Germany

The weekend of November 29th through Dec 1st I traveled to Berlin, Germany. I arrived on Friday morning at 9:30 am and was very excited because I was meeting up with Rebecca that was a foreign exchange student who lived with us in Flagler when I was in 3rd grade. She was from Berlin. Abigail, a traveling friend, and I figured out the train system to get to our hostel downtown where we met up with Rebecca and her baby, it was great to finally see her after 14 years.

We ate breakfast and then Rebecca gave us a tour of Berlin. She took us to Museum Island, Brandenburg gate, Berlin Wall, Jewish Memorial and more. There were demonstrations going on at the Brandenburg Gate but it was a peaceful one. Just demonstrators holding signs, a speaker talking, and people in the crowd shouting at times but there wasn’t any violence. We stopped to eat currywurst which were very good and to let Rebecca feed her baby. Then we started walking back to Alexanderplatz where we enjoyed the Christmas Markets. We had some Gluhwein which is mulled spiced red wine which is also very good! That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the atmosphere there, the beautiful lights, and the little hut houses people stood at to drink their beer or Gluhwein.

Around 5:15Pm we had to say goodbye. Rebecca had to take the train back home.

Abigail and I headed back to our hostel to check in, relax for a bit and charge our phones. Then, we went back out to the Christmas markets and shopped around. We dropped into a night club there where everyone was dancing, drinking beer or Gluhwein, making it a fun atmosphere. Later we went ice skating and then we grabbed a typical German meal, a schnitzel and a beer around the East Side Gallery. It was very good!

Saturday we got up early and went to Brandenburg Gate to get some good photos in front of it since there was no longer a protest going on. We went back to the Jewish Memorial and decided we wanted to go into that museum so we got some breakfast and then went through the museum.

We both were very glad we went through the museum. It was heavy, as it went into depth of how the Jews were killed during the Holocaust but it’s a part of history everyone should be aware of.

We walked through Museum Island again, took some pictures and then picked up lunch at the Christmas Market.

Then we went to the east side gallery to see the paintings on the Berlin Wall. That was so cool!! There were some great paintings.

We then made our way over to the bus station and hopped on the bus to Hamburg. After arriving in Hamburg we went straight to the Christmas Market at Rathaus which is in front of city’s town hall. It was absolutely beautiful. The decorations were more traditional and different from Berlin’s Christmas market style. I loved the Christmas Markets and the Gluhwein.

Sunday I got up early to explore some of Hamburg by myself while my friend was sleeping in. I really enjoyed walking around and seeing Hamburg with Jesus. It was very refreshing to read the word of God and communicate with Him of how I was doing and share with Him my thoughts of my adventures.

We then met up with Bettina, another exchange student that came to Flagler, CO in 2005 to stay with a host family for a year. I was very young then so it was great getting to know her. She took us around to most of the Christmas markets in Hamburg where each one had a different feel and vibe. Each market had different mugs that you could purchase with a drink and then you could return the mug if you didn’t want to keep the mug.

I loved talking about people from my hometown in Flagler, CO which is a very small town of about 600 people. Flagler is where I grew up and graduated from and everyone knows everyone. When Bettina was going to school in Flagler there were different teachers and principals that had come and gone between the years 2005 and 2015 which was when I graduated. She had teachers in high school that I didn’t have so we talked about those changes. There are many people that graduated from Flagler that stayed and end up raising their family there. I enjoyed talking about my family, my school and the town of Flagler. She calls Flagler her American home because she had such a great experience there.

Some of the differences between Germany and the U.S. is that schools in Germany do not have sports associated with their schools and so they don’t have a team aspect feel. She explained to me, she loved playing sports in Flagler and belonging to a team. She loved how there were events bringing each team sport together. She loved how the town would follow us to each place and cheer the players on. She loved the Panther pride in Flagler, such as the songs we would sing (Everybody do the Panther Rumble, FHS). Very different for a student in Germany that goes to class and then goes home. There are no extracurricular sport activities tied to the schools.

We talked about money and the cost of items in Europe and in the U.S. We talked about how people in Germany have a month paid vacation. In the U.S. that is not very uncommon. It’s like if we are gone then we are loosing money. That’s one of many reasons why we don’t travel or see much of the world.

We talked about how food is more expensive in the United States. Going ice skating in the U.S is more expensive. Going to a fair in the U.S is more expensive. To go ice skating in Germany is 5 euros (6.50 dollars). To get a bratwurst with fries is 5 euros. A phone bill in Germany per month is 8 euros where as for the U.S. it’s more like 100 dollars. What is more similar is rent. It seems to be expensive in both countries.

It’s very normal for people to start buying beer and soft alcoholic drinks when they are sixteen. And when Germans are eighteen, they can buy all kinds of alcohol. Eighteen year olds are considered adults in Germany compared to the U.S. Young adults in the U.S. can’t drink or purchase alcohol of any kind until 21, the age of legal adulthood.

We talked about how many U.S. young people don’t travel because of student loans. That everything is so much more expensive in the U.S. There are not as many paid vacation days like there are in Germany. We both agreed the best thing is being able to travel and see the world. It’s worth it.

It is not common for young adults in Germany to take out a loan to attend a University. Public Universities are not that expensive in Germany, so people have a small job and are able to save or they receive some support from their parents. Many young adults also get supported by the state to cover some of their living costs. It’s more common that people in Germany get loans to buy houses and cars.

We talked about how busy we are the U.S. and how people enjoy more and go out more with friends and family in Germany.

We ate at a little place by the harbor which was very good and then went through the tunnel under the harbor where we enjoyed the view from the other side. It was very beautiful! We walked through the Hamburger Dom fair that had lots of lights and rides and enjoyed the music and atmosphere. Later Bettina took us to the airport.

I am so grateful Bettina could show us around Hamburg. She loves her hometown and she showed us so many places. We walked a lot and we saw a great glimpse of Hamburg in one day because of the knowledge she has about Hamburg. Since, she has traveled to the United States, we could easily compare the differences.

Auf Wiedersehen und Frohe Weihnachten Deutschland (Goodbye and Merry Christmas, Germany).