Because we're only in Germany for 4 days, and everything is so crunched for time, I havent had a chance to write much for my blog- so I'm just going to sum up the last two days as best I can, and then hopefully when I come home I'll remember enough to go back over in detail.
Tuesday we started with the alte pinakothek the Glyptothek, two museums; one with statues, the other with paintings. At the alte pinakothek there was SO much that I recognized, which makes me feel like I'm learning a lot; the Rubens were very cool. Peter Paul is my man. Also, the people here are just generally so much friendlier, which we first noticed when my flash accidentally went off and instead of yelling "no flash!" from across the room, the woman came over and politely asked me if i knew how to turn off my flash. The day was full of culture shocks.
Ted and Mary Beth had to go back to the states this week, so Christie from the study abroad office is here helping out. One of us had to go to the hospital for bronchitis, we think, and it sounds like a really horrible experience that is not at all the same as the luxurious American system. I'm hoping the sore throat I'm nursing either goes away, or waits until we're in Paris so Marc can take me to the doctor and streamline the process (he's from Paris).
In the Early evening, Marc took us to visit the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kultur for a special exhibition on Georgia O’Keeffe. He's friends with the curator there, so once we finished with the exhibit we got to go meet with him and he told us all about how he has traveled the world and eventually found this job. He originally studied Dutch art, but became more and more flexible. He talked about the difference between having a collection and constantly matriculating different works, and trading and borrowing art from other museums, and all sorts of other cool things. It was like a backstage pass with the celebrity in charge.
Then we just got dinner at the train station and came back to the bar under the hostel,where I met a lot of really really interesting people and had my first German beer (also, the first time ordering a beer at a bar. Way more fun than taking the order).
The next morning we went to Dachau, the first concentration camp created that paved the way for everything else. It was truly horrifying. Marc didn't come with us, because he said he had been there before and once was enough. It was hard goimg without our fearless leaders, and i think it made it seem that much scarier to everyone.
It started with a video, and then through a memorial museum, and then finally into the camp itself. I'm not going to try to explain everything I saw; just that it is still sticking to me, and I'm not sure when or how you shake that awful feeling. I'm counting on nightmares. Two things struck me while I was there; first, that I was taking pictures not for myself, like most of the others I had collected, but specifically to show people, because it needs to be seen. Second, there was a sense of pride in my country; when you first walk in, there are two plaques dedicated to two American troops that liberated the camp. As awful as seeing what happened, knowing we were the ones that stopped it made me feel a little better. A little.
We went to the royal apartments, but I don't think anyones heart was really in it anymore. Meghan and I really just scooted through and took a few pictures; palaces are very cool, but this one had been bombed during the war and was completely remade, so it seemed more like a museum than going through a piece of history like we just had.
We went back to the hostel for some quiet time and reflection, then wandered through the town just taking it all in. We found more plaques commemorating the war, and things that had happened; Marc pointed out the college Sophie scholl distributed anti war papers at and was eventually killed for. It makes you very very aware.
So, Germany. Not quite as light and happy as Italy; way more rule following and structure, not that it's a bad thing. But definitely some heavy material today, and we are in much need of our hiking trip through the alps tomorrow (Thursday).
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