Boat Rides and Bonding

This morning I got up early for breakfast and ended up going back to sleep for a bit before I really got up to start my day. Once I was showered and dressed I went to Salon Schmuck, which is the café I have frequented quite often so that I can use their internet to do my schoolwork on my laptop. Once I was there I got right to writing my reflection and posting blog entries for all of the days during the week that I had written in word documents since I can’t post them from my hostel due to horrid internet connections. I had hoped to be able to post to my blog every day, but unfortunately it isn’t possible since I can only use the website editor on my laptop, and a I only have a strong enough internet connection at the café to connect to the internet.

Anyways, as soon as I had finished my posts, Mira, Hannah, Jasmin, and I all went to see Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie turned out to be an incredibly tourist-y place with all sorts of shops and attractions that were obviously meant to be tourist traps. I’m glad that I went to see it, it just felt like it was dramatized in order to be more attractive to tourists and thus detracted from its historical significance and importance as a monument. For example, the checkpoint building where people were stopped to show verification had two people dressed up as American soldiers with American flags posted on either side of the building and there were people there to collect two euros from anyone who wanted to take a picture with themselves and the guards in the picture. In addition, in the area where they had a more informational section on the history of Checkpoint Charlie there were at least three different stands selling snacks, drinks, postcards, and memorabilia for the Checkpoint. The other monuments and memorials we have visited thus far haven’t had all of the vendors trying to sell postcards and trinkets. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but that was how I felt about visiting Checkpoint Charlie in comparison to the other monuments and memorials I have seen so far.

After we were done at Checkpoint Charlie we took the train to the Palace of Tears where we were meeting the rest of the study abroad group for an hour long boat tour. The boat rides are definitely a tourist attraction, but I thought it was a very pleasant experience. The ride was very relaxing with the cool breeze coming off the Spree and it was fun to see all the places we had visited so far in a new perspective. Along the way I also discover some new locations that I hope to explore later. I wasn’t particularly invested in listening to the pre-recorded tour guide telling us about the sites as we passed them, but I did notice something interesting about the narrations along the way. My German is far from fluent, but even someone who had never taken a class in German could tell that the descriptions in German were much longer than the English translations. Now, German may be a long language, but after listening a little closer I was definitely able to tell that there was infor

mation mentioned in the German descriptions that weren’t mentioned in the English translation. It was a bit upsetting to think that the German speaking tourists who took the boat ride would get a more in depth narrative of the sites than non-German speaking tourists.

Despite the faulty tour guide, the boat ride was very nice in my opinion, and I would recommend going on a boat tour if you ever happen to find yourself in Berlin.

Next on the agenda was a trip to the apartment that Manka is staying in to have dinner at her house. It was of course a little cramped to have 20 people in a one bedroom apartment, but we all found a place to sit and enjoyed a delicious meal made by Manka. It was particularly refreshing to have a salad with dinner, particularly one that did not consist solely of arugula and thick slices of tomatoes and cucumber. I thought it was a relaxing time getting to sit in a living room with good food and talk with everyone. I’ve been having a wonderful time in Berlin, but living in a hostel has reminded me of the reasons why I decided to move out of the dorms!

Afterwards, we all traveled back to the hostel and stayed up for a bit talking before it was time to call it a night and get some rest.