Berlin: 14.2.2014

Today we finally got to explore Berlin a little. We started the day early with a visit to the Reichstag building, the seat of government in Berlin until the post-wall times. Here we learned much about the history of the socialist revolution in Germany, and from the top of the building we could see most of the city. After a quick big-picture look, we walked along the old wall corridor, by the Brandenburg Gate, and to Potsdamer Platz. Passing some memorials of the Jewish victims and of the Wall, we began our search for tickets to film screenings at the Berlinale. Unfortunately we were only able to buy tickets for two films in advance, but tomorrow we have hope that we can find leftover seats in our top picks.

One of the highlights for me was meeting Kathleen Harris, an NCSA alumna from the dance program who has been living and working in Germany for the past 5 or so years. I found it particularly helpful to speak with her about teaching English abroad, a path that I have been considering lately. She had many useful tips about living and working in Germany, and even better, now I have a contact in Berlin.

Following this meeting we got rush tickets for our first film of the Festival: Difret. I’ll let Emily speak about that, but I found the film and especially the talk with the director afterwards very interesting.