First Journal Entry

1. If you haven't been to Germany before, what do you anticipate it being like? How do you imagine the people? If you have been to Germany before, what do you think will be different about this trip.

I have never been to Germany, and I am very excited to go. I anticipate that Germany will be a very serious country, and that it will have a very stern and rule following atmosphere. The trip should still be exciting and I anticipate that scenery will be beautiful.

2. What are some stereotypes you have of Germans and/or Germany?

Some stereotypes that I have of Germans is that they are a very disciplined culture and that they are very serious. Also, they are not always friendly towards foreigners, especially Americans, and that they are big on following rules.

Longest German Word(s)

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerk-
bauunterbeamtengesellschaft is the longest word in the German language at 79 letters,

but is truly an impractical word that will never actually be used in day to day conversation.

It means "association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the

Danube steamboat electrical services." The word was made just to lengthen the word

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän which means "Danube steamship company captain."

Another long German word is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

which is 63 letters. The word means "beef labeling regulation & delegation of supervision law." Again

it is not a very practical word, but the German language makes it possible to combine different words and

descriptions into one giant word that would normally be 4-5 words in the english language. This particular

word was the longest word in the German language in 1999 and won an award for word of the year.

My German Stereotypes

Going to Germany I expected many things that weren't true. First of all the biggest surprise to me was that almost everyone I met spoke english. It was surprising because I didn't know that German kids learn english in school as a basic class. I also expected Germany to be behind the United States Technology wise, and also to see people wearing weird clothes that I had never seen before. But It was almost the exact same as the United States. The people were nice, and most of them spoke good english, and directed us when we were lost. All the stores had the same clothes, new video games, phones, and anything else you can think of in the U.S. Another stereotype that I had was that there would be sort of a anti semitic/racist attitude due to the Nazi influence during World War Two. But I found it to be the opposite, there was no bigotry anywhere we went. One stereotype I was right about though was the influence of beer in Germany. Everywhere we went there were beer halls where people enjoyed beer and talked with each other. One of these beer halls even seat eight thousand people, and during Oktoberfest they fill every seat at the famous Hofbräuhaus Beer Hall. It seems like a very important part of there culture, going back hundreds of years. Overall the people of Germany were nothing like what I expected.

German Stereotypes

I've never been to Germany before, an honestly have never taken a particular interest in it in the media or history besides learning about the holocaust. That being said there were still certain stereotypes that came with how I pictured Germany- some positive, but also some negative. For one, I always imagined Germans to be somewhat intimidating, possibly a stereotype that came into existence from studying Nazis and the holocaust. I imagined the adults to be strict, stern, and look down on teenagers- especially Americans. As for German teenagers I expected them to be a bit rebellious, as the one German boy I knew was the epitome of teenage rebellion. As far as appearance of the overall cities I expected them to be very pristine and clean, with not much garbage or homeless on the streets. I expected gothic looking churches and houses, with many fairy-tale looking cottages. I'm sure when we actually arrive in Germany nearly all of these stereotypes will be dis-proven, but as of now, these are the first images that come to mind when I think of Germany.

Diary Entry Two

1. The thing that has surprised me the most about Germany is how good the food is. Coming in to the trip I had low expectations for the food. The food has proved to be top notch, especially the schnitzel. None of my other previous stereotypes have been dispelled thus far into the trip, if anything they have been reinforced from my experiences on the trip.
2.I have noticed that the weather in Germany drastically changes depending on where you are. The first couple days i was wearing t shirts but now i am bundling up to face the snow!

German Stereotypes

Although i had been to Germany before, i had only been to Munich and so i am interested to see what the rest of Germany will be like. We are first heading to Heidleburg. I imagine that since it is a college town it will be somewhat similar to Palo Alto. The people i would imagine to be a mixture of professors and students, with also some "townies." I think they will be friendly but mostly keep to themselves because of all of the work they will have. In general i imagine German people to be modest and keep to themselves. They are blunt, but not necessarily rude just very to the point. I grew up in Holland and i expect them to be somewhat like the Dutch. Visiting HOlland last summer i realized that people there are not at all ostentatious. After 10 years, the town looked exactly the same with a butcher and a baker to supply all the food. It was comforting to know that some places never change and i expect the Germans will be similar. They like what they know and although they probably do adjust with technology they are quite different from Americans fundamentally. INstead of adopting ever new fad, they stay modest and adopt things that are useful and practical.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

