Biertrinker Checking In

     Hey guys, Biertrinker here. A lot of my posts have been really focused on the social parts of this trip. This post though, like many others will truly delve deep into the educational and emotional experiences we were lucky enough to be a part of. 

     If anyone is not prepared for the emotional and sad experiences I will share, I would like to ask you to skip the next paragraph and read on to the paragraph afterward. I’m giving this warning in case there could be any information that might cause a serious trigger in someone. I will be talking about my experiences in Berlin. So here we go.

• remember, skip next paragraph if you are not ready to read about some emotional experiences relating to our Second World War.

     Alright, here we go. If you’re reading this you are very brave. I’m not just saying that as an overreaction, things are tough to hear about the past actions of the human race. That being said, my group and I had the opportunity to experience the memories and horrors of one of the concentration camps used during the Second World War. This concentration camp is just outside of the city of Berlin and is called Sachsenhausen. It was not one of the death camps that are generally recognized when you hear the words “concentration camp”, but that does not take away from the horrors experienced there. All I can take away from that experience is sadness and a mind full of wishing that this had never happened. I will never understand why all this had to happen, but I wanted to educate myself so in the future, we can stop this kind of act. In the camp, we saw the barracks, the housing for soldiers, and the grounds and walls of the camp. It was an experience to say the least. Learning about the work days, housing situations, and abuse that was in this camp hurt my heart. We had all been educated before on this tragedy and horrible time, but experiencing the camp itself made it much too real. It almost made me mad. Actually, it did make me mad. So many emotions but anger was the leading emotion. This was a mix of hating what had happened, hating the reaction towards it, and hating that all we can do is mourn the losses when all you can do is wish that you could’ve stopped this. Just a side note, things like this still happen to this day. This is not some irregular event, if you want to know more about some other situations like this, feel free to look up the Rohingya people and the ethnic cleansing they are going through. I’m not saying this just to depress anyone, I’m saying it because it is a sad reality that can always be avoided or stopped. That was why I was more angry than sad going through this camp. Thank you for reading that, I know it is hard to process, but we can move on to the happier side of the trip. 

     Well, hello to those who read that paragraph and those who did not. I will now be talking about the rest of my experiences in Germany and will be focusing on the much more uplifting parts of it. For performances in Berlin, we were scheduled to see the famously known opera, Don Giovani, the very talented clarinetist, Sabine Meyer, and also quite possibly the worlds best orchestra groups, the Berlin Philharmonic. Unfortunately, due to scheduling errors (not Dr. Powell's fault), we were unable to see Don Giovani, very sad I know. But, we did get to enjoy the jazzy side of music with the performance of Sabine Meyer and her lovely Quintet. I was very surprised when that performance came along, because it was after the visit to the concentration camp, and I really didn’t think anything would be grand enough to bring back the happy vibes, but Sabine Meyer really helped. The recital was very uplifting and put me in a very good mood, as they played a lot of uplifting and beautiful music, including a suite from Firebird, and even a song from the famous musical, Westside Story. That performance was very nice, and I got to sit in the second row of the music hall to see that, the closest I had been to the stage so far on the trip. Of course, that changed when I got a front row seat to sit right behind the Berlin Philharmonic. That concert was unbelievable, we were so close you could hear everything, even the conductors loud and nearly obnoxious breathing. But besides that part the concern was lovely, and I doubt I’ll ever experience something like that again. Not my number one performance, and doesn’t take the whole cake, but definitely gets a big slice. 

     Thanks for listening to my grand trip to Berlin, hope you got a lot out of this post. Next post will be about Leipzig and my trip around the small city, including the trip to the Bach museum and also listening to a fantastic boys choir that Bach himself first conducted.