Travelling in Dresden and Berlin, Germany 2007

 Dresden

Dresden is the capital of the Free State of Saxony. It is one of the most beautiful German cities. The city is divided into old town and new town. The architecture with the Baroque style in the old town really attracts my interest. After being destroyed in 1945, many building were rebuilt.

The Church of our Lady, Dresden

I think that the Church of our Lady is very beautiful and it has an interesting history. This is Germany’s most important protestant church. Its characteristic dome collapsed on 15^th February 1945 after the bombs raids. The church has since regained its originally appearance, largely through donations received from all over the world.

The Moritz Castle

Besides the Church of our Lady, I find other buildings, for example the City hall, Church of the Holy Cross, the Cathedral, the Zwinger, the Semper Oper House, the Moritz Castle and the Pillnitz Castle very interesting and beautiful. Those buildings showed that Germany has a good architecture and that Germany appreciates art, culture and history.

The Zwinger, Dresden

 During my stay in Dresden, I have visited the Volkswagen (VW) Glass Manufactory and Feldschloesschen Pilsener Beer Industry. I found it very interesting because it proved that Dresden is not only a city of art and culture but also a city of innovative ideas and creativity. The VW Glass Manufactory showed sophisticated architecture as the setting for an innovative combination of art and production. I think that the other Germany’s Industries are also very good and have excellent technology. The Germany’s industries really attract my interest.

  Berlin

The situation in Berlin is different than in Dresden. Berlin is really a big city. As the capital of Germany, Berlin is crowed and too big for me. I thought that I can be lost if I didn’t follow my guide. There are many interesting places to visit in Berlin. We made a city tour around Berlin and visited the Berlin Wall, Brandenburger Gate, Alexanderplatz, the Budy Bears Monument, Postdamer Platz, Holocaust Monument and Museum and the Deutsche Bundestag.

Paintings on the Berlin-Wall

One of my most invaluable experiences during my stay in Germany is visiting the Deutsche Bundestag. I haven’t ever visited a national congress building (Gedung MPR/DPR) even in my country, Indonesia. Therefore I find it very cool and interesting to visit the national congress building far away from my country and it is in Germany. Das ist echt Super! From this building we can have a beautiful overlook around Berlin.

The Deutsche Bundestag

International Dresden Summer Course 2007 at TUDIAS, Technical University, Dresden

          This post is about my experince during an International Summer Course 2007 about German Language and Culture in Dresden. I would like to thank GIS sponsoring companies and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for the opportunity and trust given to me so I can be supported by the German Industries Scholarship (GIS) and receive a scholarship to follow a University Summer Course 2007 in Germany. This scholarship has improved my German language skills, enriched my knowledge about German Culture and therefore strengthens my love and interest about Germany.

             On 11^th August 2007 I went from Giessen to Dresden by train. In Dresden I was picked up by my friend from Indonesia. She receives a DAAD professional Scholarship. I stayed for one night in her flat. She explained me a lot of simple but interesting things, for example: how to buy tickets from an automatic machine, the places where I can buy rice and Asiatic food, where the church is, how to open and use an automatic key with infra red sensor, and the fact that we can drink water from the water faucet directly without cooking it.

            I checked in the the Studentenwerk Dresden's International Guest House at Hochschulstraße 50 on Sunday, 12^th August 2007. The Guest House is located directly on the university campus and the course place. From the Guest house I can reach the central station (Dresden Hauptbahnhof) and the city centre, with all its famous sights, within a couple of minutes. On Monday, 13^th August 2007 I went to TUDIAS for registration. The course program started on 14^th August 2007. There were 114 course participants from 30 different countries. I was the only participant from Indonesia.

International Dresdner Summer Course 2007 

The course

            International Dresden Summer Course 2007 at TUDIAS, Technical University, Dresden was an intensive German language course. Besides the mainly concern lectures, workshop and exercise, this course also offers excursion, day trips, guided tours, visit in the museum and spare time activities.

            At the first day of this course, I followed a placement test. According to the placement test my class was VII A. Class IA is the lowest class and class VIIIA is the most advanced class. The course level for my class was for C1. 

          The name of my teacher was Mr. Holm Buchner. There were 14 course participants in my class. Mr. Buchner is a good teacher. He made the course atmosphere so interesting, fun and enjoyable. My classmates came from different countries. They came from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Turkey, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea and Czech.  

In front of The Berlin-wall with my friends from Russia and Poland

My Clasmates

           The learning method was very good and interesting. I have improved my German language skill because I used this language every day. This course gave me the opportunity to read, listen, write and speak German intensively every day.

            We mostly practiced to speak German and to listen the German language. In some dialogues, we explained about the situation based on the topic in our country or hometown. We shared about the culture and social condition in each course participant’s country. We listened to different dialogues and German songs, for example Mensch, Aufstehn, Du traegst keine Liebe in Dir, Maennersachen, etc. I really enjoyed the songs. I think that it is a good way to learn German. Besides speaking and listening, we also learned about the German Grammar, reading comprehension and wrote some German text by our selves.

Intercultural experiences

            During the course, I get many friends from different countries. One of my best friends comes from Bulgaria. I find very interesting and funny that the Bulgarians have a different and unique body language to say yes and no. The Bulgarians say yes by shaking their head to left and right and they say no by shaking their head up and down. These are opposite than the common way from other countries to say yes and no.

            My friends who lived in the same flat come from South Korea and Japan. They are very kind and we have a good friendship until now. During our stay in the Guest house, they cooked some traditional food from Korea and Japan and we had a dinner together. We also explained to each other many things about our country.

My friends who lived in the same flat at the Guest House.

The location is besides the Elbe River.

Back to Indonesia

I checked out from the Studentenwerk Dresden's International Guest House on 1^st September 2007. On that day, I went from Dresden to Mainz by using Intercity Express Train. My friends picked me up at the Mainz central station and I stayed in their house during 1^st until 4^th September 2007.

On 4^th September 2007 I was flying from Frankfurt International airport back to Indonesia using Royal Brunai Airlines. At the Frankfurter airport, I met another DAAD Scholarship holder from Indonesia. His name is Ade from Yogyakarta. I was a little bit sad and also happy. I was sad because after one month in Germany I must leave this country. I was happy because I received so many invaluable experiences in Germany and after I arrived in Indonesia I could share it to other people. 

I hope that one day I can visit this country again.