Global Studies Prague and Berlin

Guten Morgen! Today was a super busy day, and unfortunately our last full day. After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we made our way to Eastern Berlin to visit some of the alternative architecture of the area. With our tour guide Inez, we learned about a communal living and working complex. The buildings included many common spaces (even a historical boat bunker that is now a gathering space!), apartments of different sizes, offices, an environmentally sustainable outdoor pool, a kindergarten, and plentiful gardens. We were able to make some connections between their living situations and ours in the dorms and at home. Continuing our walk, we visited Holzmarkt, a market where we saw lots of local and historical art, and smaller replications of the TV tower, showing how they reclaimed something negative into something positive. Holzmarkt has smaller shops, restaurant and coffee shops, and a playground with a fun slide we all went down! The market is another example of a cooperative ...

  Today we woke up at 8am for our first breakfast in our new hotel in Berlin. On our walk to the U-Bhan, our Program Leader, Megan, gathered the group in front of a “stumbling stone” to explain the significance of this memorial. Stumbling stones are small brass squares found across Europe and commemorate the last chosen residence of Nazi victims. The stones are embedded in the ground, enabling passersby to polish them as they walk over them, furthering the memory of these victims for future generations. There are over 100,000 of the stones currently installed with up to 400 new stones being produced each month as additional victims are identified and memorialized. Each stone is hand designed and made. As we continued on to the historical center of the city, the warm weather and sun made for a great day to do a lot of walking. We exited the train station and saw Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, as well as the U.S. and other world embassies.  Standing in front of the gate, Meg...

Today the team traveled on a bus for approximately 4 hours on a rather quiet but relaxing ride. Jacob and Ben socialized quite a bit throughout, while most everyone else listened to music or slept. Halfway through the trip, our group stopped for a short lunch break at a rest station. The “exit ticket” from the bus was trying Rev Lank’s reindeer jerky. As the group’s vegetarian, Tiff filmed everyone’s reactions, which later revealed that AJ most enjoyed the jerky, winning him the second bag. I (Zoe), along with Rev Lank and Ms. Mason, tried a local corndog that tasted remarkably sketchy. The rest of the group either enjoyed some Burger King or sandwiches from a cafe. AJ proudly bought a Batman hat, without a single ounce of hesitation. On our drive into the city, we crossed the Spree, Berlin’s iconic river, and saw the Molecule Men statue. We soon arrived at Hotel Birgit, where we were given some time to drop off our belongings in our rooms. We made our way to the Alexanderplatz via th...

We awoke from our slumber between 7 and 8 am. After a quick shower, we proceeded to go down to breakfast and eat a meal designed for monarchs. Jacob ate 6 sausages and some eggs with a cup of coffee. After breakfast, we walked outside the hotel and proceeded to the subway station. We went down a steep escalator that was very discombobulating. We then got to go up an equally steep escalator to get out at the other end. After getting on the subway to head to the National Gallery, we walked around this area of the city, then proceeded to a market where we met up with our tour guide for the day, Sandra who is a professional street artist. We went on a guided walking tour around major street paintings in a less touristed area of the city and learned about the artists’ intentions for their street art. We found ourselves under a bridge where it was legal to paint everything and learned about the rules for the local street art painting community, such as not painting over someone who is better...

Greetings from Praha! We began our first full day in Prague at 8:30 with delicious breakfast at the hotel. Everybody was in good spirits in the morning especially after a long day of travel. Some breakfast favorites included: pastries, waffles, sausages, and the coffee bar (Annie had three cups). Then, we made our way over to the Andel tram station and stopped by the Franz Kafka statue, also known as the Rotating Head by artist David Cerny. After a quick walkabout around Old Town, the group went to the Klementinum Library. The Klementinum is a complex of buildings that included churches and chapels as well as lecture hall, a library, and residential buildings. One of the most impressive parts was the National Library of the Czech Republic, which was built in High Baroque style. Next, we climbed 172 steps to get to see an amazing view of Prague at the top of the Astronomical Tower. For lunch, we traveled back on the tram in our pod groups to the Manifesto Market. Everyone was given a de...

Hello from Prague!  While we’ve had a long day of travel, spirits remained high and our journey was rewarded with a beautiful evening arrival, allowing us to soak in the lights of Prague.   Our trip to JFK airport was smooth, with Rev. Lank’s van enjoying a community viewing of Rio while the Ducharme/Mason van engaged in a marathon game of 20 questions.  Once we arrived at JFK, we split into two groups, with the majority of the group flying to Prague via Warsaw while Rev. Lank and Ben’s adventure took them through Helsinki and then on to Prague, allowing them to purchase some reindeer jerky for everyone to sample.  All of the flights were smooth and almost everyone was able to catch some sleep, while also reading, watching movies, or listening to music.  Both groups had a chance to stretch legs and get some food during the layover. Our entire group rendezvoused in Prague, with both flights landing at nearly the exact same time.  Megan, our Atlas Progra...

Welcome to our Global Studies Prague and Berlin Blog! We will post nightly entries here from faculty and students with reflections on the day and trip as a whole. Students will connect their reflections to their research and we will include photos as well. We will do our best to post each day depending on our access to the internet. In advance of the trip, students wrote mini introductions to give insight into what they are most excited about for the trip as well as what they are researching while on the trip. Thanks for following our blog and we hope you enjoy it! Hi! I’m Annie and for my research project, I’m planning to focus on the music and subcultural scene in Berlin, particularly how the techno movement came about after the Berlin Wall came down. I am interested in how musical movements and political movements interact. I am excited to see more street art and talk with experts about different topics, especially those I’m focusing on! My name is AJ Lontoc and, on this trip, I am ...