2025 GAPP in Germany

While we were in Berlin our tour guide took us to Checkpoint Charlie. This is a place in Berlin that was used as a crossing point between West Berlin and East Berlin, or the American side and the Soviet side. But our tour guide also took us walking all around Berlin to visit the Brandon Burg Gate, Memorials, and certain historical sites. One that particularly stuck with me was a Roma and Sinti memorial just across from the Brandon Burg Gate. This memorial was like a pond, circular and filled with water. I circled around the memorial and noticed some words surrounding it. Those words were a quote that read: “Sunken in face/ Extinguished eyes/ Cold lips/ Silence/ A torn heart/ Without breath/ Without words/ No tears”

As our tour guide was explaining the history of Berlin and WWII, he talked a lot about how colonialism and National Socialism can affect those who don’t fit the ideals. I’m very grateful for this experience and I will definitely remember is for a long time.

Samantha & Cat

On the second day of being in Berlin, we met up with our tour guide, Jared, early in the morning and started our walk to the train station. We took a short ride beginning at Muckenbrücker station to a smaller, suburban area of Berlin where we took a very peaceful walk to a river where we got on a ferry to the other side. From there, Jared told us to stay a bit quieter and to focus on the sounds of the birds that were more populous in that area. As we reached the forest of Berlin, we went silent and observed the nature around us, which was gorgeous and so calming. As we walked through the forest we learned about tree types, mushrooms, algae, lichens, butterflies, and plants in the area including an incredibly rare parasitic plant in a picture below. We stopped a café in the middle of the forest that contained the world’s 2nd largest exotic butterfly collection in the world and all ordered sausages as lunch. We contained on our walk after eating to meet up with a forester in the area who taught us about how they preserved the forest and the animals in the area including wild boar. During our break, Jared offered an optional hike to the top of a small mountain that I decided to go on. The hike was a bit more intense than I expected and by the time we reached to top I felt like I couldn’t walk another step, but I forgot all about my legs being on fire when I saw the view. You could see all of Berlin and the lake in front of us. The whole trip was incredibly informative, and the entire forest was beautiful.

-Abigail Jennings

On June 4th, my exchange partner and I went to see the musical Starlight Express. Before going in the theater, I bought some souvenirs and some drinks. The theater was very different and impressive because the stage went all around the audience, not just in the front. The theater was covered in train tracks and colorful lights. This musical was special because it was performed on roller skates.

The story was about trains racing against each other, and each actor played a different type of train. Even though the show was in German, I could still understand what was going on because of the acting and movements.

The lights and sound effects made everything more exciting. The actors skated really fast, even right past us, which made it fun to watch. The music was loud and very catchy, and the costumes were colorful and futuristic.

After the show, we met up with some friends that were also there and talked about how much we enjoyed the show. I was impressed about how different this musical was compared to other musicals I have seen. I didn’t know what to expect from this musical, but it turned out to be one of the most fun parts of my trip.

Lia V

On Wednesday, June 4, 2025. The night before our departure to Berlin, my sister, my German partner, and I all went to a walking roller coaster in Duisburg, Germany called tigers and Turtle. It is 21 – meters tall, with each twist and turn intended to express the dynamic interplay of a tiger and a turtle. To some, it is even the slowest roller coaster in the world however, the speed of the coaster is solely determined on the rider. The coaster gave a gorgeous overview of the city in Duisburg. Weather permitting, it is possible to see from Duisburg city center along the Rhine as far as Duesseldorf. Sometimes being able to see as far as the airport control tower. You could see dense forests left untouched, and steelworks. You could see the busyness of the areas around making it for a peaceful experience. The landmark was created by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth and includes 800 LED lights to allow for the sculpture to be open day and night. At peak interests, it looks best at night with the lights allowing to see the twists and turns of the coaster.

 – Addison

 

 

On Saturday, June 6th, 2025, we took a tour around the Koelln District, exploring numerous memorials, historic places, and buildings that played a huge role in the making of the Berlin we know today.  The first place we found ourselves at was the Brandenburg gate. Where we also seen the (remodeled) art museum, Lieber- Manns welt. We learned that each layer of the columns was there to document the wars of integration. We learned the art academy; Akademie der Kunst allowed the Nazis to spread propaganda and control the distribution of art. Which was also a topic that came up at the art museum on Thursday. Then, we got to the memorial of the Sinti and Roma of Europe, where over 500,000 people were victims of the genocide. We learned the Nazi’s identified different groups of people by a specific-colored triangle. Each having a different meaning. We went to a memorial for murdered homosexual which was a struggle to be built with people arguing over whether gays deserved memorialization. We went and seen a monument for Jewish people. Our tour guide told us a story about two boys who were together in a relationship. One of them had gotten deported to a camp so, in attempt to save his partner and their family, the boys partner (not taken by the Nazi’s) named Gad Beck stole a Nazi youth uniform. He then walked up the officers, or Stazi, who were running the deportation stop point for the camps and told them he had received orders from the Stazi to take some of the people out for a work order. Surprisingly, Beck got away with it. Allowing him to save his boyfriend from the camp. But his boyfriend, said “If you take me and my whole family dies, it’s no better than if I died.”, kissed him goodbye, and walked away. That was the last they seen each other, Beck survived the Holocaust while the boyfriend and his family passed at the camp. A story and quote that so easily reflects on the suffering of Jewish families during the Holocaust and expressing the sorrow and fear surrounding the potential loss of one’s family. We ended the tour at Checkpoint Charlie, a commonly known historical landmark, one of the most important crossings between East and West Berlin.

