Wittenberg, Germany

Friday our German language professors took us to Wittenberg for what turned out to be the most culturing day of my life.  It was so full of history and so great that my friends and I couldn't stop talking about it for hours!

Brief and necessary history of Martin Luther:  In the early 1500's, there in Wittenberg, he was part of the Catholic church's clergy.  He got frustrated that the church only preached about a God who was full of wrath, and he felt that since God sent Jesus to die for our sins, he no longer has wrath for us; just grace and love.  He was also frustrated that the Catholic church told parishioners that in order to be forgiven for their sins they had to buy slips of paper that said they were forgiven (aka, give their money to the church).  Fast forward.  In 1517, Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Schloßkirche (the church in Wittenberg) his 95 Theses, which stated his ideology and criticisms of the Catholic church.  He was then excommunicated from the Catholic church, but thanks to the invention of the printing press, the Theses was spread all over.  Luther then translated the Bible into German so that the poor could read it too (they didn't know Latin).  Overall, an awesome guy.

The town of Wittenberg is 115 km south of Berlin, so we took a speedy and comfortable regional train there.  I finally had the opportunity to see the beautiful German countryside!! But unfortunately I've been having some health issues and got a terrible migrane right before we got on the train, so I spent the entire ride with my eyes closed/head covered.

When we first arrived we went to Martin Luther's house which had been turned into an extremely well-done museum, definitely the best one I've ever seen.  They'd even preserved his living room from the early 1500's!! It was incredible.

Martin Luther's livng room.

The first translation of Luther's Bible, written in High German in 1534.

After, we went to lunch at the most traditional of German restaurants, and had a delicious meal.  Drinks were paid for by our school, so I figured it was the best opportunity to try German beer.  It was disgusting!! I took one sip and gave it to my friend. I'm glad I got that experience over with, so I can stop being harassed by everyone to try it.

Delicous

Next, we went to the Schloßkirche (Castle Church), which is where all this history took place!  We saw the door on which Luther posted his 95 Theses, and then went inside the church, which was so incredibly beautiful!!!

Inside the Schloßkirche

After this, we traveled by foot all the way to the other side of Germany (well that's what it felt like, but it was just the other side of Wittenberg) to see a public school/piece of art that the architect Hundertwasser redid in 1996.  It was.... quite a piece of art!  Definitely not my taste, but interesting to see.  We were taken on a tour of it by two of its students, so they did the tour in German and English and I was pleasantly surprised with how much German I understood! #progress. The architect even donated an observatory (as in, for astronomy)- could you imagine your high school having an observatory?!

The school was renovated in the '90s because they wanted to get rid of the classic (ugly and depressing) DDR (GDR) architecture, as this was part of Eastern Germany.  The architect basically put a facade over the old DDR walls, inside and out.  Now the school is a colorful glimpse of the present among endless depressing DDR-style apartment buildings.  It was definitely shocking to see.  I could never live in the former east, that's for sure! 

Hundertwasser's 'masterpiece'. 800 students go here.

Yeah, I know! 

After this we boarded the regional train to return to Berlin, and the sun had long since set, so I still couldn't see the countryside.  I tried to read a German version of trash magazine all the way home.  When I got back to my apartment I was making dinner when my host mom (who decided then that she'd mostly just speak to me in German, which is great and should be really helpful!) invited me and my flatmate to go to her Verein party!  Verein is really untranslatable.  It's essentially a club.  They have them for everything - chess, any sport, theater, music, hiking, etc.  You can really only be in one because they're a very big commitment; you have to pay dues, attend regularly, help plan events, etc. They're also for all ages.  Instead of having school sports, children join local Verein for their specific interest.  My host mom is in a dance-exercise verein.  

I wolfed down my dinner, changed, and we went to the party.  We chatted with her for a bit, and then started dancing!  Everyone danced for a while, and then her verein's teacher led some dances - it was like Zumba, in how it's led, but it was obviously not latin dancing.  It was so much fun, and such a great cultural experience. I'm so happy I went!

It was a long Friday (and thus a long post... my apologies), but I don't think I've ever had a day with more culture than that!