Berlin

Berlin was beautiful and a lot of fun, but I didn't get to see as much of it as I would've liked. I had started getting sick in Leipzig and had the worst of it during our time there. I ended up needing to go to the doctor. They had me pay in full for the appointment and prescriptions to be refunded by the insurance company later (less than ideal, but I was just glad to get the medical care I needed).

I was diagnosed with strep, a sinus infection, and an unknown airborne allergy at the appointment. It seemed ironic and a little funny that I'd come down with so many things at once while on a huge school trip! With the prescribed medication I was able to recover within the week, thankfully.

Berlin was the place where the Nazi regime was democratically voted into power, and thereby seized control of the government afterwards through a series of emergency declarations and abuses of said power. We were able to tour the major areas of political importance throughout the city and hear much of the involved history. 

The class visited Terezin near the end of our time in Prague. I won't be writing a blog post on it due to the sheer amount of suffering we learned about in the camp and the emotion involved. I'll say that this visit changed me fundamentally, and that everyone should have an experience like this. The knowledge of what happened in the Holocaust is vital to prevent more genocides from occurring, and learning about these events is a fundamental way to honor the victims and survivors. This knowledge has driven me harder to advocate for the rights of the marginalized and will continue to do so.

Back to Berlin! The city was expansive and vibrant, with many different sections that each had their own personality. We got to watch a wonderful performance of the opera Andrea Chenier, which I hadn't heard of before. He was a French writer employed by the monarchy that got killed along with his lover during the rebellion. The singers each brought a lot to the table; the different timbres of voice made it difficult to decide which voice to focus on in group numbers.

I wasn't able to do a lot here, so here are the pictures! Enjoy.