I'm a bit frazzled/worn out from island hopping today (Hydra, Poros, Aegina), but I wanted to record a conversation that I've had at least five or six times since I've been in Greece.
Me: Γεια σου/ευχαριστώ (Hello/Thanks you in Greek)
Greek Person: (in English) You speak Greek?!
Me: Ναι, λίγο (Yes, a little).
Greek Person: Are you half Greek?
Me: No.
Greek Person: Why do you speak Greek?
Me: I studied it in University.
Greek Person: In Athens? Here?
Me: No, in the US. In Seattle.
Greek Person: How is this possible?!
There have been a couple variations, but I guess that Americans who don't have Greek family don't typically study Greek? I don't know. It's been really interesting here and lovely and SO WARM. I'm definitely not looking forward to returning to the cold Western European weather. Paris better be really nice (har har har).
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Final Project
Hey everyone, here is my final video project. I'm only going to keep this up on YouTube publicly for about a week, so watch while you can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssyp_9kyLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssyp_9kyLY
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Bye, Bye, Bye Berlin Bye Bye
I really, honestly cannot believe that my time in this city is almost over. Despite the rain and cold recently, I have been thinking about how much I am going to miss it here. But there are things here that will bring me back, most definitely. These include:
The Jewish community here
my current line of research/filmmaking
the offer from Ulf to conduct English tours of synagogues throughout Germany
the food
the clubs
My Berliner friends who I've made here
The cheap... everything
etc, etc, etc. Sitting in an internet cafe working on my project right now. I wanted a little break and so I thought I'd write about what I loved about Berlin, but I think I need to save that for another time. On Thursday I am heading to Athens to see family, and then on the 14th to Paris. On the 22nd I fly to Miami to go on a cruise with my parents, and then home to Seattle where I am currently homeless. sigh. Thus is the life, and I have nine more months to enjoy it. Tschuss!
The Jewish community here
my current line of research/filmmaking
the offer from Ulf to conduct English tours of synagogues throughout Germany
the food
the clubs
My Berliner friends who I've made here
The cheap... everything
etc, etc, etc. Sitting in an internet cafe working on my project right now. I wanted a little break and so I thought I'd write about what I loved about Berlin, but I think I need to save that for another time. On Thursday I am heading to Athens to see family, and then on the 14th to Paris. On the 22nd I fly to Miami to go on a cruise with my parents, and then home to Seattle where I am currently homeless. sigh. Thus is the life, and I have nine more months to enjoy it. Tschuss!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Roman Jews past and present
Last weekend I was in Rome. duh. And while there, I couldn't help but explore the history and presence of Judaism in the city both in ancient and present times. Here is what I discovered (with help from Rick Steves, my friend Marlisa, and Wikipedia).
We started out with an early evening walk through the Jewish Ghetto. Here was where the Jews were forced to live by Pope Paul IV according to Papal Bull Cum nimis absurdum. The area was inhabited by about 2,000 Jews, a large population for a relatively small area.
At the beginning of our walk stood this fountain, designed by Bernini. He respected the Jews and Jewish community, and put turtles on the fountain. Turtles were said to represent wisdom in age.
Life in the Jewish Ghetto was pretty rough for Jews. There was an extreme sense of poverty, and Jews were all forced to go to Catholic services every week. Once the Roman Republic was formed, however, the laws confining Jews to the ghetto were abolished and the beautiful new synagogue was built.
The imagery all over the former ghetto was beautiful. I was constantly seeing things like this:
and this:
And it was nice. I did feel at home, in a way. Seeing Hebrew on the menus in the restaurants alongside traditional Jewish food was nice. I definitely added to my "Jewish" experience here in Europe.
On my to do list for this week:
Interview Janet's friend Karen, a Jewish girl from America living in Berlin
Finish choreographing and then film my dance installation in Bayerischer Platz
Conduct a self-interview to be included in my film
Meeting with Ulf re: questions on Modern Jewry
Finish editing film once I have all of my footage (!!!)
