“Our History, Germany since 1945″

I didn’t know how much it rains this time of year here before I left Florida. It has rained most days in October so far, and the last week of September. So, our trip to Bonn was wet and cold. We had intended to go to the castle (maybe next time!), but ended up making the quick decision to go to the Haus der Geschichte, the German History museum nearby purely to be dry and warm.

I have lost count of the number of museums I have explored in Germany, but this one was still fascinating. I will not recount Germany’s history here, but here are some images from the journey through time.

I learned the Beethoven kept a routine schedule, which including waking up, eating breakfast and then focusing his attention on his compositions. Other activities included walks, correspondence, receiving guests, going to coffeehouses, sketching new ideas in his pocket sketchbook, and going to inns in the evenings, occasionally attending a concert.

We started the day with orientation and a campus tour which included the other building, Claudiusstraße, and had lunch in the Mensa (student cafeteria). We thought we were going on a City Tour after lunch, per the schedule, but it turned out to be a hurried scavenger hunt.

We returned to Claudiusstraße, and champagne was poured. There was even a barrel of Kölsch specifically for us. (Talk about cultural differences! Drinking has never been encouraged in an academic setting in the U.S. in my experience.) At this point, everyone was exhausted, but managed to keep drinking, eating and socializing through the full 10-hour day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were Intercultural Training days. This presented us the opportunity to get to know each other a little better with games and activities before classes begin next week. We talked of differences in the university settings in each country, among other surface cultural differences. While some of us looked forward to delving a bit deeper, we are going to keep looking forward to it, because it was not the space for dialogue beyond the bullet points. The place for those conversations will likely be in our actual Intercultural Communication classes.

October 3rd is Germany’s National Day of Unity, so everyone had Thursday day off, and the shops were all closed (like on Sundays here). Friday we had off, too! Monday we have our introduction class with Professor Sander, and on Tuesday the semester officially begins. 

“There is no peace in weakness.”

opened at Richas Digest on Friday, September 27.

Art by Nikolas Müller

Curated by Aneta Rostkowska

This exhibit generated conversations about the traits of males in society, and asked questions about how these traits are perceived as “masculine,” but are they inherently?

A much-needed conversation starter in a world still grappling with allowing boys the emotional right to cry, I had to step out of the exhibit and step back in again because there was so much going on in the pieces.

Worth the visit.

It has been raining everyday since last Sunday, September 22, 2019. So long, summer.

Luckily, I was told about the waterfront on the other side of the river (in the area called Poll, though I’ve heard locals refer to it as Kalk, which is technically a further inland area according to Google Maps), that has parks, grass, trees, football fields, and even a beach with real sand.So the day before the gray set in, my peers and I, fresh to Cologne, set out to the Southeast of the Inner City to a walking bridge that leads to the other side.Watching out for geese droppings, we laid our yoga mats out in the sun at the corner of an out-of-play football field and relaxed with stretching and yoga.Then we walked further South and dipped our feet in the cold, cold Rhine, played games and absorbed as much of the last rays of sunshine as the sun would allow.