversations throughout the remaining weeks where the students brought up and referred to their interviewees by name in casual conversation. And when it came time for final projects, two groups went to local businesses and conducted first-person interviews related to their topics. #Things That Make You Go Hmmm 

To give you a window into that experience, I share a snippet of a conversation I had with a local about her perspective on her hometown.

     Local: “We’re like Texas, without the guns.”

     

     Prof:   “Why do you say that?”

     Local: “Because guns are crazy in America, especially Texas.”

     Prof:   “No, in what ways are you like Texas?”

     Local:  “We know who we are, we’re proud of it, and we won’t apologize for it. And we’re very       
                  friendly.”

View from the pub where the above conversation happened.

Green or Grün 

Umwelt is a German word that literally translates to environment. When navigating the town to explore urban agriculture, the students had the opportunity to learn from the locals the depth of meaning of that word in the German language and the poverty of word choices we have for umwelt in English. Students reported learning that umwelt means:

• Everything around us is alive and we have to cultivate a good relationship with everything
• What we get from the earth; how our actions affect the earth; everything we put in or on our bodies matters
• It is the natural world or environment around us, what it personally means to us, and our role as a player in that environment

After three weeks in the city, the students remained impressed with the cleanliness of the subways, the large number of receptacles that people use to sort their trash before it enters the waste stream (~7), and the fact that very little trash makes it to the landfill (about 1% of waste) as a result of these measures and the willing participation of the citizens.

Der Grüne Punkt (the Green Dot), the symbol of a network of industry-funded systems for recycling packaging materials; three separate bins for recycling glass, one for each color glass.

American in Character, Global in Perspective

Early on in the course, I encouraged the students to step-back, experience their surroundings fully, and keep an open-mind. My co-chief for this endeavor, affectionately referred to as "coach" by the students, quickly challenged the group to remember as they made their way through the city: "It's not wrong or weird, it's just different." That saying became a refrain for the group throughout many excursions and it was heartening to watch as people really embraced that spirit.

Group selfie with Coach Dawn Noyes.

Given the opportunity to explore more deeply something that inspired them in Germany, a number of interesting topics emerged from the group. The topic list included:

• Waste management
• Street art or graffiti?
•  Hydrogen as energy storage
• Airport design
• Efficiencies in everyday life
•  Public transportation
• The “honor system” on public transit
• Renewable energy usage
• Berlin bicycle transportation

While any of these topics could certainly be explored in the United States, it is important to note that in Germany, all of these topics had a facet that surprised the students and inspired them to dig deeper, gaining a more diverse or global perspective. Next time you see one of the students, ask her or him about these topics.

'

A "Bell" photo--a student living out one of the many Norwich-isms.

I Will Try...

Lastly, and perhaps the most telling story about the students and their experiences in Berlin, I share the following snippets from a conversation with the students. One student commented that he had traveled to other countries, and while in those countries he operated entirely in English, never attempted to communicate in the local language, and was never concerned about it. In Berlin, although he couldn’t put his finger on it, he found himself trying much harder to adapt to the local language and culture because he wanted to. He wanted to try to navigate in German, and he wanted people to know that he was trying. After sharing this, many in the group agreed—consensus that they collectively wanted to be and feel a part of this place. 

I can't think of a more wonderful testimonial!

The group after wrapping up a wonderful class in Trier.

Until Next Time...

It is hard to believe this kernel of an idea for a course that I had back in February 2017 has matured and come to fruition. I hope the stories shared throughout this blog have provided some insight into the thoughts and feelings or minds and hearts of those on the trip. 

And so I bid thee farewell and leave you with words from a student reflection upon completing the class:

     Prof:        "If you could travel to the future and remind yourself of something from this class
                     experience, what would it be?"

     Student:  "I would remind myself that it’s the human experience/ needs that determine if an
                     engineering solution is a successful one or not."

     Prof:        ...thinking to himself, "Yes"

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

The Final Day

The Final Day

By Christopher Williams

June 4^th, 2018 was the departure date for many people.  Time to say goodbye to the country and people that welcomed us (or not, sometimes) into their city for the past three weeks.  A bittersweet time for many of us.  Germany is a great country and we have truly done our best to experience it to the fullest, but there’s no place like the USA.  Unfortunately, I’m actually not going anywhere myself.  Nope, myself and a few others decided to run out the lease on our rooms to the very end of the period, which happens to be the 8^th.  So, instead of travelling back to the states or elsewhere yesterday, I got to walk around the city some more.  First off, I spent most of the day doing housework, cleaning the apartments and getting groceries for the next 4 days. Later in the day, we decided to go and try to see the city monuments at night.  Taking the U Bahn into the middle of the city and just getting off when we felt like it, the first place we walked through was the Sony Center, a big megaplex filled with shops.  It was pretty, sure, but we wanted to get out of the urban sector, so we walked out and over to a line of trees we saw, lo and behold there was an entire park in the middle of the city that we hadn’t been to yet. 

