Sarah Hayes

Germany D-Term

Blog post #1

6/4/2015

            The Germany d-term trip seemed like an excellent opportunity to continue with my passion of traveling. I do not consider myself an experienced traveler, seeing that I have only been to Greece and Italy on a past D-term trip, but I will soon be traveling to Greece again, and then of course to Germany. To be honest, I never really pictured myself going to Germany. During the d-term informational meetings, I only attended the Spain meeting. After learning a bit about Spain, I realized it was not really the country or culture that I wanted to experience. I spoke with my mom and a few friends about where their favorite place to travel was… I got an overwhelmingly high response that Germany was their absolute favorite. All of them said that I should experience Germany at least once in my lifetime. My Mom said it was the best six months of her life, and although mine will only be 20 days, she advised me to not miss such a great opportunity and to go on the trip. After meeting with Dr. Wolf, he convinced me even farther. I am a person who enjoys knowing what I am getting myself into, and Dr. Wolf had that covered. I am not opposed to spontaneity, but I like having a somewhat specific overview of what we will be doing and where we will be going. After leaving the one-on-one meeting with Dr. Wolf I immediately went to the Abe house to turn in my deposit without a second thought. Once I got over the initial wave of excitement about knowing that I was going to be able to travel to a new country, I started to look more specifically into the places that we will be visiting.

            I have searched and done minor research on a majority of the places that we are visiting, and they are look beautiful. I am looking forward to see many of the castles and experience the detailed architecture of the country, but I am especially looking forward to seeing how these structures reflect their culture and beliefs. I am really interested in learning more about the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. I find it fascinating that it is a norm in the German culture to not hide their past. In the United States it is not a common thing to exhibit events that may make our country look bad, but Germany seems to be very open about the history that took place in their country, especially at the horrible places like the concentration camps. I am interested to learn why the Germans are so open about this history and the events that occurred.

          

         I am also very interested in seeing the contrast between German stereotypes and what the German citizens are actually like. When I think of German nightlife, I think of a bunch of people getting drunk in loud bars, but from my understanding so far, this is not the case. I have heard from individuals who went last year they the bars are extremely quiet, and most people are actually sitting outside or at a Christmas market. I think the Christmas markets will be very fun too, I have been to the one in Chicago but I have a feeling that the one in Erfurt will top my expectations of what a German Christmas market it like. The idea of being outside so much is appealing to me so I am excited to experience the different culture of Germany and change the stereotypical view that I confess to having. I am looking forward to this opportunity and I already know it will be incredible.