Continue on paper for John
Enjoy my LAST WEEK here. phew. I can't even.... I don't want to think about it. I like this place now. Really.
We started out with an early evening walk through the Jewish Ghetto. Here was where the Jews were forced to live by Pope Paul IV according to Papal Bull Cum nimis absurdum. The area was inhabited by about 2,000 Jews, a large population for a relatively small area.
At the beginning of our walk stood this fountain, designed by Bernini. He respected the Jews and Jewish community, and put turtles on the fountain. Turtles were said to represent wisdom in age.
Life in the Jewish Ghetto was pretty rough for Jews. There was an extreme sense of poverty, and Jews were all forced to go to Catholic services every week. Once the Roman Republic was formed, however, the laws confining Jews to the ghetto were abolished and the beautiful new synagogue was built.
The imagery all over the former ghetto was beautiful. I was constantly seeing things like this:
and this:
And it was nice. I did feel at home, in a way. Seeing Hebrew on the menus in the restaurants alongside traditional Jewish food was nice. I definitely added to my "Jewish" experience here in Europe.
On my to do list for this week:
Interview Janet's friend Karen, a Jewish girl from America living in Berlin
Finish choreographing and then film my dance installation in Bayerischer Platz
Conduct a self-interview to be included in my film
Meeting with Ulf re: questions on Modern Jewry
Finish editing film once I have all of my footage (!!!)
Continue on paper for John
Enjoy my LAST WEEK here. phew. I can't even.... I don't want to think about it. I like this place now. Really.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Rom mit Marlisa
WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. This was all I could really say when I got to Rome. Here were the things that I'd seen in all of my high school history books, written papers about in college, and dreamed about seeing one day. As a history buff, Rome is an absolute playground for me. Being able to hop around from the Colosseum to the Forum to the Sistine Chapel for a few days was heavenly, and also made me realize how absolutely lucky I am to be here, in Europe, with all of these amazing countries and sights so close around me. Spending time with an old friend was so, so nice as well. Here's a pictoral-summary of my weekend. Rom war so schön!!
I arrived in the middle of the day on Saturday, and Marlisa and I grabbed lunch at a really GOOD pizza place called Dar Poeta. My first Italian pizza!! I forgot to take pictures, it was that good. After lunch we both had a siesta (important in Italy) and then headed out for a night walk of the city and aperitivo.
Our first stop was the Parthenon. HELLO IT WAS SO COOL. I mean...............
yeah. AWESOME.
Then Marlisa and her friend Hallie took me around to Piazza Navona, followed by a few churches. There are 240 churches in Rome. in ROME. Alone. Marlisa, who is studying history of Catholicism, has only seen 20. It would be like trying to hunt down every piece of the Wall still standing in Berlin. Not really possible.
The Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona. It's a Bernini.
Marlisa and I in front of the fountain
a pretty church....
Another.... church....
After that, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. It was just... amazing. There really aren't any words to describe it, especially at night. Rome floodlights all of it's "sights" at night, so seeing them at night is just as exciting and beautiful as seeing them during the day.
Throwing some money into the fountain. I'll be back, Roma!
Marlisa and I in front of the fountain
Beautiful, right? Bernini designed it, and his students made it. wooo
After seeing the Fountain we made our way to the Spanish Steps, and climbed all the way to the top. All of my pictures of Rome from the top are really bad, so here's a few of me and Marlisa at the top and on the Steps.
Then we had aperitivo. Aperitivo is this brilliant Italian thing where you go buy an overpriced drink and get a buffet full of really good appetizers and bite sized treats for "free." Here is me eating my first aperitivo:
It was really good.
The next day, Sunday, Marlisa and I had a bit of a lazy day before heading to St. Peter's and the Jewish Ghetto. We went to the biggest flea market in the world, and then ate lunch at a Kosher bakery by her house. I had eggplant parmesan:
Aaaaaaaand then we headed to St. Peter's. Um. It was REALLY cool and beautiful.
Me in Vatican City
The Collonade... another Bernini
San Pietro und mich!
THE DOME. The biggest one. In the entire. world.