                                             

Figure 1:  A monument to famous Austrian and German composers and Musicians

Very serene and calm.  It was so quiet I could hardly believe it was in the middle of this concrete jungle we've lived in the past 21 days.  It was expansive and well kept, it was green and lush, and it was beautiful.  As we made our way through the meadows, we ended up at a road.  To our surprise we had stumbled right onto the road connecting Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate. It was an unusually long and straight, with no intersections save one near the Gate.  It intrigued me, and I learned afterwards that it has two names.  The first one is "Street of the 17^th of June", and the second is the Bundestraβe 2.  The first name is in reference to the worker uprising of the 17^th of June in 1953.  during this uprising the Red Army shot and killed unarmed East Berlin civilians to keep them oppressed.  Ironically, across this road we found the soviet memorial to those Russian soldiers lost in taking Berlin.  

                              

Figure 2:  Warped panorama of the curved monument

We found that somewhere in the fields behind are 2000 buried soviets.  Very powerful feelings around.  You could almost cut the air with the heaviness of memories in those stones.

Figure 3:  1943 Variant of the Soviet T-34, the most influential and effective tank of WWII

We then went down the road to the Berlin Victory Monument.  Originally created in 1873 to commemorate the Prussian State’s victory in the Unification Wars, it was “gifted” to Adolph Hitler in 1939 by the German people (himself to himself).  Or at least, this is what a security worker nearby told us about it.  On reflection, it seems so totally within his character to take something that the German people had once revered for such an important, national, and connecting reason and turn it into a monument of his own praise and worship.

Figure 4:  The Berlin Victory Pillar

               We then took a much longer walk than anticipated back up to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate.

               

Figure 5:  From the Victory Pillar to the Brandenburg gate, if you can see it.

A very long walk.  (photo credit: Constantin Schäfer)

Lit up against the night sky, they are both such dominant sights, it makes you wish you could see them in their hay day, when no other buildings could tower over them as they do today.  After this, we decided we hit our step count, and that we had enough walking for a night. we started to make our way back to the apartments for some well deserved rest.  As the days keep passing, I can't help but wonder how close I've gotten to the city's soul on this trip.  Some days it seems as if I've lived it, and others remind me how foreign I am.  Still, in a city reconstructed with such a heavy foreign influence, I think there must be many locals who share the same sentiment.

 Figures 6 and 7:  The Reichstagsgebäude and the Brandenburg Gate, respectively.

About the Author:  Chris is a native Berliner in the true sense of the word, since he isn’t from Germany, German isn’t his first language, and he now complains about tourists being loud and disruptive at popular Berlin landmarks.  Currently recovering from a three-week long trial of extensive, usually heavy German beer consumption, he’s looking forward to taking a break from it for a little bit.   Just a little bit.  A week probably.  Maybe only a few days.  Who knows?  Maybe a couple hours…  I have one open right now.

June 4th                                                                                                            Lübeck, Germany

Many people decided to travel home today. Some people though stayed in Berlin or in Germany to explore. I was one of those who decided to stay longer in Germany. I decided to go to Lübeck because I have some family friends up there. Lübeck, is a small city and is about an hour east of Hamburg. I really wanted to see my family friends, Katthy, Torge, Regina, and Franci who I have not seen since August. So, I decided to leave on the evening of June 3rd.  I arrived at Lübeck at 2230 and Katthy picked me up from Lübeck Hbf. After our greetings and conversation in the car, she dropped me off at Franci and Torge's house where I am staying until the 7th. To piece it all together for you, as a reader, Regina is the mother of Franci and Katthy. Franci and Torge are husband and wife and have a child named Nea. Our family has known them for almost 10 years now. Our relationship started when Katthy worked for my family as an Au pair. On the morning of the 4th, Franci and I picked up Regina at her place then went to the city to do some chores that needed to get done. Some chores include doctor appointment, groceries, food for breakfast, gifts for another family's child. We did these tasks with the Nea, who is a 2-year-old girl. Franci went to her doctor's appointment as Regina and I picked up some food for breakfast. She asked what I wanted for breakfast and I said that I wanted whatever the normal breakfast was for her family. I did this to better understand a more typical household German breakfast. We had breakfast at Katthy's apartment, which was a bit odd because she was not there. Their usual breakfast involves bread, cream cheese, butter, ham or turkey, and jam. You usually cut the slice of bread then add the cream cheese or butter followed by either meat or jam, sometimes cheese. We stayed at the apartment for a bit playing with Nea. She makes me think about how simple life was and how fun certain things are in life. Just as shaking your head is funny to a two-year-old. Afterward, we did some shopping for groceries and at a Toys-R-Us. After doing some shopping with Fanci, Regina, and Nea, we drove to Katthy's work and they dropped me off there. I helped Katthy at work by doing some labeling for certain packages. She works for a company that does event planning and deals with the contract in regards to the vendor and companies. After experiencing her work environment, we decided to have fun and go boat paddling. Boat paddling is where two people paddle the boat by using their feet (as if you are riding a bike). We did that for about an hour before we went to her apartment and made some dinner. We had noodles, mushrooms, broccoli, tomato, and fish. Afterward, she drove me back to Franci and Torge's house where we talked with Torge's family for a little bit before we called it a night.  Overall I had a fun day experiencing more of a typical German lifestyle on what they eat, but also how they interact with themselves and to me. 

