Yat Chan

After being in Germany, the trip enlarges my world a lot. The United States and Germany are similar yet they are so different; it is really interesting to understand that the world is small, but it is so diverse that contains varied cultures and tradition. For example, people in Germany have so relied on bicycles that they even have bike lanes on the pedestrians walks, unlike here, we take it as a hobby, they take biking as a real transportation method.

Moreover, they promote environmental protection a lot, so many of their public transportation and housings do not provide air-conditioners. At first, it was not easy to adopt, but the temperature in Germany at night is much lower than the temperature during the day, thus as time went by, it was actually nice to enjoy the natural wind. Also, they encourage naturally drying the clothes, so in that month, we had to get used to sun-drying the clothes instead of relying on technology. It was very fun to experience another culture, especially when I know what I am getting used to is going to help the Earth.

I really enjoy this journey, and I am thankful for the financial help of SEBS scholarship; it enriched my college life to be more without financial worries and had opened my eyes to know how big this world is. It was really fun to study abroad, and I encourage any students to try this opportunity out.

Another location we went to was Nordstern Park, it is a really big park that has different sections. First, we walked up a hill to see the garden behind. There were many different kinds of plants for visitors to enjoy. Along the pathway in the garden, you would see the Emscher river, which is a polluted river, but the organizations have been working on revitalizing and cleaning the river. Then, we encountered another river, this one is wider and less smelly. It was interesting to see that they were so close but yet one was polluted, and one was perfectly fine. After that, we were at a playground. Unlike the American park, German parks have more facility and it is bigger for children and people at any other ages to play and enjoy. There was a water structure, climbing nets, tall sliders, swings for toddlers, etc. We all enjoyed that playground a lot.

One of the things I noticed was besides safety and engineering of the bridges, German people also care a lo0t about the aesthetic of the bridges. The first bridge was designed with metals all around the bridge that formed plaid patterns, which created a really cool shade and light effects on the bridges. The second one had some really big and tall tube-looking like red metal over it, which drew visitors’ attention on it. When you walked closer, you would see that they were not only decorations they also supported that bridge. I think that it is really thought to let design and science have a balance, this is one of the attractions of landscape architecture.

After two weeks in Berlin, our next journey is at Essen. Essen is more industrial in comparison to Berlin; there is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, which symbolizes one of German three big products: coal, steel, and beer. Therefore, our professor took us to there in order to experience the unhealthy working situation of workers during industrialization.

Our tour guide brought us to the underground, it was very dark and dirty; he showed us their “bathrooms” back in the days, they were just buckets. They had to work a long shift while suffering an unhealthy working condition. Our tour guide also let us tried to hold their driller, it was very heavy, about 40 lbs since they did not have advanced technology to improve their equipment. Plus, the dust that was caused by mining underground, which is a nearly closed space triggered health issues at their lungs, many workers had after effects after working.

Then, the tour guide took us to one of the factories, there was a platform with 2 large speakers for us to experience the working noises back in the days. It was a continuous mechanic noise; imagining working with the noises from a long period, the hearing ability is probably damaged. Nonetheless, the tour guide told us that it was only the reduced amount of noise, the real situation was like 100 or 1000 louder than that. Along with the vibration of the driller, and the danger of mining, workers suffered really bad working experiences. However, their efforts were one of the forces that push society to progress, which people appreciates a lot.

During the trip, we got free travel weekend, so my friends and I decided to visit a nearby country, Denmark. Europe is a really interesting continent, it is so small, but it contains so many different cultures and civilization. In comparison to the United States, going to DC would take 3-4 hours of driving from New Brunswick; but in Europe, going to Amsterdam only take 2 hours of driving from Essen. Everything is so close, yet so different, different languages, different food, different structures, etc. The long history and hierarchy in Europe make this land a good exploration for people to experience.

In Copenhagen, the structures look slightly similar to what we saw in Berlin, yet they have their own unique colors. These buildings tend to have more colors and look more traditional, along with the style of Nordic countries. One of the examples is the Nyhavn, it was a historical district that provides entertainment along the canal back in the days. Now it is a tourists hot spot for them to experience the Danish colors in Copenhagen.

Moreover, Danish people love their Danish royal family; we were lucky to see a Danish parade and the Danish defense on the street. It was very fun to experience their patriotism since I am not from a country that was built up with royalties. I am really happy that we got the chance of free travel weekend, which can allow us to explore more different cultures. Personally experiencing it is different than reading it from books.

One of the purposes of the study abroad is to learn about Berlin History. One of our stops was the Topographie des Terrors; it is an outdoor exhibition that showed the timeline of Berlin during world war II. This site gave me a very unique experience.

Once we got there, I could not really tell where was the site, because I expected a large exhibition with loud noises as tourists. In fact, the exhibition was built underground; the surroundings were loud and busy, but once people are in the site, they automatically lower their voices, and just walked and viewed the text and pictures. I think it is because they all know how much pain did war bring to the victims, so this is their last act to show their respect towards innocent lives. It was nice to see everyone to have that common understanding.

While walking through the exhibition, I saw more individual stories that showed a different side of the war. those stories that were happened to commoners like me were touching, I thought a lot, and I felt more related as it was easier for me to empathize. War was really cruel and brutal.

Looking at that exhibition, there was one thought that left in my mind. It was so nice that they could keep and share the history to tell the next generation, it did happen, and we should learn from the mistakes. Acknowledging the mistakes takes so much courage. Meanwhile, in this world, there are so much more injustices that are forced to be forgotten. I hope that inequality can be disappeared one day.