So, lets start with the weekend in Berlin (school sponsored!) and the craziness that is Oktober 3rd, the Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit). Leaving on the 2nd, we arrived in Berlin, dropped off our stuff at the hostel, and immediately began exploring the city, aka heading out to experience the famous nightlife. The next day we headed out to the Stazi Museum to check out some of the ways in which the East German government maintained control over its populace and various methods used to spy on suspected defectors in the general population. Of all of the things in the museum, the spy equipment was the most interesting and the stories about how they were used and who they were used to spy on. However, I was also partial to the room that displayed various rugs that were in the offices of the Stazi Headquarters. It really gave me some great decorating ideas...
The rest of the day was walking around Berlin and seeing the major sites, such as Brandenburger Tür (Brandenburg Gate), the line of blocks that traces the path of the Berlin Wall, the remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the location of the Führerbunker, and the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe.
Since we were walking all around, we didn't get to spend as much time in each of the spots as I would have liked, but at least we saw them and spent at least a little bit of time at each. My favorite though was probably the memorial because of the way in which it was done. trying to convey a sense of uneasiness, the entire memorial is made up of blocks of concrete of a uniform size but different heights and placed in long lines along a very wavy ground that seemed almost like a wave pattern. Overall, the effect was immensely unsettling and powerful.
Saturday was a free day so a couple of us wandered around the city stopping by various places we were interested in visiting. Some of the places we visited included Humbolt Universität and the Universität Museum where they have a really famous dinosaur skeleton that one of my friends desperately wanted to see. Turns out that this is the dinosaur fossil that definitively links bird to dinosaurs. It even has feathers! After the museum, we tried to get into another museum but the line was at least 100 to 150 people long (no exaggeration!) so instead we stumbled upon a flea/craft/everything market where we took some time to shop and relax after a long day.
Before we left on Sunday, a couple of us decided that we really wanted to go to the Pergamonmuseum to see the Ishtar Gate and the other artifacts in the museum. Luckily we managed to get in early and it turned out that it was the last day of a special exhibit about Babylon and the impact of the Babylonian civilization on the modern world. In this exhibit was the only remaining pieces of the Gilgamesh Epic and the original Code of Hammurabi. Two amazing artifacts that had me squealing my little history major head off. Following the trip to the museum, we had to pack up and head off to return to Marburg. Overall an amazing trip in an amazing city which I could easily fall in love with.
Since then I have jut been enjoying my time in Marburg and the surrounding areas. Two weekends ago a few of us went to Rüdesheim and this past weekend we went to Frankfurt for the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the largest book fair in THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!
So to end this post I will leave you all with two more pictures from Berlin that are both entertaining and informative. Firstly, a picture of the green crosswalk man in the area of Berlin that was formally East Berlin.
Look at him, all proud and positive, head thrown back while walking into his prosperous communist future. Then the red crosswalk man in the same area. 
Very imposing and yet cute. These signals are completely different from those used in the area of Berlin that was formerly West Berlin. When the reunified government tried to get rid of these signs and install the same ones that were on the West side (the exact same as those found in the US), the East Berliners through a hissy fit and managed to convince the government to let them keep their crosswalk men. now the signals are an easy way to tell if you are in an area that was formerly East or West Berlin, just look for the happy communist walking men and they will let you know where you are.
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