Study Abroad Berlin: May 29, 2016

Day 7: Flea market shopping

Flea market shopping was really fun. Lydia and I hit up two different flea markets, one at Tiergarten and another near a park that was near the hotel. The coolest find for me was a record turned into a wavy bowl, it almost looks like a waffle cone bowl. I really hope that it doesn’t break on the way back home. For brunch we had some really great ham and cheese croissants and a slice of cheesecake with a hug cup of coffee at some organic coffee shop. The croissant had a buttery crust that was to die for.

We ran into Callison at the Tiergarten flea market looking at some hats and we sent a picture of him to the group message. Well Seltzer stunned us with his wit yet again as he turned the picture into a meme. this erupted into a series of other memes for the same picture. Pretty small but funny stuff. Who knew professors could be so 'hip'? 

Other than that it was a day of exploring on foot a bit and just relaxing. For dinner we decided to skip out on Vietnamese and went ahead and got some delicious burgers which we ate in the patio area of the hotel. I must say, our hotel is great for relaxing, a very central place because it is near a U-Bahn and S-Bahn station, so it is really easy to get to and from anywhere.

Study Abroad Berlin: May 28, 2016

Day 6: Museum Island

Today I took full advantage of the museum pass. It was the last day I’d be able to use it since it had been dated from the Pergamon visit. I got to visit the national art gallery museum and the Neues Museum. The art gallery had really awesome paintings and some really weird ones as well. My favorite one was called The Artist or the Performer.  It was the type of painting that I would probably put up in my living room because it radiated so much sass.

The Neues was really cool because they had the bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. Unfortunately people were not allowed to take pictures of the bust, probably for the preservation of it because its condition of the bust was pristine. Another cool thing about that was that there were also Egyptian tombs in the museum as well as the golden crown of berlin. The hat was oddly shaped and tall. According to the audio tour the designs on the crown correlated with the solar and lunar year cycles.

Tonight was the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid and I got to watch it in the hotel bar. I’m used to going to restaurants back home and having to look for a place that will play the game and then being the only one that is watching it. That is not the case here. There was a group of British guys sitting at tables and others sitting at the bar watching the game, and everyone watching it was fully invested in the game. I could get used to this type of fandom. No offense to Texas football.

Food: Some delicious bratwurst from a restaurant near the spree with some potato salad on the side. The people in my study abroad group were not kidding when they said that the potato salad here was bomb. 

Study Abroad Berlin: May 27, 2016

Day 5: Potsdam with Callison and Seltzer

Today I ventured out to Potsdam with Callison, Seltzer, and Lydia to go check out some castle. Getting out of Berlin was like going to a whole different place, a place where there wasn’t graffiti every corner you turned. It was really nice to get out of the big city into a somewhat smaller one. When we got off at the station, we first came across the salmon colored parliament building and a church with a gorgeous dome. After some cool pictures we were on our way to the castle. The walk there ended up being a lot longer than expected because we thought we were taking a shortcut and ended up walking around the perimeter of the lake/river. The walk was eternal, but on the plus side it was very scenic. When we finally got to the huge park where all of these massive and old buildings were, we were exhausted. Lydia asked why it was necessary to have such large gardens and what would one do with them. Seltzer hit us with his hidden wit yet again when he replied “I would play hide and seek with the servants all day long.” Callison and Seltzer are each very different in personality but have made for a very interesting trip.

We did not get to see the inside of the castle because the tickets were sold out for that day (whah whah), but it was still really pretty on the outside. We didn’t make it to the largest castle on the premises because it was on the opposite side of the park and we were all already tired from our little walking excursion. The bus was a little nuts getting back to the station to take us back to berlin. The bus was jam packed with people and yet at each stop the driver would allow more people on. The bus being packed was not even the worst part, the bus driver was driving like a maniac. We were close to running some people over a few times, plus the driver took those turns like he was trying to drift. All hopes of personal space were out the window.

Later that night I went to the Matrix again and all but one of the tunnels were open. I must say I was really impressed yet again with the concept of this club. After the long day of traveling and walking I don’t really know how I still managed to go out at night, but nevertheless I survived.

