Today, we began by hearing about the experiences of two people who are refugees living in Germany. They told us of their harrowing experience traveling here from the countries they left. After this, we traveled to the Neukolln neighborhood of Berlin where we had lunch at an outdoor market. After, we went to the Rutli School to meet students and discuss their experiences. The students took us on tour of the school and also told us about their experience having a migrant background when living in Germany. We also discussed more broad social issues as well as the schooling system in America and stereotypes that are placed on poor neighborhoods and schools.
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We began today by visiting a mosque in former East Berlin. This mosque is significant because of the controversy surrounding its construction. Residents in the area surrounding it strongly opposed it. After that, we went and visited with people from the Young Islam Conference about religiosity in both the United States and Germany.
Today each research went out on an excursion to a part of Berlin that is relevant to their research. This was a very interesting opportunity to do experiential learning. In addition, each group got to experience a part of Berlin that was outside of Mitte and the part of the city that we have already been.
On Friday, we began the day with a lecture on the politics of immigration. For this lecture, we traveled to a nearby mosque and graveyard. in the afternoon, we went on a waking tour of the neighborhood Wedding. Here we went to a Turkish restaurant, a park, and a backyard mosque. We finished the day with a discussion of immigration with alumni of the Fulbright program.
Today we went on a tour of the historic Jewish Quarter of Berlin. Afterwards, we went an explored the Jewish Museum of Berlin. In the evening, we had a very engaging discussion with students from Humboldt University regarding the legacy of slavery in the United States, and of the Holocaust in Germany. we focused a lot on the lingering effects that each of these events has left in society, like racism. After this discussion, the class attended a performance at the Gorki theater called "Feygele and Female Shit". This was a play that explored freedoms one might experience in Berlin.
Today was spent mainly in IES listening to lectures that pertained to our course. first, we heard from Barbara who was the former director of IES Berlin about her life in East Germany. In the afternoon, we hard a lecture from another faculty member of IES about Germany when it was divided and all that came with that. After the lectures, we had an excursion to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, or the Holocaust Memorial. We also visited the museum below. after this, we visited the memorial to but the Roma and Gays that were killed in the Holocaust.
Today we began the day with a presentation on how to stay both safe and healthy while in Berlin. This presentation was given by people who work at IES. Also during this time, we were shown around the IES building, where we will be spending a lot of time. After this, we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial. this includes a large portion of the wall that is still constructed as it would have been when it was in full force. We also looked at the site of a church that had sat in the middle of the wall. We concluded the day with a tour of the Reichstag Building where the Bundestag meets.
Today was the first official day of the program. We began by going on a bus tour of major locations throughout the city such as The Riechstag Building, Brandenburg Gate, and the Victory Column. This was then followed by a walking tour of the neighborhood we are staying in, Mitte. The evening was finished with a dinner at Sophieneck which is a restaurant serving traditional German food.
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