I think one of the reasons I like Germany so much is because of the population's amazing ability to cope with all of it's history. One of the ways that I think makes it easier to cope with, is that they make everything quite public. It would be far from correct to call Dachau a tourist destination, but nonetheless it still stands open for the world to see. It is illegal to deny the Holocaust and all of it's contents and a swastika of any kind is forbidden. Parts of the Berlin Wall remain and Checkpoint Charlie has been transformed into a museum. All of these are evidence a former troubled past, but nonetheless Germany continues to function like any normal (ha!) country. Of course I was only there for less than 10 days, and I'm in no position to judge a country nor it's history. The only thing I can compare it to is the fact that I am American. Everyone has history and I'm not exception. Americans are notoriously known for dropping two A-bombs, kicking aside minorities (Native Americans) purely because we believed it was our right, and don't forget the possibility of knowing Pearl Harbor and 9/11 were going to happen but made no action to prevent either. However, all of these were the actions of a relatively small group of people and not America as a whole. The same thing goes with Germans, not all Germans were/are Nazis, not all Germans hate Jews, nor are all Germans amazing beer chuggers. Everyone has their problems and must live with the history/stereotypes it causes.

Kind of random, but sort of related...I recently read a book titled "How to Steal a Car." It wasn't about the actual logistics of stealing a car, but it was a YA novel about a teenager who gets into car stealing. Initially it started off with just picking up someone's keys and taking the car for a spin, but because of that one time she immediately because im/famous for stealing cars and gets sucked into the business. Or so she says, she could have really liked the high from stealing cars...I dunno just thought to get that out there.

Journal Entry: Dachau

I decided to post my journal entry that we were given after touring Dachau. My feelings after Dachau were mixed. I wasn’t sad, and I definitely wasn’t happy. Not being Jewish definitely has a part in it. Since I am not Jewish I didn't feel a connection to the prisoners. My relatives weren’t affected by the Holocaust, so I don’t feel the same connection as someone whose relatives might have been hugely affected by it. But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel anything and wasn’t connected at all. We as humans all feel connected, if one of us dies everyone feels pain. So seeing pictures of all the prisoners killed, injured, or even sick gives us great sadness. Being able to go to a place where thousands of people were killed is crazy. It really puts everything into perspective. At one point I walked up next to one of the fences and saw a picture of a man laying dead, shot trying to escape, right where I was standing. Once you see it first hand it changes everything, it takes something that you have only heard about or read about and it makes you fully realize that it actually happened. It sort of proves that it happened because you are witnessing where it took place. I would say that the trip to Dachau did change me a little bit. It made me realize what happened at that point in history and how horrible it truly was. It showed me that you can’t really learn everything from books, you really have to go out and experience it on your own.

Journal Entry 4: What do German's have to come to terms with in history? What do Americans?

There are a lot of things in Germany's past that the country has to come to terms with. An obvious and prominent example of this is World War II and the Holocaust. The old concentration camps such as Dachau serve as a reminder of the crimes committed by the Germans 70 years ago. As we found in our past discussions, most people viewed Germans as strict, serious, and focused. This stereotype seemed to come from World War II, and is a reputation that Germans have to try hard to change or come to terms with and accept. Germans are also burdened with guilt from the Holocaust, even a majority of the people living in Germany today weren't alive during the War. Living in a country were so many people were killed, and still being associated with the Nazi party is a hard history to come to terms with. German people in Berlin also try to come to peace with very recent political unrest, as only 20 years ago the Berlin Wall came down. Such influential events like these are hard for any country to accept and move on from, while still working to maintain history.

The United States definitely has past history that the people still need to come to terms with. A historical event very similar to the Holocaust was the slave trade, in which an entire race was persecuted and exploited. Even though this was a long time ago, evidence of the racism that occured is still prominent in our culture and lifestyle. Americans have to come to terms with their inhumane treatment of Africans in some way because racism is still influential throughout the country. Evidence of World War II was also seen in Germany, such as the concentration camps that are still standing. However, Germany does a good job of coming to terms with their past by opening the camps (such as Dachau) for people to see, and allowing their history to be remembered in the future.

