The second day in Berlin we went to an underground bunker where German women and children would go to during the bombings. Unfortunately for them, the tourguide explained to us that the Nazi's who built it didn't reinforce the ceiling so if a bomb had hit it it would have went straight through. A pretty useless bunker if you ask me. It was really strange being in the bunker that was built for 30 people but typically held up to 90 people for 15 hours +. You can imagine how nasty that would get if you couldn't leave a room the size of a living room for 15 hours with 90 other people. It was also a unique experience seeing World War II history from the eyes of the people of Berlin. You never really get their perspective on what happened as they were the bad guys. But the bombings of Berlin decimated their city and ruined alot of innocent lives as well.
After we went to this really expensive restaurant (75 Euros per plate) on DIS's dime. This was not your typical restaurant. All the waitors and waitresses were legally blind. To make it even more interesting, they take you into a completely pitch black room where you eat your dinner. To keep everything as intended the guests are asked to turn off all phones and ipods, as well as watches that have a glowing function.
At first everything was disorienting because the waitress congo-lines you through this zig zagged hallway. She sits you down and explains how the meal will work. If you need to go to the bathroom you need to call her over and she will guide you there. Basically it is like you are at a regular restaurant but you have to make sure you remember where all your utensils are exactly.
After the first five minutes in complete darkness, everyone pretty much expected their eyes to adjust and atleast be able to see somethings. But no, the room was completely devoid of light. It was so strange because your mind would try to fill in the blanks and you would actually think you were seeing things. When someone at your table would talk you would think you could see their sillouette but if you waved your arm infront of them nothign would change so you knew that you weren't actually seeing them. Most of us even had visual hallucinations. Random colors, shapes, and floating things would appear. If you looked up sometimes you would even think you could see stars. It was MIND BOTTLING.
When the food came it was so hard to eat with a knife and fork that pretty much everyone admitted to eating it all with their hands. We had some sort of asian inspired salad to start. Then we had soup and bread, and then some sort of turkey meal. The funny thing was, everyone in the class had the same thing ordered for them. None of us knew what it was before hand. When the turkey came out half of the table thought we were eating Steak. It was so weird that even your mind can change the flavor of something. Half way through mostly everyone realized it was actually turkey. Some other funny things that happened were when the waitress asked who needed refills and everyone at the table raised their hands. I commented that I raised my hand and everyone else said they did the same thing. Guess its just a habit.
After dinner we decided to call it a night since we were all whooped from the night before.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Long Study Tour: Berlin day 1
It has been awhile since I've written anything but I have been pretty busy. On October 2nd, my International Business class departed from Copenhagen by bus to go to Berlin. We had to leave very early in the morning to catch our bus so I only had time to have a cookie before we got on the bus. This hit the spot and after what seemed like a long time we arrived at the ferry. Our bus drove on to the boat and we had to get off. We all got lunch and decided to start imbibing. We made some mixies dixies and started our day off right. Finally we arrived in Germany and had to continue to drive until we reached Berlin.
In Berlin, the first thing we had on the agenda was to go on the "Fat Tire Bike Tour'" which was a cool way to see the city. Our tour guide drove us around to different landmarks all over Berlin. We saw the Berlin wall, Checkpoint charlie, the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Reichstag, etc. One thing I learned about Berlin is that it smells like shit. They have sewage lines that run above the ground and there sewers are open to the air. It is absolutley rank. After the bike ride, we went back to the hotel and grabed a six pack each and started pregaming. Then we went to dinner at some italian place. It was really good and the beer there was very cheap compared to Copenhagen.
After dinner, we decided it would be a good time to find some bars or clubs to hang out at. Since it was a Sunday night the city was a little dead. We ended up going to a convenience store and getting a 1/5 of vodka and a two liter coke for the six of us. We took turns taking pulls and approximately five minutes later there was no vodka left. Perfect start to the night.
The group then started to walk to find a bar. There was suppose to be some huge rave outside in some park but as we walked we started doubting this information more and more. Finally we walked past a bar that was open and right before we walked in we realized it was a gay bar. Not really our scene haha. We kept walking and some turkish dude starts yelling at us saying we looked at his girlfriend. He proceeds to throw a lighter at us. Ofcourse, I decide to chuck it back at him and he then he hit me in the face with it. After we left that street we were like what the hell no one looked at that girl. Then one kid Brett from Georgetown, says "well actually I was kinda staring at her". Great.
So after that we decided to go back to the same convenience store and get another 1/5 and some more beers. Keep in mind this is only 25 minutes after the first one. We do the same thing as before and the 1/5 is gone really fast. My recollection of the night ends there. But piecing together the rest of the night was not to hard.
On our way back into the hotel Kevin from Loyola, was attempting to light a cig and tripped and hit his chin on scaffolding on the side of the building. You could see the bone in his chin. Our other friend Carter luckily knew enough German to get him to the hospital where he remained with him all night.
This is the 3rd hospital trip of the two study tours. Ironically enough, all of the kids who have been to the hospital go to school in the Baltimore area. 2 from Loyola, 1 from Goucher. Weirddd.
The next morning was the art tour. I didnt go to it. They wouldn't let me. Oh well, I lucked out because I didn't have to walk around at 8 am for 5 hours.
To be continued.
In Berlin, the first thing we had on the agenda was to go on the "Fat Tire Bike Tour'" which was a cool way to see the city. Our tour guide drove us around to different landmarks all over Berlin. We saw the Berlin wall, Checkpoint charlie, the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Reichstag, etc. One thing I learned about Berlin is that it smells like shit. They have sewage lines that run above the ground and there sewers are open to the air. It is absolutley rank. After the bike ride, we went back to the hotel and grabed a six pack each and started pregaming. Then we went to dinner at some italian place. It was really good and the beer there was very cheap compared to Copenhagen.
After dinner, we decided it would be a good time to find some bars or clubs to hang out at. Since it was a Sunday night the city was a little dead. We ended up going to a convenience store and getting a 1/5 of vodka and a two liter coke for the six of us. We took turns taking pulls and approximately five minutes later there was no vodka left. Perfect start to the night.
The group then started to walk to find a bar. There was suppose to be some huge rave outside in some park but as we walked we started doubting this information more and more. Finally we walked past a bar that was open and right before we walked in we realized it was a gay bar. Not really our scene haha. We kept walking and some turkish dude starts yelling at us saying we looked at his girlfriend. He proceeds to throw a lighter at us. Ofcourse, I decide to chuck it back at him and he then he hit me in the face with it. After we left that street we were like what the hell no one looked at that girl. Then one kid Brett from Georgetown, says "well actually I was kinda staring at her". Great.
So after that we decided to go back to the same convenience store and get another 1/5 and some more beers. Keep in mind this is only 25 minutes after the first one. We do the same thing as before and the 1/5 is gone really fast. My recollection of the night ends there. But piecing together the rest of the night was not to hard.
On our way back into the hotel Kevin from Loyola, was attempting to light a cig and tripped and hit his chin on scaffolding on the side of the building. You could see the bone in his chin. Our other friend Carter luckily knew enough German to get him to the hospital where he remained with him all night.
This is the 3rd hospital trip of the two study tours. Ironically enough, all of the kids who have been to the hospital go to school in the Baltimore area. 2 from Loyola, 1 from Goucher. Weirddd.
The next morning was the art tour. I didnt go to it. They wouldn't let me. Oh well, I lucked out because I didn't have to walk around at 8 am for 5 hours.
To be continued.
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