An Afternoon Chat with Claire: From Minnesota to Berlin's Heartbeat!

Today, Claire Molson, one of our Open Campus students from Fall 2024 shares her impressions of Berlin. She grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I go to school at the University of Wisconsin Madison. 

• Why did you decide to come to CIEE Berlin?

I decided on CIEE Berlin because of its interesting history, because I wanted to experience life in an area where English was not the primary language (although it is widely spoken here), and because I wanted to experience life in a bike-friendly city with a strong public transportation network.

• How has the experience been so far?

So far I've really liked Berlin. I like that there are so many green spaces for walking, running or cycling. Whether you're interested in art, politics, music, food or history, there's something for everyone here.

• Claire just finished reading "Berlin, a short history", by Bernd Stöver, and she really recommends it! 

I was interested in learning more about Berlin's history because it's nicer to explore a city when you have some background knowledge about its history, but Berlin in particular has a really unique and important history that I recommend reading about whether you're visiting or not.

Especially in the 20th century, Berlin encapsulated some of the highs and lows of human society. From rapid modernization in the roaring twenties to the devastation of WWII, to capital of the Cold War, to today's cautious optimism, Berlin's history gives meaningful insight into global political and cultural shifts. It's a great book to read in a couple days (less than 150 pages) and concisely summarizes Berlin's history from the first records of its existence (some 600 years before Germany unified for the first time) to modern times.