Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Countdown Begins...

Guess what? I'm going to Germany. Home of the Berlin Wall, Volkswagen cars and beer.

This semester, my Advanced Production class will get the opportunity to explore the cities of Berlin, Bonn and Eisenach; all while producing a travel series on-the-go through multimedia blogs and videos. 

Throughout the semester, our class will be posting on a blog sharing our groups' adventures around Germany, discovering more about its cities through the food, history, people and any other fun activities we find ourselves in.

This particular blog will focus on my personal reflection of the trip, both from a cultural and academic standpoint. It is not required for the class but I want to make it a goal to keep all my family and friends back home (or studying abroad also!) up to speed with my own traveling experience.

We won't be putting anything together until we arrive in Germany. However, one project we plan to do while in Berlin is a Man on the Street video where we will ask locals about life in Berlin. And as a part of our project, our groups had to create posters to display when finding people to speak with us.

Here is the design we created for our group as a sneak peek to what we will be doing later on:
 
"You know you're in Berlin when..."

I saw the opportunity to go on this trip for a few reasons: 1) To improve and learn more skills in video production as well as multimedia, 2) To, of course, explore the cultures and traditions of this European country and 3) Find a native and see how they pronounce my last name.

One really cool thing about this trip, for me, is that I am full blooded German on both sides of my family. In fact, my own great grandparents on my mother's side emigrated here to United States when they were about my age.

Getting the opportunity to explore my ancestors' homeland makes this journey across the ocean even more special; which is why one of my goals is to find any Harbachs living in Germany and possibly learn more about my ancestors. 

I've been talking about it for weeks with family and friends back home but I don't think it's really hit me that I am going out of the country for the very first time.

We are three days out until we leave and I am not quite sure when it will hit me and I will be like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to Germany."

Either way, I am psyched! I will try to post every other day, if not every day. There's so much I could talk about but I will leave that for upcoming posts!

Until then, auf wiedersehen! 

-Caitlin Harbach 




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