 

– Cooper and Addison

During my time in Germany, I fully expected to be trying new food. I never expected how good it would taste though. Everything just tastes more fresh and real. Even McDonalds has a better taste. I’ve had a couple crepes and it’s so crazy how good they are. I usually get Nutella in them because it makes it so much better. The fries are also a classic but good choice. There’s also so many ways to customize how you eat fries and with what topping you choose. I’ve also had some McFlurrys and the ice cream tastes so much better and there are more options to choose from. Once from a restaurant I had these blueberry pancakes that was on the dessert menu. They did not look like pancakes at all, but they were filled with the custard that was also separating the two pancakes from each other, which was quite delicious. One night I ordered ribs and a baked potato. The ribs were very tough and didn’t separate easily like normal, which was weird. The baked potato was also covered in sour cream. This sour cream was interesting though. It tasted oddly sweet, like the butter from Texas Roadhouse.

 

On June 6, we went to the Forest of Köpenick. Before arriving, we took quite a long route to get there. First, we had to take two separate underground trains before we got off and started walking. We walked to a dock and waited about 15 minutes there for the ferry to arrive. When it arrived, we all got on, along with several other people, and it was a short ride to the other side. After we got to the other side, we took a walk towards the forest and finally arrived. There was not a lot of people in the forest with us, so that was nice. We walked for what felt like a very long time until we arrived at the cafe. We took a break there for 45 minutes to be able to eat before we set off again. We weren’t able to see any wild boars, but the view of everything else was incredible. There was an abundance of tall trees and different trails for what looked like miles. Overall, our tour guide was explaining very well different types of mushrooms, how to tell if there’s a wild boar around, or even graffiti that can be found scattered in the forest.

-Presley H. and Lia V.

The second topic of what I am going to talk about in my blogs is the sites and views we can see. The first view that I would like to talk about that I am able to see every day is the Bergbau museum. I am able to see it everyday because Lilith lives near it and when we get of the tram or drive home it is always right there where I can see it. It looks very pretty in the morning, in the afternoon, and even more gorgeous at night. At, night the Bergbau is all lit up with lights where you can see how the elevators go up and down where the coal miners went to get down far underground where the coal was. We went to another coal mine museum where we saw alot of different point of views from there site at the very top. We were able to go all the way up on one of there buildings where we saw the big coal machines where they transported the coal, dug it up, and what machinery made it possible.

By: Lily Kelly

My host family and I spent a day in one of the most beautiful castles I have ever seen. The Drachenfels castle is located by the Rhine River, and it is simply breathtaking. 

When we got to a castle, the views were amazing. There were some beautiful views of the Rhine River and the houses surrounding it. After taking several pictures, we went inside the castle. Inside, we looked around the different rooms, went up the stairs, and learned a lot about the castle’s history. We ended up outside in the terrace of the castle. The sights from up there were spectacular. We could see the river and the beautiful gardens that surrounded the castle. We took some pictures, including ones with all the family. 

From the outside, the castle looked like one out of a fairytale. The castle was tall, and the decorations seemed untouched. It was almost surreal being there; it felt like a dream. We ended the day in the gift shop, buying little souvenirs to take home with me. This was definitely one of the best and most impressive experiences while being in Germany. It was also a great activity to do with my host family. 

Lia V

Like America, culture varies in Germany even from City to city in slight ways, for example in some cities I’ve been told people are slightly more friendly and more likely to smile at you while they walk by but in other cities or states you would get weird looks. Germans are also a lot more quieter than Americans. Multiple times I’ve heard from my partner that others were saying I was being too loud even though for me I was simply talking to somebody else but the Germans would compare my normal talking to almost shouting. Germans with their quietness, I think, tend to be more shy and non-confrontational so if you are doing something wrong they won’t do anything but silently judge you, which I have to say may have happened to me multiple times at least. The other thing is because there are so many cities and Germany is ultimately a smaller country than America, the big houses here would be considered small houses in America. Lots of people also live in apartment because of the lack of space. Germans are also more concerned with the environment compared to Americans. Lots of measures are in place to make an effort such as gas that is roughly double the price of ours and a cost for plastic bags when at the register. There is also something called Pfand where you spend 25 cents or so extra for reusable bottles so that you can return those bottles for the 25 cents back. Because of the money you can get for reusable bottles people that may need the money will take the bottles if they find any on the street.