It is 47 Degrees F (8 C) and pouring rain. So the company, food, and theater are better than the weather. I guess if I had to pick one thing to not be good, it would be the weather, so. . .

Ahh, the Pergamon is partially under construction but we still got to see a fair amount and it is so photogenic. I'm the only thing really out of focus--go figure. Day Two.

On my way to the Pergamon, there was a wind storm and rain and syn at the same time, which was pretty uncomfortable, but made for some lovely photos. Oh, how beautiful Berlin is!

 One of my favorite spaces in ALL of Berlin! So glad this was open.

 I'm always struck by how many well-adjusted kids are in Berlin, though many of them are riding high which always has me a bit worried.

 It's Spargel-Zeit. Everything has Spargel in it. Yep, looks like I'm the only meat-eater on this trip. And this is the first meat I've had in a week. Beelitzer Spargel is SO yummy.

Berlin is always changing. I discovered the restaurants on this street near Eberswalder Strasse last year and was happy to return. YUM!

A

 And we saw our first show together. Herbert Fritsch directed der die mann. And I got my first questions: What was that about. We are right on schedule here. There won't be another show anything like this. For those who came here last year--same director as Murmel Murmel's director.

'Nuff said. G'night!

Butterflies

I'm sitting, waiting for my flight and it's finally hitting me... I'm going to Germany! There has been so much suspense leading up to this moment, Deutsches Theatre, all of the planning that went into this trip, the random bursts of excitement throughout the semester, and of course googling everything and anything about the places we will be visiting. I've been to Germany two times before, however none of my previous trips have had as much planned. I can't wait for what's in store! I apologize in advance for my grammar and english, I haven't written a paper that wasn't in german in over a year. So please, bare with me. 

If I'm being completely honest, I'm most excited for Frühstück! I don't know whether it's the fresh bread rolls or the abundance of cheese and cold-cuts, but I'm ready to EAT. I can't quite put into words what I'm looking forward to outside of the food, because it would be too long and I'm simply too lazy to type a novel. Regardless, I know for a fact that this trip will be one of a lifetime and I'll experience and learn so much more than I could've imagined beforehand. I just hope I can stay seated on the plane without jumping around from all the butterflies in my stomach. Look out Germany, because this hungry belly is on its way!

~Zachary

I had such a beautiful flight over. Definitely love flying through Amsterdam (shorter flight). The first arrivers got here yesterday and I kept with the tradition of not letting anyone go to bed before seeing Brandenburger Tor, so... Amy and Josiah did great on their first day. They saw Alexanderplatz, Volksbühne (Rosa Luxemburg Platz), Friedrichshain, learned where museums, opera house, etc. are, picked up tickets at various locations and learned how to get there on their own. They went to an open market, had their first Eis and their first giant pretzel, good German coffee, saw the Reichstag, the Holocaust memorial, Potzdamer Platz (where the little green men were "Grenzen überwinden"  and they saw a few things in the west and met their host family. Whew, I don't know if I forgot anything--I probably did--but I know I had logged close to 24,000 steps by 6 pm so I'm pretty sure that they were close to that by the time they got to sleep off their jetlag. Please note that it was intentional to have the Quadriga of horses coming out of Josiah's head. More to come today.

I made it! A little bedraggled, but just checked into my hotel. Now, it's time for a nice long nap in rainy, gray, glorious Berlin! There were flowers and a nice note from a friend, waiting for me in my room. Ahhh. Can't beat European style! I'm so eager to share parts of Germany with my students!

I can't wait

I leave for Germany today!! This is my first time going abroad so I am extremely excited and a little nervous. I look forward to the food, art, and speaking German but mostly just to be totally submerged in another culture. I'm so grateful for everyone who had made this possible especially Janet, thank you!! I can hardly believe this is happening.
-Amy

      Grüß Gott as they say in München. This is the 15th study trip of the University of Michigan Residential College Deutsches Theater, a company I started at the University of Michigan in 1985. We are so excited! Our trip this year is sponsored by the UM International Institute (Danke!).  The Residential College provided scholarships to the students on the trip (Danke!) RC Alumni also made donations that helped make this trip possible (Danke!). We will be shouting out "Danke!" on a daily basis at the top of our lungs to each of you, who made our trip possible. And as actors, we have the lungs (and good diction, I might add) to make our thanks heard across the Atlantic!
       I will be leaving early to make final arrangements, pick up tickets, etc. for our trip. The students will be able to see theater almost every night, and we will see lots of great art and will try our own hand at making art. We'll also have some fantastic alternative walking tours and art and theater workshops. (Shhhhhh!  The tours and lessons are still a surprise to the students.)
      This year's group is very small by RC German trip standards--only four students--and myself. It's the perfect group, and it reminds me of our first two study trips back in 2002 and 2003, which also had 4 students, though those trips were over Spring Break and we had a lot of snow and rain. With a small group, accessing museums, eating out, getting tickets, etc. is much easier than it is with our usual bigger groups. I can't wait (!!!!) to show the students "my cities" in Germany. Can't wait to take them to my favorite theaters, museums, and restaurants. And this trip will feature, as usual, city life as well as retreats to the beautiful countryside. Ich kann kaum abwarten!
      We will do our best to post something every day to the blog and we hope you will like seeing our pictures and blog posts. If we miss a day or two, never fear! It will likely mean that we are just too busy taking in the sights and having fun. On those days, you are welcome to visit previous blogs from our 2013 and 2014 trips (See links at the top of the page).