Week 11 ( Mon 26th March - Sun 1st April)

Cultural blog

This week, as we had no classes, Trisha, Fionnuala and I went with some Erasmus students; including a Turkish girl, a Spanish girl, a Colombian girl and 3 Dutch girls to Berlin.  We shared a hostel room with the Spanish girl and learned a lot about her and she asked us many questions about Northern Ireland. A week passed and she insisted that we visit Spain this summer! The Spanish girl also informed us that her dinner time was different to ours as the Spanish typically eat dinner at 10.00pm, to accommodate this we arranged to meet for dinner as a group around 7.00/8.00pm each night.  This week we were able to improve our cultural awareness as all of the girls shared their cultural interests, for example, the Dutch celebrate Queen’s Day; where everyone in Holland wears orange and white on 1^st May, the Colombian girl voiced her frustration about non-native people associating Columbia with drugs all the time and the Turkish girl told us she couldn’t eat pork as part of her culture.  These are only a few examples that we learned about over the week.

The whole group outside Brandenburg Gate

Berlin was a place I never had considered visiting as I didn’t realise its rich war history.  The girls briefly educated me about the Berlin Wall and how it divided the city as East and West Berlin. It wasn’t until we took a hop on - hop off bus tour that I really appreciated the significance and impact of war on this city.  I was humbled by some of the sights we seen, including; Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall and the Jews monuments. To educate myself further, once I arrived back in Denmark, I watched Berlin videos on ‘youtube’ and was shocked at how families were separated by the wall for so many years. 

Me signing the Berlin Wall

I wondered if war is still a raw topic for the German people and if the majority of people don’t like to talk about it, never mind be associated with it.  The Dutch girls told us that often some German people express their frustration and refuse to answer questions about the war.  I suppose on reflection we can be quite ignorant to small details like this and forget that people are still embittered about history.  I did however enjoy learning about the war and its impact on the city.  I think a lot of us can be ignorant and passive to topics such as the war and other countries suffering as well as cultural differences. The Berlin trip has encouraged me to open my mind to this.  I look forward to other trips to places that are rich in history and that tell a story.  I also look forward to planning trips with the other Erasmus students, now that we know each other a lot more and enjoyed each other’s company.  This trip acted as a type of bonding session between us all and I feel I have made some friends for life!