I just returned home after 6 1/2 weeks in Europe and fully expect to have some culture shock now that I am back home! I wanted to post Part II of photos from the trip to give a sense of what the day to day experience was like. Part I (posted earlier) was from May 4-17 and these shots are from our final days in Germany, starting with May 18 when we traveled from Dresden to Berlin. In Berlin, we kicked off our final week of seeing incredible performances with tickets to "The Situation" at the Theater festival. That play was about the current situation(s) in Europe and elsewhere. As with many of the plays we saw, it presented issues about identity, relationships, the refugee crisis, and globalization from multiple perspectives. It was the perfect way to start off our Berlin segment of the trip--the beginning of the end of a great study trip. By the time we reached Berlin, by far the most diverse and the largest city we visited, the group was savvy about travel. We packed in walking tours, heard personal stories, saw world-class museums, had art lessons, experienced great "ethnic" food, and saw some amazing dance and theater performances in a range of venues. Some members of the group even took part in a hip hop dance workshop! Berlin tied together all of the elements of our study trip, provided insights into everything we had been learning about in our class and in Germany.

This was the most ambitious study trip I have planned, with visits to Munich, Kochel, Murnau, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nürnberg, Dresden, and Berlin. I appreciate how cooperative and enthusiastic the group was. We experienced so much in just three weeks. Whew!  Special thanks, again, to CGIS and to the RC, to several RC Alumni, who made special donations to help some of the students afford the trip, and to Asgard Press and Peter Shin. And thank you for following our blog. I know that a few more posts are likely to appear as students wrap up their own travels and share a final reflection and/or photos, so I hope that you will continue to check back.
--Janet

Oh, and here's a somewhat rare shot of Kristyn and me. I am grateful to my co-leader for the instruction and assistance she provided on the trip.

May 18. Berlin Brandenburger Tor & Kreuzberg

May 19. History tour of Mitte and a few Counter-memorials

May 19 Hackesche Höfe. This is one of the first areas that experienced gentrification.

May 20: Art lesson on portrait painting.

May 20 Walking Tour. Perspectives on the GDR

May 20 Treptower Park.

May 21 Boxhagener Platz Flea Market

May 21 Kristyn paints on a human canvas aka Max

May 22: Another lesson in portrait drawing.

May 22 Camille at the Wall.

May 22: More flea markets

May 22 Steglitz. Michelle takes every opportunity to practice her German.

May 22 Fritsch's "Murmel Murmel"--probably the last chance to experience it!

May 22 Curtain calls in Germany are long and well-deserved.

May 23. Hohenschönhausen Stasi Prison Tour by a Zeitzeuge

Telling his own amazing (film-worthy!) story.

The Jewish Cemetery at Weissensee.

May 24 Sharing at our final group reflection

May 24. Final group feast. Celebrating learning and friendships.

Fantastic food and we managed to eat it all!

May 24. The last shot I took of our group at the Gorki Theater, 

following another great show!