A picture of Lübeck 

Katthy (as shown) boat 

paddling with me.

June 3rd

With the class complete and my month-long adventure in Berlin coming to end I began to look over my whole experience in Germany. I am realizing that this amazing opportunity has taught me so much about myself and having large cultural awareness. Norwich University’s mission statement describes that the education our school provides to us should help give a global perspective rather than just an enclosed perspective of only the United States of America. As the Norwich website states, “Global in perspective means that our students should understand that the USA is not alone in this world…Defining the entire world with American values distorts the reality of a multicultural planet and limits one’s perspective on the history of man’s journey to the present time. Because America is a leader in the world, and because our students are destined to be leaders in America, we must understand and respect all points of view as part of gaining the wisdom to lead.” I think this is a perfect reason behind why Norwich University students should study abroad. Before this experience, I would say that I had a somewhat closed mind to the different cultures around the world, and this experience helped open my eyes to the reality that every culture is different. This is good because as the Norwich website stated, “Defining the entire world with American values distorts the reality of a multicultural planet and limits one’s perspective on the history of man’s journey to the present time.” This is an important topic that has been hit on multiple times this month.

Sculpture representing perspective.

 My professor explained to the class today that recognizing and respecting different cultures applies to the engineering and business world regularly. Your company could design a product that is to be sold around the world, but you may have to change some small aspects to the design to encourage customers to purchase it. For example, button placement on the products controller or the color of the backlighting used to light up a screen. Different areas around the world are used to their way of doing things and if you try and introduce a product that is different than what they are used too there could be a hesitation to buy into a new idea. Another example our professor gave to us is about how cultures differ with baby food. He explained how he volunteered to package baby food for a country in need and his task was to put blank labels over the giant baby face on the food container because the area that the baby food was being sent to the mothers questioned what was in the food because they were used to having the label on food containers having a picture of what was in the food, like ingredients. The mothers questioned the volunteers handing out the food about what they were about to feed their children this is what provoked putting on the blank labels over the picture of the baby head to help change the possible different perspectives the mothers have of the food for their children. This is kind of crazy to think about though because something so small like a picture of a baby on a food container has a different meaning than what we Americans recognize it as. Here in America, I think we almost recognize baby food having a picture of a baby on it. These are just a few of the examples I have had the opportunity to learn about during my time here. There are so many that cultures differ, I have learned that having a global perspective is an integral part of being an outstanding American citizen.

Picture from the East Side Gallery.

This trip has been a wonderful opportunity for my fellow classmates and I. I am very thankful for all the support and guidance we received leading up to the trip and all the help we have received here from our professor and on the ground advisor.

Keegan Brock

Norwich Forever

03/06/2018

June 3, 2018

The last day of the class started with the night before. The class went back to City Lab one last time for the final group presentations. The Presentations started with my group. We did our project on the waste management of Germany. I think that it went well with a few things we could have thought more about research in depth. When my group was finished we sat and watched the remaining presentations. The topics ranged from renewable energy to innovative engineering on doors and windows. When the presentations were finished we received the words from Professor Feinauer on the class. We believe I learned the opportunity to hear from the multiple people.They speak about the past as something to reference and use as inspiration. Different because that's how the world evolves. It's interesting to get another country's perspective on engineering. In Europe, because the countries are so small they often have to look for work and jobs in other countries. These means they must be able to understand and understand the culture and laws.

I'm relaxing in my room and making a sandwich while I waited for dinner. At seven we walked as a class to Dolden Madel. There are some steak and mashed potatoes. So it came with a side of seasoned mixed vegetables. So I had the Maltrosenschluck an IPA that tasted very good along with the steak. We all thought we were almost done when we forgot that we had ordered. After we were full, but not too full for ice cream. We walked a little ice cream shop and all got ice cream. I have an early train tomorrow morning.

