An Inside Look: The Student Perspective (Guest Blog)

The last few days have been filled with more team building activities helping the students learn to work in a variety of group dynamics along with some great tours taking us back in history to the time of the Berlin Wall. 

Some of our students wanted to give their personal accounts of the trip as we reach our halfway point.

Brendan Tierney's thoughts about the cultural differences in Germany have intrigued him thus far on the trip.

"So far, my trip to Berlin has been amazing in so many ways. Adapting to a new city can be a little stressful, but it is all worth it once you get immersed in the new culture. This trip has been so interesting to me because of its many surprises. I knew we would go to the Brandenburg Gate and other monuments like it and it would be fascinating (and it was) but, I have also had some of my favorite moments on the trip so far in unexpected situations. Things like going grocery shopping and exploring the different German items are a lot of fun, as well as getting accustomed to local transportation and navigating around the city comfortably all have made this trip so awesome."

Another participant, Zane Priebe, highlights his freedom of exploring this historical city. 

"One of the most surprising aspects of the Global Entrepreneurship course in Berlin, for me at least, has been the degree of freedom provided to us participants by our program leaders. When embarking on this journey, I imagined that my fellow students and I would occasionally be let loose in a department store for an hour or two, but nothing more. On the contrary, however, my experience so far has been much more relaxed. Up to this point, our typical daily schedule has consisted of an entrepreneurship or German language class in the morning, followed by more classes or other activities in the afternoon. This then leaves us several hours in the evening to explore the city with our new friends, try out new restaurants and stores, or simply relax in our rooms. As long as we travel with at least one other person and are back by the set curfew time, the world is our oyster."

"Thanks to this ample free time, a few friends and I were able to watch the final soccer match of the FIFA World Cup at the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate is the primary spot for people throughout Berlin to congregate to watch this sporting spectacle and the atmosphere was truly electric. We arrived an hour before the game to find security checkpoint lines with ten-minute waits and a massive crowd already stretching into the distance. Somehow, we managed to secure prime spots, giving us a clear view of the massive display, which was just about ten meters away. The majority of the Berliners around us were rooting for the French team, so all four goals they scored to win the game were causes for major celebration. Beverages were tossed in the air, chants were yelled, and eardrums were nearly shattered."

"On our return to the CIEE Global Institute, we stopped by a pizza restaurant and grabbed a few slices to go, making it back with an hour to spare before curfew. Overall, the experience was something that I will never forget. The independence provided to us by our program leaders lead to one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me and this freedom has quickly become one of my favorite parts of the trip."

Zane also provided some of his personal photos from this public viewing experience. 

Thank you to our two wonderful students for sharing their experiences in Berlin so far!