Final Post

When I was deciding what to take for fall semester I decided I wanted to take Ger 110 because I’ve been to Germany a couple of times and absolutely loved it. I thought that if I learned more about German culture it would remind me of everything I miss about Germany, but I also wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn about the things I didn’t get the chance to see while I was in Germany like common foods, hobbies, history, and what Germans did that was different from Americans in their pass time. I got all of my answers during this class. I could tell right away that the professor really wanted us to learn about Germany and take the information we learned away from the class. The professor always made sure that he made class interesting.

When the class started I knew it would be an entertaining class because the professor was always trying to make us students participate. We started by discussing the sixteen states of Germany and everyone was divided into groups to present on the state they were given. I got Bavaria which I was pretty excited about because I have been all over Bavaria and it is beautiful. I even got the chance to stay in the Villa in Ingolstadt where the SCSU students used to stay while studying abroad because my sister stayed there while attending the program thru SCSU. The next few weeks of class followed pretty similar every week we would have a new group on a new topic about Germany. Some of the topics included different eras of media, literature, women’s roles, business and industries. Every group would get up in front of the class and present the information they found on their topic. While this was going on the professor always made sure he stepped in to tell us the most important things and make sure that the presentations weren’t too boring for the rest of the class. Everyone was told to read the book “All Quiet on the Western Front”. This book was an amazing read, very interesting and sad. The book is about what soldiers have to endure during war and how the civilians can’t understand because they didn’t have to go through it.  

When we were getting to the end of the semester we started watching some films. Two of the films we watched were Berlin Calling and Baader Meinhof Complex. Berlin Calling was about a DJ who had his life taken over by music and drugs. The drugs were a huge distraction for him and his friends. The drugs were a way for him to get away from his life and he was very big into partying. Baader Meinhof Complex was about the Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF) group that was formed in 1970 in Germany. This group became for bombings, bank robberies, attacks, and kidnappings.  RAF was one of Germany’s most famous left-wing militant groups. The biggest tragedy they caused was called “German Autumn” which was responsible for 34 deaths and most of them weren’t even their targets but instead body guards and other victims who were in the way of the target. This movie was very inspirational and very sad. The RAF started out as a group that wanted to make a change but ended up making all of the wrong choices and people started to think of them as terrorists. It just shows how easily something can start with good intentions but turn into something very bad. Overall, this class was very fun and educational. I learned a lot and will remember what I learned from this class the next time I visit Germany.



Sources:
http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=672&tbm=isch&tbnid=L-UDNve0Yw-5aM:&imgrefurl=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Flag_of_Germany_%28state%29.svg&docid=U-bRmD-qPP-AKM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Flag_of_Germany_%28state%29.svg&w=1000&h=600&ei=1AHRUNiHHfKgyAHpxYHgAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=949&vpy=176&dur=1391&hovh=174&hovw=290&tx=226&ty=75&sig=104963618546822289644&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=241&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:175

Doner

“Doner kebab (Turkish: döner, döner kebap or döner kebabı), is a dish made of meat cooked on a vertical spit, normally veal or beef but also may be a mixture of these with lamb, and sometimes chicken. It may be served wrapped in a flatbread such as lavash or pita or as a sandwich instead of being served on a plate. It is a common fast food item in the Balkans, Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia. Seasoned meat in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly, cooking against a vertical rotisserie. The outside of the meat is then sliced vertically into thin, crisp shavings. Toppings include tomato, onion, lettuce, cucumber and chili.” I chose this because I absolutely love Doner Kebab’s and when I went to Germany I practically lived off of them. 

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab 

http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=672&tbm=isch&tbnid=fQPAtncNg6hIEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.thekitchn.com/inspiration-turkish-doner-keba-90131&docid=q62LcxPftFWGVM&imgurl=http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/kitchen/2009_07_15-doner.jpg&w=540&h=434&ei=KC3JUK2jK-TWyQGu5YDYBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=451&vpy=358&dur=5868&hovh=201&hovw=250&tx=153&ty=120&sig=104963618546822289644&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=186&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:0,i:174