Willkommen In Berlin!

Well, I managed to make it to Berlin all in one piece, so mission one was a complete success.

The flight over was actually really good. My connectors to Cleveland and then New York all went smoothly, though I had to do some terminal jogging to make sure I wasn't late for boarding. Even though I don't know a lick of German, the passport visa process was really painless, and none of my luggage got lost. I couldn't really ask for more.

The airport in Berlin was pretty cool. Instead of having one huge customs check in line and one huge baggage claim area, each gate had its own customs desk and baggage claim. It made getting things taken care of much easier. I managed to find Kristina Bognar, our liason, very easily virtue of a sign she made for incoming students. It all felt very cliche, which made me enjoy it all the more.

I ended up having to wait at the airport with Ryan Pramer, another U of M student on my flight and coincidentally my roommate for the program, because two other students had landed just before us and Kristina's car was in no way big enough to support 4 student with luggage. In fact, virtually no cars in Germany are suited to hold much at all. It's definitely a trend to have small cars, and the extremely little smart cars are quite common. I mean, you know a car is little when it can back straight into a parallel parking spot and stay inside the lines. Another funny thing was that almost every cab I saw at the airport was a Mercedes Benz, and they're all painted this subtle cream color. It's quite the jump to think of such a luxury car as being so common, even though Germany is the home country of Mercedes Benz and it shouldn't be too surprising that they can get them for much cheaper than in America.

Eventually though, we made it to our apartment, which is in a building (or group of 4 buildings rather) known as the House of Nations. It's a very common student apartment complex, and almost all of our neighbors are Korean or Chinese people studying in Germany. We see very little of them, but I think my neighbor is studying to be a musician because some days I get to listen to hours and hours of classical-jazz-vaudeville-whatever-mashup on his/her piano. Luckily I'm not in long enough for it to get annoying. Ryan and I got extremely lucky with our room. About 1/4 of the rooms in this building are handicapped, and we got put in one. Suffice to say its massive. Sure, all of the tables and door handles are really low, but I consider that a fair trade-off.

I've now also become acquainted with the other 15 people who are studying here in Berlin with me. 16 people is a huge group to keep organized and get around, but somehow we manage. I haven't met a single person I haven't gotten along with yet, so all in all this should be a really fun trip. I also haven't managed to get a group shot together, but I'll be sure to get one up as soon as possible.


One of the shopping districts in Berlin by our apartment. This is as close as I have to a group shot of the kids in the program yet, haha.

Where to start about Berlin though. First of all, I don't think I could see all that this city has to offer if I had a year, let alone the entire country of Germany. Between Germany's history, architecture, and culture, there are hundreds of things to see. Of course, the food is great. Admittedly, I haven't strayed too far in terms of dellicasies, but the things that I've had so far have been great.

Probably the one food I've eaten the most are Doner Kebaps, which are much like gyros, except they are in a bread pocket instead of a rolled pita and they have lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and different sauces. Doner Kebaps are actually a Turkish food, not German. Most people don't know that Germany has a large Turkish population, but almost 10% of the German population is Turkish, and many of those people live in Wedding, the district in which we're staying. As you might guess, their food, culture, and language (as if it isn't hard enough to learn one) are everywhere.
On the more traditional German side, I've also tried currywurst. It is essentially a German sausauge cut into slices and covered with a mild curry sauce (a thick tomato base with just a bit of spice). It's also quite common for currywurst to be served with french fries on top (German french fries tend to be a bit thicker, but they're pretty close to their American counterparts). Finally, I've had some very good, authentic Italian food. It's hard for me to know exactly what I'm ordering at most Italian resteraunts, but I haven't seen anything that looked bad anyhow. I typically eat my food too fast to take any pictures of it, but I'll work on that.


U-9 Train on the way to our building

Another huge part of our life in Berlin is the train. There are actually three different types of trains in Berlin. There are the S trains, which are above ground city trams, the U trains which are below ground subways, and T trains which are trams that run on the roads (though I don't think I've seen a T since I've been here). The trains and stations are all kept very clean, which I find amazing considering how many dozens of stations dot Berlin. While there are the occasional beggars, for the most part it is just a relaxed riding experience. The one big downside is that there are very few signs at the stations. It's important that you know exactly where you're heading when you get to the station, otherwise it's very easy to get lost.

Since being here, I've got to see two notable things. One was the museum at Check Point Charlie, which was the checkpoint of the American portion of the Berlin wall. While the museum appeared small in stature, it spread out a vast distance and contained limitless knowledge about the construction of the Berlin Wall, the effect it had on Germans and the people of Berlin, how the world reacted, and of course the eventual destruction of the wall. It was amazing to me to see the ways that Germans living in East Berlin would conceal and transport themselves to get across to West Germany and the technologies that they created to aid them in their goal.

