Final Blog

I am very happy that I chose to take German 110. At first I wasn’t very excited about taking the course, but after the first day those feelings went away. Professor Roland made this class very enjoyable by encouraging the students to be active in class discussions along with the group presentations. When classmates weren’t giving presentations he would lecture on the current topic. These lectures tended to be very informative and sometimes quite comical. Throughout the semester we covered many different topics. A few of the topics that I enjoyed learning about were the 16 states of Germany, its history, its political parties and its culture. Along with that, I enjoyed watching The Berlin Calling, Baader Meinhof, and reading the book, All Quiet on The Western Front.

Towards the beginning of the semester we learned about the 16 states. Professor Roland let the class split up into small groups and then present on a state. The state that my group presented on was Bremen, which happens to be the smallest of the 16 states. The rest of the class presented on the other 15 states which are Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and last but not least Thüringen. A few class sessions later we were told to have read the book called, All Quiet on The Western Front. This book showed the struggles of the young German soldiers during the war and how a generation was essentially lost due to the war. Along with reading this book, I liked watching the movie Baader Meinhof. Baader Meinhof was about the younger generation rebelling against everything that they grew up with. They wanted their voices to be heard. In order to get their voices heard they took part in doing acts of violence. It started out with one act of violence and then that just escalated into bigger and bigger acts of violence. Along with watching Baader Meinhof, I enjoyed watching the movie, The Berlin Calling. This movie was about a young talented music artist who goes on tour. While on tour he abuses many drugs that in turn lead to many problems. Both of these movies kind of go hand in hand by showing how the younger generation of Germany grew up. The last topic that I would like to mention is the history of women in Germany. It was very shocking for me to learn about how they were treated in the earlier years. They were viewed as only being good for three things, caring for their children, going to church, and cooking the meals at their homes. These are just a few of the many topics that I enjoyed learning about in German 110.

With that being said, I am glad I took this course. I learned a lot about the German culture. Before taking this course I didn’t really see myself studying abroad anywhere during college. However, that is no longer the case. I now have a strong desire to study abroad in Germany. If everything works out financially, I am in hopes to be studying in Germany for the fall semester of 2013.