Berlin and Krakow

The past week in Berlin and Krakow has been an intense one. We've had several walking tours of each city, a day trip to Wittenberg, a concert, a ballet, and a heavy academic load. We've also found ourselves adjusting to low temperatures that are pretty far out of the ordinary for a bunch of Californians! We're discovering the virtues of hats, gloves, and lots and lots of layers.

View of Museum Island in Berlin

Berlin itself is a neat city with a fun nightlife and an exciting downtown not far from the apartments where we're staying. We spent a week in Berlin checking out monuments and museums and taking day trips to outlaying areas. We have also had some excellent guest speakers from Berlin during our class sessions.

Downtown Berlin

Fragment of the Berlin Wall

In front of the Brandenburg Gate

On Wednesday we left for Krakow, Poland, and it took us all day to get there. We spent all of Thursday touring the city and exploring on our own. Krakow is an absolutely beautiful city with a really complex history starting well before the middle ages. It has beautiful castles and churches, as well as the biggest town square in Europe. We arrived back in Berlin this afternoon, and we'll be spending three more days here before moving on to the Czech Republic.

Castle Hill in Krakow, Poland

Not surprisingly, we've been studying some very difficult material in the past couple of weeks, focusing primarily on the Holocaust. We've spent two days visiting concentration camps (Sachsenhausen in Berlin and Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland), which has been emotionally exhausting but also extremely valuable. Being in these locations has helped us to grasp on a deeper level this dark point in European history, and has allowed us to grapple with some tough questions. I'm thankful that this has been a group experience, and that we can see these sites and ask questions together. I wouldn't trade my time in Berlin and Krakow, but it will be a relief to shift to a lighter focus once we leave Berlin on Wednesday. Then it's on to Prague!

Halfway there: highlights so far

Westmont Europe Semester 2009 was officially half over on Thursday of this week, which means we're now on the downhill side. I'm stunned at how fast it's gone so far, and it's both a relief and a disappointment to think that I really will be back in the U.S. before I know it.

Here are some of my best memories of the semester so far. I'm sure there are many more to come.

Seeing great new cities.

Seeing excellent theater.

Sharing meals in exciting places, such as the banks of the Seine.

Boat rides. Lots and lots of boat rides.

Celebrating Christmas early with our host family in the Netherlands.

Getting to know some great new friends.

The Netherlands

I'm currently staying with a Dutch family in the city of Amersfoort, and having an absolute blast. My homestay roommate from Westmont is a good friend of mine named Sarah, and having her here with me has been great. Our host family consists of host father Jan, host mother Dinie, and host sister Marika. Marika is 17 and is lots of fun to hang out with. Both of our host parents are terrific, and Jan's terrible puns remind me of my own dear old dad back home (Love you Dad!).

(L-R) Dinie, Sarah, Jan, Marika, Me

On Thursday and Friday we left our host families during the day and headed for Amsterdam, about an hour away from Amersfoort. On Thursday we saw the Resistance Museum and the Anne Frank House, and then had a guest speaker give a lecture on Dutch culture and history. Yesterday we went back to Amsterdam and saw two art museums, took yet another canal boat ride (our third so far), and walked around to take in the city.


Today was spent with our host families. It was by far one of the best yet. Our host family took us around the Netherlands to do "typical Dutch things", like seeing a windmill and looking at a cute, very touristy Dutch village. Our family had never visited this particular village, and Marika was especially happy for an excuse to go see it. Jan was less than thrilled, and joked that he would drive us to the village and then find a pub while the rest of us looked around. As it turned out, they took us to a photo shop where we all dressed up in Dutch costumes and had our photo taken. It was absolutely hilarious.

With Sarah, in full regalia

With our host family, looking very traditional

Tomorrow we'll be going to church with our family, and on Monday we're moving on to Berlin. I'll certainly be very sorry to say goodbye to our hosts!