Food:  Pizza with seafood and an Alster on the side. The tiny shrimp on my pizza were surprisingly delicious. Also I am not a beer loving person but I could definitely get used to these Radlers (sprite with beer).
Also today I learned that a giant glass of beer is cheaper than a small glass of water. How sad is that? I've definitely been taking that free water for granted back home.

Study Abroad Berlin: May 26, 2016

Day 4: Pergamon Museum

The Museum was definitely not what I expected. When I first looked up the museum I was expecting to see chunks of the architecture pieces in the museum sort of like the ones that they have at the Met in New York. I was not expecting to see a full sized structure put into a room. I’m in awe that people had the patience to piece the ruins together and even add to the structure of parts that were missing. That right there is true dedication to detail. The tour guide was a funny guy that kept emphasizing the fact that not all parts of the structures were original, which I mean was quite obvious. After meeting with this tour guide I have noticed that all of the ones that we have gotten so far seem to like to ask a lot of questions even if they are really trivial at times. These German tour guides like to keep you on your toes.

For lunch, Abbey, Lydia and I came across a cute little café next to the spree and stopped for lunch there. After, that we headed back to the hotel for a quick second and Lydia and I headed out with Ebony and Kady to Alexanderplatz. We walked into this wonderful store called Primark. It was like an H&M almost, but the prices were crazy good. This store tested my self-control to the maximum.

We all go tired enough that we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and then head out to find some dinner. Lydia and I decided it would be a great idea to take the tram instead of taking the subway and then having to change to a different subway. Well we ended up taking a very long and scenic walk and were regretting every second of it. Our feet felt like they were about to fall off. We finally got back to the hotel and met up with a group of them and headed out to a beer garden. I didn’t think that these would exist inside of a large city but it was very great to be outdoors during the night time, even though the sun did not go down until 10 p.m.

I walked a total of 15 miles today according to my FitBit, so I guess I am ok that almost every meal here consists of carbohydrates because believe me I a burning them up with all this walking.

Study Abroad Berlin: May 25, 2016

Day 3: The Berlin Wall Memorial

The Berlin Wall memorial was really neat. The details that the tour guide gave were so interesting and sad at the same time. I was really surprised to find out that the wall was built over time and not just up from one night to the next how I'm sure most of us thought it had been. Originally the separation was a pile of barbed wire. The memorial is one of the three parts that are still standing of the original wall.

To the side of the memorial was this round chapel (The Chapel of Reconciliation). The original chapel was a really neat building that was ordered to be blown up, and the pictures that they had of the building coming down were astonishing. It was rebuilt obviously as a more humble yet modern little chapel.

The rest of the afternoon we had free so I spent the day adventuring with Ben and Ebony. We ventured out to Potsdamer Platz and wandered around the Mall of Berlin for a while. The thing that impressed me the most is that the entire third floor was a food court. This area was enormous. The variety of food was overwhelming. There was Greek, Italian, German, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Mediterranean, you name it, they had it. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the variety of food here. I’m sure that you could go more than a year and never eat at the same restaurant twice.

I’m starting to get to know Berlin a little more and feel more comfortable just wandering around seeing what I find along the way.

Well actually the day did not end there. One of the guys from Navos suggested we check out this club called the Matrix. Turns out the place was crossing the street from our hotel and was where the continuous bass came from night after night. Ebony and I decided to check it out and get our first ‘nightlife’ experience here in Berlin. When we asked what nights were good to go out, Jana said that every day but Mondays. That was absolutely true, because for a Wednesday night that club was packed. The club was so unique. It was under the Warschaure Strasse station for the U-Bahn (subway). The club was actually these tunnels and it was definitely different than the club scene I am used to back home. The coolest part though was that there was two different tunnels and each one was playing different music, you could just walk from one area to the other and not hear the music that was playing in the other area. One tunnel had current popular music while the other one was playing music from the 80, 90s, and early 2000s. Talk about walking into a time warp. It was a great night of dancing. 

Study Abroad Berlin: May 24, 2016

Day 2: Navos (Crisis Communication)

The staff gave us a situation analysis about a crisis that occurred in the US in 2009 with Domino’s Pizza. We were asked to come up with a plan on who we would communicate with, how we would communicate with them, and through which mediums. After we figured what our plan was, we were to put together a presentation for the team and our peers. We split up into groups and I was with Ed, Mary, and Ebony. We got one of their interns assigned to work with us which was really great.

