Last Days in Berlin

July 20th: I write this now as I sit on a plane bound for Basel, Switzerland to begin the next phase of my journey, a 25-day solo backpacking trip through Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe. I just concluded my two-week study tour with the Goethe-Institut and am excited to see new places and new faces.

Our last days in Berlin included me renting a bike with some colleagues Wednesday night and seeing various neighborhoods, and then workshops and lectures Thursday and Friday with some amazing meals and new sights interspersed. We started Thursday by attending a lecture on Germany today, focusing on issues and strengths the country deals with, especially since the end of the Cold War. The country is still very diverse, politically, economically, and geographically, and there is still this West-East dichotomy, with the Western states in the country predominantly more affluent than those that make up the former East. That might change over time but it definitely exists.

During that lecture, another thing that stood out to me was how the professor used the term "liberator" when referring to the Americans at the end of World War II. It was the first time I had ever heard that term used by Germans in reference to the Second World War, and it was refreshing to know that Germans view OUR veterans as the heroes they are. He said he felt Germany was "liberated" by National Socialism.

On the topic of the Holocaust, in the afternoon, we went to a youth center to learn how one group works to fight bullying and stereotyping by putting on interactive programs for children. It is run by a young Israeli-German who clearly seeks to make a difference, without overtly discussing the Holocaust.  This one program reinforces how Germany, as a whole, continues to reconcile with its past by becoming increasingly open and progressive.

Yesterday, which was my birthday, was spent by taking a walking tour of the Turkish neighborhood known as Hayascher Market followed by lunch in a Turkish restaurant, and then finishing with a discussion in a mosque. What is very important to highlight here are the struggles of "people with migration backgrounds", in other words, newer immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The man who gave us the tour, despite seeing himself as German, discussed the ostracism that he, and so many others, feel, both politically and culturally. Especially after 9/11, xenophobia and Islamophobia have seeped into German society, and, until the year 2000, children born IN Germany to parents who were not German citizens, were not guaranteed German citizenship. The struggles of the Turkish-Germans parallel those of Hispanic-Americans and the perspective I learned yesterday was not one I had known before.

Okay. Final thoughts on the past two weeks:

1) Germany is one of the most open, socially liberal, progressive countries I know and it has come a looooooong way since the World Wars and the Cold War.

2) I LOVE Berlin. It is now my favorite European city and up there with Boston, DC, Denver, and Halifax as my world faves.

3) I will be back in Berlin August 14th as I fly home August 15th. It will be fantastic :)