Normandy, Bruges, and Brussels: A Week on the Move

We've done a lot of moving in the past week. We left Paris on Wednesday and headed for Normandy. We stayed at a beautiful old monastery in Mondaye, complete with crumbling stone walls and some very charming monks. We stayed in Normandy for two nights and spent our one full day there looking at World War II sites, including the American cemetery and Omaha Beach.

We came back to Bruges on Friday and have spent most of our time here working on papers, preparing for tests, on going to museums. Yesterday we took a day trip to Brussels, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We took a tour there of the European Parliament and heard a lecture on the structure and work of the European Union. Then we had the rest of the day to explore the city, which I enjoyed because it was so busy and multicultural.

Tomorrow we're moving on to the Netherlands, where we'll be doing a five-night home stay in the Amsterdam suburb of Amersfoort. I don't expect to have internet access during that time, but I'm sure I'll have some interesting home stay experiences to report on once we get wireless again in Berlin.

St. Martin Monastery in Mondaye, Normandy

View of Bruges from the city belfry

Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels

Paris, je t’aime!

We're in Paris! I've been looking forward to this city more than any other on the itinerary, and it's fantastic to be here at last! We arrived on Friday after a long day on the bus. We've been going nonstop ever since, and it's been wonderful! Highlights include:

• a nighttime sightseeing cruise on the Seine River
• a day at the Palace of Versailles
  
• a nighttime view of Paris from the top of the Arc de Triumph
  
• a very Parisian dinner of bread and cheese by the Seine
  
• the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay
• climbing the tower of Notre Dame cathedral for a close-up of the gargoyles
  
• speaking French
  
• eating crepes
  

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris before moving on for a few days in Normandy. I'm really going to miss this city!

Paris at night from the Arc de Triomph

View from the tower of Notre Dame

With a friend in front of Notre Dame

Northern Ireland and Bruges

We're currently in Bruges, Belgium. We arrived on Monday night after a long day of travel from Northern Ireland. Our time in Northern Ireland was wonderful. We stayed in a set of cottages in a beautiful semi-rural farming area called Rostrever. We also made day trips into Dublin and Belfast. It was awesome being back in Belfast and revisiting reconciliation sites that I spent weeks learning about last summer.

Here in Belgium we've spent some time exploring this thirteenth century city and its striking architecture. We took a very touristy but extremely fun boat trip around the canals of the city on Tuesday. Yesterday we went around a huge portion of the Flanders area of Belgium seeing World War I sites. Today we have a free afternoon, and tomorrow it's on to Paris! We'll be in France for about a week before returning to Bruges for another five days.

Rostrever, Northern Ireland

Bruges, Belgium

The Last of London

The past week in London has been wonderful. Whether it was visiting museums and landmarks with the group or taking in the city parks on my own, I have thoroughly enjoyed all that London has to offer. On Wednesday we took a little time off from London and went on a day trip Canterbury to see the cathedral. It was especially interesting in light of our studies of pilgrimage and migration.

Canterbury Cathedral

This weekend I went with a group of friends to the Thames festival, which featured a huge market, music, dancing, and an emphasis on multiculturalism. We had also noticed a number of odd sculptures in one area of the waterfront, and once it got dark, we discovered that each sculpture involved fire in some way. The entire festival was lit with these fire sculptures, as well as a number of fire pits where people were welcome to congregate and stay warm. Combined with lots of live music, the entire effect created an awesome atmosphere. The festival was one of the best finds of our time in London.

Nighttime at the Thames Festival

Tomorrow is our last day here. I'll certainly miss London, but I'm also looking forward to Northern Ireland. We'll be staying in the small, semi-rural town of Rostrever, in the same guest cottages where I stayed last summer while studying in Northern Ireland on Mayterm. Rostrever is a beautiful, slower-paced place where there will be lots of opportunity to catch up on school work, spend time getting to know the other members of the group better, and hopefully do some hiking. There won't be consistent internet access there, so my next update will probably be in a week or so from Bruges, Belgium.