-Roger Laflamme

June 1st, 2018

Day 18 in Germany wasn’t too crazy. A lot of us slept in a little longer than usual and then finished working on our group projects so we could get it out of the way and relax the rest of the weekend. The project took up all of my morning. Pretty much a lot of sitting around listening to the Guardians of the Galaxy playlist, shout-out to Caleb, while researching street art in Berlin. Afterwards, I went to get McDonalds and tried the McDouble Chili Cheese Burger on the 1 Euro menu because it looked interesting so I kind of had to.  Here’s a picture from google because I didn’t take a picture of it.

After McDonalds I wandered around looking for souvenirs to bring back to the states with me. I only found a couple, so I have to go back shopping before leaving on Tuesday. Can’t forget about those back home.

Ok so now the evening finally got a little more eventful. A group of us decided to go to the Hofbrauhaus Restaurant, because 1. It’s a pretty German restaurant the servers are even dressed up and 2. They have liter beers and we couldn’t pass that up. You’re only in Germany, once right? Here’s a picture of us with our liter beers.

Pretty well deserved after working on our final presentations all morning.

Aaaand that’s a wrap. Stay Classy Berlin.

Leslie Villasenor

NU’19

June 2nd

Today as I realize that our “class” comes to the near end I thought I would share what I have learned along this amazing adventure. Just from these short three weeks, I not only have learned about the German culture but the American culture and myself as well. The first German interactions that I had on the streets were a mixture of friendly and not so friendly. On the first day of class, we did an afternoon activity that involved navigating our way around through the city of Berlin. During this activity, we rode both the subway system and the bus system. In one of the subway stations, my friends and I must have looked like confused tourists because a German lady came up to us and asked us if we needed help with understanding how to get to the place we needed to go. In this particular situation, we told her that we were okay, but this interaction got me to think about how this interaction would have been different in the United States with a foreign traveler and an American citizen. Would the culture we live in stop and help? Would we get mad at the traveler inconveniencing our day? Or would we simply just ignore the situation as a whole?

Group photo from Trier

I personally think that it depends where in America the foreign traveler is at. If they were to be in a city like New York City I think we as Americans would ignore the traveler and maybe view them as an obstacle that is just taking up space in the city. This is because of my personal experience of visiting New York City last year. I felt that I was in the New Yorkers way everywhere I stepped. They would look at me weird as if I would know perfectly how to get around the city. But in other parts of America, I think that we would help a foreign traveler. The first place that comes to mind is Burlington Vermont. From all my experiences of walking around in that area everyone is super nice is willing to talk with anyone who strikes up a conversation on the street and that is awesome. I kind of wish all the different cities in the United States would have citizens who were willing to help not only American travelers but foreign ones as well.

Group photo with the best tour guide in front of Porta Nigra.

Another cultural difference I have seen during this adventure that also kind of involves human interactions is how Germans treat meals and hanging out in general. While walking down the tight sidewalks crammed with little restaurants that have outdoor seating and even in my friends and my frequent trips to beer gardens I notice that Germans sit and have a productive conversation with one another. They do not sit on their phones in awkward silence like Americans do. When the Germans go out with one another they put their phones away and involve themselves in active conversation with one another, unlike most Americans. We tent to go out with one another but instead of absorbing each other’s presence we preoccupy ourselves with taking pictures of our food and drinks or even just go on Snapchat and talk with someone who is not in person. This is crazy I think if more Americans would just put their phones down and enjoy one another’s company we would be much happier people and probably have more fun when going out. From my short experiences whit talking to people, it appears that the German citizens are very friendly people and fun to hang out with.

Written By: Keegan Brock

2/6/2018

June 2, 2018

This Saturday I decided to take a walk by myself. After a good night sleep, I left the apartments at 10AM and set out for SoLuna bread and oil. This is a bakery recommended by a nice German man. The bakery so happens to be on the same street as out apartments. Today is the first time I have visited this infamous bakery. Yesterday I had breakfast there with Naveed for his "Foodie Friday" blog. What made me go back what the delicious buttercups. After a butterhorn and a coffee I took a left and walked down Gneisenaustrasse.  

I walked through a farmer's market and looked at all food stands where people were selling food. I just wanted to explore.After walking through the market, I decided that I wanted to go to Tempelhof. When I came across the area with free wi-fi I looked up the quickest route there. Google Maps is not to be trusted. I ended up at a completely different location. It took me a while walking around but I finally found Tempelhof.

Tempelhof is in the old air field that was used as a military transport for aircrafts in West Berlin during the cold. My father, being in the signal corps, spent a decent amount of time here in the 1980's. The airport was visited while I spend time here. The airport is a recreational park for people to walk around and relax. Throughout my time there I took a huge lap around the area to make sure I saw everything.

Belushi's to watch the big football game and have a few berries. The night starts with Snake Bite's (sparkling cider mixed with stock) and ends up with Michael Sam.

Roger Laflamme