More of THE DOME
Once we were finished with San Pietro, we went to the Jewish Ghetto. I'm going to write about it in another post, as it's part of my final project/honors thesis here.
On Monday I visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Vatican Museum. I'm just going to show you some pictures, because I really have no words to describe these places. Being in the Colosseum was just... well... Here:
And then the Vatican Museum.
These are about half of the pictures I took in Rome. To see more, head over to my facebook. Rome was just... beautiful. Probably my favorite place that I've visited in Europe thus far, and I'll definitely be back. Thanks so much, Marlisa!
I arrived in the middle of the day on Saturday, and Marlisa and I grabbed lunch at a really GOOD pizza place called Dar Poeta. My first Italian pizza!! I forgot to take pictures, it was that good. After lunch we both had a siesta (important in Italy) and then headed out for a night walk of the city and aperitivo.
Our first stop was the Parthenon. HELLO IT WAS SO COOL. I mean...............
yeah. AWESOME.
Then Marlisa and her friend Hallie took me around to Piazza Navona, followed by a few churches. There are 240 churches in Rome. in ROME. Alone. Marlisa, who is studying history of Catholicism, has only seen 20. It would be like trying to hunt down every piece of the Wall still standing in Berlin. Not really possible.
The Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona. It's a Bernini.
Marlisa and I in front of the fountain
a pretty church....
Another.... church....
After that, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. It was just... amazing. There really aren't any words to describe it, especially at night. Rome floodlights all of it's "sights" at night, so seeing them at night is just as exciting and beautiful as seeing them during the day.
Throwing some money into the fountain. I'll be back, Roma!
Marlisa and I in front of the fountain
Beautiful, right? Bernini designed it, and his students made it. wooo
After seeing the Fountain we made our way to the Spanish Steps, and climbed all the way to the top. All of my pictures of Rome from the top are really bad, so here's a few of me and Marlisa at the top and on the Steps.
Then we had aperitivo. Aperitivo is this brilliant Italian thing where you go buy an overpriced drink and get a buffet full of really good appetizers and bite sized treats for "free." Here is me eating my first aperitivo:
It was really good.
The next day, Sunday, Marlisa and I had a bit of a lazy day before heading to St. Peter's and the Jewish Ghetto. We went to the biggest flea market in the world, and then ate lunch at a Kosher bakery by her house. I had eggplant parmesan:
Aaaaaaaand then we headed to St. Peter's. Um. It was REALLY cool and beautiful.
Me in Vatican City
The Collonade... another Bernini
San Pietro und mich!
THE DOME. The biggest one. In the entire. world.
More of THE DOME
Once we were finished with San Pietro, we went to the Jewish Ghetto. I'm going to write about it in another post, as it's part of my final project/honors thesis here.
On Monday I visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Vatican Museum. I'm just going to show you some pictures, because I really have no words to describe these places. Being in the Colosseum was just... well... Here:
And then the Vatican Museum.
These are about half of the pictures I took in Rome. To see more, head over to my facebook. Rome was just... beautiful. Probably my favorite place that I've visited in Europe thus far, and I'll definitely be back. Thanks so much, Marlisa!
How Rome Made Me Love Berlin
This past weekend, I visited an old friend of mine in Rome. More to come about that later. But as she was showing me around the streets and sights of her new home, I couldn't help but think about my old home back in Berlin. I kept comparing the things she'd tell me about Italians to the things I've experienced about Germans, comparing food, sights, language, etc. It made me realize that I'm actually starting to like Berlin. A lot.
And then, as I was walking to Pfeiffers this morning, passing down Oranienstraße for the first time during the light of day, I realized that I am really, really going to miss it here. The cute little shops lining Kreuzberg, SO36 looming out of the tiny Imbiss places, the pretty Turkish girls who travel around in a gaggle giggling all the time, the little kids with the bikes without the pedals who basically walk them on the ground, the cute families and couples running errands or out for a stroll speaking in rapid-fire German that I could only understand if I listened really, really hard.... Berlin has become a home to me. And it's strange, and it's only happened NOW, with two weeks left in the program.