We started attacking the assignment by answering a set of questions that we needed to answer in order to put together the presentation. We spent the majority of the time discussing our different options and weighing all the pros and cons. During all of this it was great to have the input of the intern because she gave us a whole new perspective.Finally, with the help of Seltzer, we were able to prioritize our publics if they fell under the following three categories; urgency, power, and legitimacy. We spent so much time on this and the discussion of the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats) that we put a powerpoint together very last minute.

Luckily we were the last of the groups to present and it was more like having a conversation and an easy flowing presentation because we had discussed every topic of the presentation in such depth within our group. I’m usually more comfortable with a planned out presentation but I realized that our in depth discussion allowed me to feel more comfortable with what I was presenting. Definitely a new tactic that I’m going to try out for future presentations.

After each of our presentations to various members of Navos, including some of the partners, they asked us some questions and pointed out flaws in the different tactics. The biggest flaw that they pointed out in the three presentations was the lack of internal communication to the employees. As Jana said “Your employees are your best ambassadors.” After the presentations were over we got to talk with numerous employees about what it is like to work for a German company as well as how the internship stuff works over here. One of the things that they mentioned just as much as the next person is the importance of getting experience under your belt. They said that for them to have an intern they would need to be able to speak German as the grand majority of their clients are German companies.

We wrapped up the day at Navos and as I was getting my stuff together, Jana looked over at me and said “That was a really good and organized presentation.” I think went into a little bit of shock when she said that but I was grateful for that comment. Sometimes I look back and think of how unexperienced I am, but to hear from a professional that does this for a living to say I did a good job reassures me that I must be on the right track. Also, today showed me that I could see myself working at a company like this. I don’t know, I might even consider taking up German with the possibility of working for this company.

Everyone at Navos was so nice and welcoming and after spending their day with us at work some of them took us to and joined us at a rooftop garden for some drinks. The view was incredible from up there. We spent a good deal of time getting to know them and sharing experiences. Such a great way to end a day learning about crisis public relations.

Study Abroad Berlin: May 23, 2016

Day 1: Navos

The morning started out with a subway commute to Navos. When we arrived at the white office buildings it seemed almost like apartment buildings, but as we went up the flights of stairs there was a different business on each floor. I think all of us were shocked to see how casual everyone in the office was dressed. Jeans and tennis shoes, a casual shirt (or button up for the men) were the norm in this office. It was clear that we had overdressed for the occasion, and it didn’t help that it was incredibly hot outside. Oh, and like many other places we’d gone to, there was no air conditioning. The office space was had an open concept to it, with some glass walls and windows letting in the natural light. We spent the day in the conference room that overlooked a soccer field, and I can’t say that I wasn’t excited about that. Some of the staff including Jana, Jana (yes there were two), Stefan, Christian, gave presentations on about the company and a little bit about what they do. They focus mainly on political and renewable energy communications. They made sure to emphasize the fact that they were an independent agency. The political communication makes sense as they are located in the capital.

When Jana and Jana went over their internal communications they discussed how they had open dialogue with the people in an area where a company needed to put up grids for this new renewable energy initiative in the country. I thought that they were talking about it theoretically at first, but quickly realized that they had actually been able to put it into practice. This concept of extreme honesty and communication seemed idealistic in my eyes, but I guess it is the way that communication differs back home. I’m not saying that it is a dishonest one, but it is clear that we aren’t as honest as we could be. For the project they were working for, they involved the people in the planning process rather than spring the information on them when they had no say. I think that if we can evolve the communication process in the States, things could change for the better. It was really funny to see the shock that Seltzer went into when Jana cited Grunig and Hunt. Proof that they are really information and fact driven over here.

One of our groups gave their presentation on the current status of the election and what we can expect in the future. Their presentation sparked a really good and open conversation in the room. You could tell that the Navos employees were really amused and intrigued at how crazy this election has gotten. One of the big questions at the end of the discussion was who in the world is Trump going to pick as his running mate. I think we made it clear to them that we were equally in awe at the state of our politics as they were.

Today was really eye opening to the fact that although the common denominator was public relations, the inputs and the outputs were different here in Berlin as they are back home. I am looking forward to interacting with the Navos people more because everyone was really nice. I’m also excited to see what other things I can learn from them!