Exploring the Sights!

Hallo von Berlin!

Time here is flying by and students have been able to explore the city more every day. After exploring the museums on the Museum Island last week, we decided to hit one major attraction in the area on Tuesday--The Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom). While the cathedral itself is relatively modern, constructed in 1905, the parish it houses traces back to 1451. Since then the parish and church community have changed from Catholic to Protestant and the cathedral has been knocked down and rebuilt at least three times.

Students were able to explore the cathedral as well as the Hohenzollern family crypt that is located in the basement of the cathedral. Some of our more brave students made the trek up the 270 steps to the top of the cathedral and got a gorgeous view of the city and the Lustgarten below! After visiting the cathedral, some students stayed to chill in the park and people watch!

On Wednesday students participated in a scavenger hunt or Schnitzeljagd in German! Students were broken up into eight teams, each named after an area of Berlin, and had to find a program leader at a local U-Bahn station in order to get their clues! The teams were comprised of students from all levels and they worked together to solve their clues. In the process, students were able to see some iconic Berlin sights such as the East Side Gallery and the Victory Column (Siegessäule). Along the way, students made their way to checkpoints where program leaders were waiting to tally their points. The final stop led students to the Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg)! After careful point tallying, we were able to announce the winners--Team Friedrichshain! Congrats to Nicole M., Craig, Randi, Ben and Karsten!