6.4.16 City Office of Development:

What a long, informative session! I really appreciated seeing all of the models it helped me get a better grasp of the layout and history of Berlin. It really put into effect the idea of Berlin being a city of constant Becoming.

11.4.16 Boros Bunker:

Spinning trees, a popcorn machine, claustrophobia, put a house on it, the most moving piece of artwork was in a hallway, a special room for lights, “site specific pieces”, and the blank stare of the guide when asked if the bunker would be open in case of a tragedy, “it’s meant to play with your lack of knowledge”, and shattered glass that wasn’t glass but was glass but is now steel — that about sums it up.

13.4.16 Street Art Tour:

I couldn’t really focus on the street art while we were walking in a large group of people and trying not to run into each other – however, when the tour ended Kate and I ended up hanging out with Evelyn the tour guide. We looked at the art on fragments of the Berlin wall and talked about the growth of style from the 80’s until now. We also looked at the art outside of squats and talked about how street art helped turn places which were once definitively made for the wealthy into safe and radical leftist spaces.

18.4.16 Jüdisches Museum Berlin:

The best part of that tour is when I walked far enough away from the tour guide to where the microphone was out of ear shot and I got to sit in this room where show tunes were playing and dancing was being shown on this little screen. It was obviously like, communicating the varied aspects of Jewish culture and I thought it was really important to think about the striving for the continuity of a culture and religion.

20.4.16 Berlin Wall Memorial Documentation Center:

I think that the emotional intensity of that excursion really altered the way I was thinking of it in the current moment. I couldn’t really process what was being said to me, when watching the documentary all I could focus on was the narrator’s voice and when walking around all I could think about is how badly I wanted to take off my backpack. When I got home all I could think about was Donald Trump.