Final Blog

Learning about Germany was interactive.  We did a lot of the work ourselves through research, and were further enlightened on topics of Germany by our professor.  The class started by learning about Germany’s 16 states, and ended with the topic of German food.

• There are 16 states in Germany: Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia. Three of the states are actual cities (Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin) and the capital of Germany is Berlin.
• The German Political System is made up of two major parties.  The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), which represent the centre-right, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), representing the centre-left.  There are three other parties represented in the Bundestag: The Free Democratic Party (FDP), the Green Party, and the Left Party (Pirates).  The head of the government is the Chancellor, who at this time is Angela Merkel of the CDU party.  She is also the first female to be Chancellor of Germany.
• Dance & Fine Arts.  We learned about Pina Bausch, Wim Wenders, and Richard Wagner.  Pina died during the making of a 3D film by Wenders.  Pina had a unique way of expressing words and meanings in dance; such as love, power, beauty, joy, freedom.
• All Quiet on the Western Front – This was a book about a German soldier during WWI.  The book gave me perspective of what it was like to be a soldier during the time.  The main character is Paul Bremer.  His comrades are mostly his school pals, but there is an older mentor to Paul whose name is Stanislaus Katczinsky, or Kat. He is my favorite character in the book.  I enjoyed his caring manner, his ideals on life, and his ability to be self-sufficient.
• German Culture was discussed in the 18, 19 and 20^th centuries regarding topics of Industry & Business; Fine Arts, Music, Theater, Dance; Literature; Media; Role of Women; Health; Sports & Health.  Much information was given about these topics - too much to list - however, I will comment that it was interesting to learn about famous people from Germany, the many inventions, and firsts this small country had on the world.
• Youth Culture – The movie “Berlin Calling” depicted the life of a young DJ, Ickarus, who seems lost in life.  He takes many kinds of street drugs and ends up in a rehab clinic where he struggles to get a hold of his life.  In the end, it appears he is on the right path, but the movie leaves you questioning whether he goes back to drugs.
• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex – this movie tells of the Red Army Faction (RAF), which started in 1970 in Germany.  The RAF was a movement of young adults trying to change Government from its current state of fascism.  The group was in existence until 1998.
• German Food –I found it interesting that Pizza is very popular, and not just pepperoni pizza, lots of different toppings are put on pizza.  Another very popular food is Doner.  We also talked about German Christmas cookies and Stollen.  Food is a main determinant of any culture and most of us are already familiar with some type of German food.  But just because we have German restaurants in the states, doesn’t mean we’re eating authentic German food. 

Personal Comments:

What a great class to take.  I even learned how to blog!  I enjoyed the idea of not following strict rules.  Presentations and blog posts were left to our own creative minds.  And by allowing that, I saw a lot of different ideas of teaching a class.  Thanks Professor Specht-Jarvis for the added humor and making the class entertaining.