A Reflection on the Past

Prompt: Do you think there is any part of our history that modern Americans, as a people, have to come to terms with? Or do you think this is a strictly German problem?

Dealing with consequences of the past is a situation that all groups of people have to deal with as we all do things we are not exactly proud of. For example, while Germans have the heavy burden of dealing with the Holocaust, Americans must remember that the soil which they have built their wealth on was forcibly taken away from Native Americans who inhabited the land for many generations. It may be wrong to compare the Holocaust to Indian Removal in the United States, but both consist of unlawful removal of ethnic groups from their homes and many deaths during the process of removal.

I believe that both Germans and Americans have learned to come to terms with the past. Like I noted during the discussion following the visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, Germans have allowed the camp to stay intact for public viewing. To me, that decision by itself is reason enough to believe that modern Germans have accepted history as they have nothing to hide. The acceptance of the American problem may not be as obvious, but continued efforts to provide Native Americans with rights and protection illustrates that Americans and their government recognize the problem made almost 200 years ago and are working to alleviate it.

These two incidences in history show that we should not dwell on the past, but rather remember the past as an indication that we have the power to make amends and move on.

On the Plane

3.30.10

While I sit here on the plane next to the oddly smelling man in 7B, I am trying to picture what Germany will be like. I think that the architecture will be similar to Italy, a mix of baroque and renaissance styles, but with modern influence. The inside of each building will be intricate in the small towns, but in the bigger cities, the western cultures’ influence will be more prominent. I imagine the people of Germany to be less friendly to Americans on the streets, because that is normally the case when you travel to a foreign country. In relation to the Holocaust, I believe that Germans have come to terms with their history and have moved on. If they wanted to completely forget and “cover it up” I think they would have just gotten rid of the concentration camps and memorials. Overall, I think traveling is about experiencing the country based on what you know, not what other people thought of. So when I travel, I always leave stereotypes behind when it comes to people so it doesn't alter my experience.

Last Day in Germany! Berlin

Jewish Museum - Garden of Exile

Jewish Museum

Berlin Zoo

John as a street performer

A bit of Berlin

Overnight Train to Berlin

Dachau

More Munich

Marienplatz



Olympiaturm - Olympic Tower



View of BMW from Olympiaturm



View of 1972 Olympic Stadium from Olympiaturm









BMW World



Gartenzwerge - garden gnomes



Gnomes are busy multitasking these days



Chocolate bunnies for Easter

First Day in Munich

Nymphenburg Palace






The famous Hofbräuhaus in Munich - don't worry, we didn't drink any beer!

Photos from Day 3

Lots of time on the bus!



Snowball fight






Hiking to Neuschwanstein



Neuschwanstein castle in the snowstorm



Hohenschwangau Castle -- one of "Mad" King Ludwig's other castles, visible from Neuschwanstein



The insanely rococo Wieskirche



Oberammergau Spielhaus, home of the Passion Play that has taken place every 10 years since the 1600s



Wood carvings in Oberammergau



Lederhosen!

Explorica Tour Diary

Please check out our guide Kris's great tour diary with photos! I'll update the blog here ASAP. -Ms. Nak

Day 3

It snowed all day today! For lunch we visited a typical German restaurant. As expected, after that 2 hour bus drive we were famished. It had a typical German menu consisting of sandwiches, spaghetti, hotdogs, and schnitzel. After a yummy meal, we had to hike thirty minutes while it was snowing to the Neuschwanstein Castle. The Neuschwanstein was the castle Walt Disney based both Disney Land and Disney World off of. Sadly, only one third of the rooms had been completed. However, we saw the king’s quarters and were in awe of the intricate detail in the wood. We were told that the entire room took a group of wood carvers 4 years to complete. To our amusement, it was our tour guides first English tour, and he misspoke many English words. After the tour, we took another hour bus ride to arrive in a town where we got an hour free time to explore the town. After another one hour bus ride, we finally got to the hotel! It is very comfortable and for dinner we had chicken and macaroni and cheese pasta. We all got to use showers that were actually functional, and a good time was had by all.