Berlin has become so much of a home that I last-minute cancelled my trip to Madrid, a place I was really looking forward to going, in order to be able to spend more time in Berlin. Berlin has become so much of a home that I don't really know how I feel about moving back to Seattle, or really anywhere else at all (except maybe Munich). I feel like in Seattle I was always waiting for something exciting to happen to me, something that would change my life. Well, it's happened. Here I am, in Germany, a country I never really lusted after like I once did France or Greece or Spain, living the BEST life I've had in a while and really really loving it. What am I supposed to do now?
I don't want to go home. Home isn't really even a home for me anymore, just a stamp in a passport and a number assigned to me by a big anonymous government. Even here, with the brushes I've had with bureaucracy , I've never felt completely anonymous. The woman who helped me get my visa (OMG that's another story for another time) was so nice, always calling me by my name and being cooperative with my really bad German. I can't help but feel as if someone came into a DMV in the US and spoke English that was like my German, they would get laughed out of the place. It's just nice here, knowing that people appreciate it when you just try... definitely not like the US.
The good news is: Berlin, and the rest of Germany, will always be here. Always. I will always have the option to come back, and as soon as I want to/can. I've been looking into au pairing as well as applying for a Fulbright scholarship, so there are options. I will be okay. But for the next eight months that I am FORCED to live in Seattle (who needs a college degree anyways, huh?) I will continuously be missing my newfound home and looking forward to the day when I can return.
And then, as I was walking to Pfeiffers this morning, passing down Oranienstraße for the first time during the light of day, I realized that I am really, really going to miss it here. The cute little shops lining Kreuzberg, SO36 looming out of the tiny Imbiss places, the pretty Turkish girls who travel around in a gaggle giggling all the time, the little kids with the bikes without the pedals who basically walk them on the ground, the cute families and couples running errands or out for a stroll speaking in rapid-fire German that I could only understand if I listened really, really hard.... Berlin has become a home to me. And it's strange, and it's only happened NOW, with two weeks left in the program.
Berlin has become so much of a home that I last-minute cancelled my trip to Madrid, a place I was really looking forward to going, in order to be able to spend more time in Berlin. Berlin has become so much of a home that I don't really know how I feel about moving back to Seattle, or really anywhere else at all (except maybe Munich). I feel like in Seattle I was always waiting for something exciting to happen to me, something that would change my life. Well, it's happened. Here I am, in Germany, a country I never really lusted after like I once did France or Greece or Spain, living the BEST life I've had in a while and really really loving it. What am I supposed to do now?
I don't want to go home. Home isn't really even a home for me anymore, just a stamp in a passport and a number assigned to me by a big anonymous government. Even here, with the brushes I've had with bureaucracy , I've never felt completely anonymous. The woman who helped me get my visa (OMG that's another story for another time) was so nice, always calling me by my name and being cooperative with my really bad German. I can't help but feel as if someone came into a DMV in the US and spoke English that was like my German, they would get laughed out of the place. It's just nice here, knowing that people appreciate it when you just try... definitely not like the US.
The good news is: Berlin, and the rest of Germany, will always be here. Always. I will always have the option to come back, and as soon as I want to/can. I've been looking into au pairing as well as applying for a Fulbright scholarship, so there are options. I will be okay. But for the next eight months that I am FORCED to live in Seattle (who needs a college degree anyways, huh?) I will continuously be missing my newfound home and looking forward to the day when I can return.
Monday, November 14, 2011
German Word of the Day
Kaputt.
As in:
Ja, hallo, das Licht in meine Raum ist kaputt. Und zwei Lampen sind auch kaputt.
Off to do some laundry/editing now!
As in:
Ja, hallo, das Licht in meine Raum ist kaputt. Und zwei Lampen sind auch kaputt.
Off to do some laundry/editing now!
Reichstaggin
Today we got a personal tour of the Reichstag. It was very very interesting, and pretty cool to see places that "normal" people don't really get to.
