Today may have been one of my favorite days! We went to see some more of the embassies, a design museum, and the Berlin Dome. We've been here for a week now, and a lot of the traveling we did today made me realize we've covered alot of ground in that week! I didn't know much about Berlin at all a week ago, but now I feel like I can get around fairly well, and know way more about what things are where in relation to others. We got some good advice today from Sigrun, the woman that has been our Berlin contact, for some local restaurants and places where people our age hang out. Our apartments are in a touristy area, and we've been eating close by just for convenience and b/c we didn't know anywhere else to go. So, now that we know our way around a little better and know a little more, we can start branching out of our circle.

ARCHITECTURE

I really enjoyed the Bauhaus museum today. The first room you could enter was full of lamps. They were so fun! I tried to take some mental notes on how they were made so i could come up w/ my own renditions. There was one that used gold leaf on plexi, but as the light shines through, it gives an iridescent look. One of my favorite artists - yves klein - that i like purely for color usage, uses this gold color with his invention of blue. i'm hoping i can combine his colors w/ the lamp idea using my blue glass (if you know me, you know how exciting this sounds to me). So, anyway, the rest of the museum showcased the work and theories of the people of the Bauhaus - a school of design established in the 1920's. The tour was really interesting in that the guide was able to explain the thoughts and reasonings behind their designs. My favorite part was looking at the chairs. What we see today as simple clean lines, industrial design, etc was designed for ultimate comfort. The designer understood that its not a fluffy cushion that makes things comfortable but the lines that your body must form to. We also got to see original models of really famous buildings that these guys did - including the actual Bauhaus school in Dessau that we'll be seeing tomorrow, and the Barcelona pavilion by Meis van de Rohe.

Another favorite today was the Berliner Dom. This dome sat atop the biggest church in Berlin. The church was built to be viewed as the Protestant version of the Vatican. It is very extravagant for that reason. Its almost entertaining b/c the king has his initials all over the church as if bringing attention to himself rather than God. It was designed in a Roman Baroque style. I think I liked this tour so much because of the grandiose scale of the whole thing. Every surface of this building was decorated with gold designs, expensive materials, or detailed paintings/mosaics. When looking up at the dome from the floor you see two rows of windows, some columns, and at the oculus a stained glass dove. When standing there, these pieces obviously look big, but not as big as they really are. The columns/windows were 10meters tall (over 30 ft) the mural mosaics were over 40 square meters, and one dove wing was around 3 meters (over 9 ft.) Hearing those numbers in that space made you feel so small. After the tour of the main space, we got a tour of the crypts. One sarcophagus in particular was interesting: The dome was destroyed and fell in and through the floors of the church during the war. This tomb was placed directing under the dome in the crypt and was damaged from the fallen debris. It was further damaged from soldiers trying to break into it for treasure of some sort. After the crypts we were able to climb to the top of the dome and see out over Berlin. This was a better view (in my opinion) than on top of the Reichstag. I got some fun pictures up there. The climb to the top was tiresome, but not quite as tall as Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur in Paris, and the view was definitely worth it.

Tonight a group of us went to an graduate exhibit for architecture students at the Academy of Art in Berlin. I wanted to compare our class' work to theirs. And, Dad, you didn't waste your money.... our work was just as good if not better ... (I think better). It was most interesting to see the differences in how they make models. Some of their material choices were some that we hadn't seen before. They had some nice projects. Most were fairly simple with a lot of emphasis on diagrammatic stages. Our class at Tech got into the details and function of the building/project alot more. - which I think is important. Its good to see other schools' work and see where you as an individual stand in comparison as well as your school as a whole.

CULTURE

Food: Yesterday, i ate some currywurst. this is basically a hot dog w/ crispy exterior covered in ketchup and sprinkled w/ curry. But don't think hillshire farm or oscar meyer. ... its better than that. they serve these at little street stands all over the city and serve them w/ fries. pretty good. today, we ate at the Nordic Embassy. I had a stuffed bell pepper. ... nothing too exciting German wise.

I've just used the washer for the first time in our apartment. Luckily I wasn't the first one to have to figure it out, but its still an entertaining venture. We're currently sitting in the living room hearing it roar. it sounds like a space ship is landing in the bathroom ... quite strange. Everyone has been comparing the barrel size to our deep fryers back in the states. Its kind of a funny comparison if you think about it - we dunk our meat in a barrel full of grease the same size that they wash their clothes in.

Another cultural thing I've heard discussed this week is German education. Apparently children must take a test by the 8th grade. If they score high enough, they are sent to more school, college, etc. but if not, they are sent to technical school and learn a trade ... whatever they happen to be good at. So, basically your career is determined for you by the age of 14! I heard too that once you are in something it is hard to get out of it or switch professions later on. I don't know what college kids would do in America if they couldn't change majors! ha! It made me realize how nice it is to be able to have the freedom to choose what you want to do and what makes you happy. Maybe they don't focus on "doing what makes you happy" like we do in America. Maybe that's why we've become "work-aholics" b/c that's what we enjoy doing (supposedly). Maybe they work to work and find what makes them happy in other venues. is one way better than the other? Not entirely sure - just something to think about.

tomorrow we leave for our South Germany excursion. We'll hit dessau, munich, stuttgart, leipzig, and some others. We may not have full access to internet in some places, so i'll update when i can! And sorry for lack of pictures right now.... it is rather tedious to upload them. i'm thinking about putting them on a flickr account or something of the sorts so you can just click on a link. i'll let you know! goodbye for now....