Secondly, we went on a riverboat tour of Berlin with our Professor in Germany, Professor Behrendt. It was a great chance to see Germany, relax with the other kids in the program, and eat things without having the slightest clue what they were. I was slick enough to forget my camera for the boat ride, but as I get photos from other people I'll put them up.

For now, we're just hanging out, finding out more and more about the city, and working our way into the German class we started today (4 hours of language a day can be tiring). Tomorrow we're heading to the Berlin Zoo, so I'll make sure to get some good pictures and talk more about that later. Til then!

Auf Wiedersehen!

It's hard to believe that in a little less than 22 hours, I'll be on a plane en route to Germany. There are definitely some butterflies, and some worries, but all in all I mostly feel excited for what's ahead.

Packing and getting myself prepared has definitely been a complicated process. One of the most important things to get when you travel to any country are plug adapters (and voltage adapters if necessary) so you can use your electronics at your destination. It was really easy to find adapters that work in Germany, but for some reason Italian plug adapters exist only in a mythical land far from my home, and I haven't been able to find one. Hopefully I'll be able to find some in Germany, or my week stay in Italy will be very tech-less. Under the advise of my travel agent, I've also thrown a back-up outfit in my carry-on in case my baggage arrives a day late, which is apparently not too uncommon. The final big thing I did was to make photocopies of my passport, credit cards, and other important papers. In the event that anything gets lost or stolen, I'll have back-up copies at the ready.

Apart from that good advise, I've mostly been trying to pack light. I was certain that I was going to pack way too much and have to take half of my stuff out and start over, but I have enough room for all of my clothes, toiletries, and school supplies, plus room for an empty duffel bag in case I come home with more than I left with.

To add to all the stress of packing and leaving, my laptop decided to completely crash early this week and make me think that I was going to have to find all new ways to call home and get assignments done. Fortunately, a friend of mine was able to help me out and get it running, so I should be alright in the laptop department.

One thing I've done really well at is getting airplane entertainment together. I got a plane charger for my laptop so I can play some games or whatnot, my girlfriend bought me a movie to watch, I have some guidebooks that I will probably read far less than I should, and I bought an interesting book on programming so I can hopefully turn some idle plane time into productive time, but we'll see.

It'll be weird and hard to leave everything behind and head out to Germany, but I'm excited, and right now can only think and hope that it's going to be great. I'll be sure to put up another post once I get settled in Germany to let you all know how things are working out.

~Cody

Tag!

Gutten Tag everyone!

My name is Cody Bird, and I'm a sophomore studying Computer Science Engineering at the University of Michigan. This summer, I'm going to be studying abroad in Berlin, Germany as a part of the International Engineering Summer School program held at the Technische Universitat Berlin (or more affectionately known as the TUB Summer Program).

The program itself starts on June 8th, but I'm going to be leaving on the 5th to give myself time to fly over and make the June 6th orientation so I can get familiar with my new surroundings. The program itself is 5 weeks long, lasting until July 17th, and it's broken into two sections. The first two weeks are pretty intensive language training, and the last three weeks are spent in labs at the Berlin University of Technology, where we will be working in small groups with German students on different projects. The project I'm going to be working on, as a Computer Science Engineering student, involves signal controllers, but there are also projects involving renewable energy and automotive turbocharging.

Admittedly, I know nothing about the German language (I've never taken a day of German in my life), and I've never done anything involving signal controllers, but the great part about this program to me is that it doesn't revolve around past experience. While I'm sure the entire trip is going to be much more of a challenge and more of an adventure with my total lack of background, the adventure is what the whole study abroad experience is about anyway, right?

After the program in Germany ends, I also plan to spend a week in Rome with a few people that I've met through the program. Extra travel in Europe wasn't in my initial plans, but I don't think I can pass up the chance to see such an interesting part of the world with so much history and culture, and I'll be sure to keep everyone here posted on my time in Italy even after my Germany blogs end.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, between exams, moving back home, and getting prepped for my program in Germany. However, I've gotten a chance to meet Volker Sick, the professor heading the program in Germany from America, and almost all of the International Programs in Engineering office staff. Professor Sick, a native of Germany, started this program with Professor Frank Behrendt, a chemist at TUB and college buddy, and they provide most of the course direction and assignments for the program. Additionally, Kristina Bognar is our liason in Germany, helping us adjust to German life and making sure that we are kept up to date with the program schedule. While the IPE staff won't be travelling to Berlin with us, they are and have been a great resource for information on the program, and I would strongly suggest stopping in and visiting their office if you have any questions about studying abroad, or at least checking our their website here or facebook here.

For now though, I'm getting my flight tickets together, making plans for financing my trip, and getting everything packed and ready. I'll be putting up new posts as leaving day draws near, and more posts as I'm studying in Berlin, so keep checking back!