We started out in the room where the FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei) has their committee meetings. Our tour guide is a foreign policy advisor for the FDP, so he gave us a briefing on the current status of the economy, front running political issues in Germany, and answered any questions we had. He spent the majority of the time talking about the Euro and the Euro crisis. I'm obviously very interested in this since I do intend to move back to Europe in the near future, so his discussion with us was enlightening and a good introduction to German politics.
After learning about the FDP we got a bit of a walking tour of the Reichstag and the surrounding pavilions. Here is where the German Parliament takes place:
~underground halls~ of the Reichstag:
Following this, we went up to where the famous dome on the Reichstag is and got a sort of panoramic tour of Berlin from the top of the Reichstag. I think this would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been about 6 degrees (Celsius) out.
And here is the dome:
Pretty awesome.
We started out in the room where the FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei) has their committee meetings. Our tour guide is a foreign policy advisor for the FDP, so he gave us a briefing on the current status of the economy, front running political issues in Germany, and answered any questions we had. He spent the majority of the time talking about the Euro and the Euro crisis. I'm obviously very interested in this since I do intend to move back to Europe in the near future, so his discussion with us was enlightening and a good introduction to German politics.
After learning about the FDP we got a bit of a walking tour of the Reichstag and the surrounding pavilions. Here is where the German Parliament takes place:
~underground halls~ of the Reichstag:
Following this, we went up to where the famous dome on the Reichstag is and got a sort of panoramic tour of Berlin from the top of the Reichstag. I think this would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been about 6 degrees (Celsius) out.
And here is the dome:
Pretty awesome.
Dresden
This past weekend we spent a couple days in Dresden. While the trip didn't have a fantastic ending (I lost my wallet, Dominic lost hist iPad, and two of the guys in our group had their computers stolen), Dresden was really fun and a beautiful city. One of the first things we saw when we got there was the beautiful cityscape along the Elbe:
All of the buildings date back to 1950, since before then Dresden looked like this:
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
It was largely destroyed by American bombers at the end of WWII. It was entirely rebuilt, and is really beautiful now.
We (Ryder, Dan, and I) visited the Neue Sachlichkeit at the Lipsius, the Zwinger, the Frauenkirche, and the Neue Synagogue.
Ryder at the Lipsius
Ryder and I in front of the Lipsius
Ryder and I in front of the Frauenkirche (my best angle)
Ryder at the Zwinger
Me in front of the Zwinger
The next day I visited the Military History Museum. The architecture of this place was amazing.
The inside was immense, showing the chronology of German military history from ancient times to the present. Interesting, but not quite my thing. I spent a lot of time in there, nonetheless.
On Friday night in Dresden I gave a little 'presentation' on Shabbat. Nara graciously filmed that for me, and once I finish editing the video and find somewhere with good enough internet for me to upload it to YouTube I will post it, most likely tomorrow. Sorry for the delay Nara, I meant to do it today but didn't expect our Reichstag visit to be so long!
Next up: Reichstag visit. Then editing my video footage. phew
All of the buildings date back to 1950, since before then Dresden looked like this:
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
It was largely destroyed by American bombers at the end of WWII. It was entirely rebuilt, and is really beautiful now.
We (Ryder, Dan, and I) visited the Neue Sachlichkeit at the Lipsius, the Zwinger, the Frauenkirche, and the Neue Synagogue.
Ryder at the Lipsius
Ryder and I in front of the Lipsius
Ryder and I in front of the Frauenkirche (my best angle)
Ryder at the Zwinger
Me in front of the Zwinger
The next day I visited the Military History Museum. The architecture of this place was amazing.
The inside was immense, showing the chronology of German military history from ancient times to the present. Interesting, but not quite my thing. I spent a lot of time in there, nonetheless.
On Friday night in Dresden I gave a little 'presentation' on Shabbat. Nara graciously filmed that for me, and once I finish editing the video and find somewhere with good enough internet for me to upload it to YouTube I will post it, most likely tomorrow. Sorry for the delay Nara, I meant to do it today but didn't expect our Reichstag visit to be so long!
Next up: Reichstag visit. Then editing my video footage. phew
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