Day 19 - museum tour

Ugh. Early days do not make for an awake Erin. Though I always do love learning more about how the body works, for some reason the heart is especially interesting. We even went over a little bit of the pathology of the heart today, which is always exciting. Unfortunately I missed the last 10 min of lecture today because I had to go get my visa. That's right, it's official. I will be getting my visa in about 3 weeks and that will allow me to stay in the country for longer than the official 90 day tourist period so I can finish my studies. I'm assuming that the three weeks are for various background checks or something.

In other good news, my test was postponed until next Thursday so I'm not freaking out so much anymore. Yup, the only thing that's got my attention for that class is my homework on Thevenin's and Norton's theorems due...tomorrow. Good thing the review today helped me to understand what was going on so much better. Well, that and the essay that's due for financial aid stuff. Eh, I'll do it tomorrow during my break. They can't e that hard. After all, I write more in here every single day that I would most likely have to write in one of those essays, so I'm not worried.

After those two classes came lunch time. I was tired, so I hung out at AIB with some other people. Yes, we all fell asleep or near enough to it, but it was nice to have a relaxing lunch after the weeks of hectic food finding. Luckily we woke up in time to meet up with our group at the HBF so we could get on a bus and go to the museum of Postwar Modern Germany. It was eye opening to see the journey from the destruction and death of the Nazis to the flourishing country that Germany is today. We went through post war to the great divide and the walls that were erected by soviet forces in an attempt to stop people from leaving East Germany for West Germany to the Cold War and up to the  various movements and fights for freedom and independent rights. Apparently Germany really likes the US because we didn't abandon Berlin and stood by the people of West Germany against the Soviets in a show of solidarity. After the wall came down, there's still a lot of division between the Easterners and the Westerners, not just because of the way that they talk or act, but in the very way that they were raised and taught to act. We saw a lot of the things that Germany has made and created over the years to increase money circulation, but my favorite has to be the two cars that we were shown. One was the Volkswagen and the other was an even smaller car that only had three wheels and was so tiny! Did you know that the VW wasn't made by Hitler? It's true! Hitler went to a car designer and said "I want a car for the common people, a 'folks wagon' that's cheap and everyone can have one." The actual car didn't come out until a few years after the war and that was the last Hitler ever was a part of the process besides funding. It was pretty cool.

 Rough translation: "this took Hitler 12 years" 

In reference to his famous speech: "give me 5 years and you won't recognize Germany"

 After the war, many things were made out of available materials, hats, grenades, shells, etc.

 One of the US planes delivering supplies (Raisin Bombers)

 The early Volkswagen bug

 The small "pothole missile" because it found every pothole

 A soldier jumping over the early Berlin wall

A magazine from the Berlin wall era

After the museum tour, I went home and arrived just in time to accompany Marie and Sophie to the supermarket. It was pretty cool and now I know where to get baking supplies for later when I make cookies or something. When we came back it was time for dinner in the form of various types of bread, cheese, and meats. Just after dinner though, I had to leave to give my friend Johanna her bus pass back because if she was asked to show it on the bus and she didn't have it, she would be fined big time. The reason why I had it was because I was holding onto it for her in my purse at the museum and forgot until I arrived back home. Luckily that was sorted out within the hour and I went back home to work on my homework. I even got a decent portion done! Just two more questions to go...OK, so half isn't that bad for 2 hours. Actually, I just hope the test problems are easy and our teacher is merciful on these types of problems. The reason why there are no pictures yet is because I'm writing this on my phone just before I go to bed. I'll add the pictures tomorrow during class or break. However, I wanted to get this written and posted so I didn't forget.

Tchuss!
Erin Z