Author Archives: jrk5290

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Museum.JPG

Here is the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, built directly above the museum. The idea behind this memorial, located a few hundred yards from the Brandenburg Gate, is that history will always be present. Peter Eisenman intentionally designed this memorial to impart unto the beholder feelings of a  confusing and unclear atmosphere.

I will try to post more pictures and discuss them more in time. This website is not very co-operative, so I am constantly looking for better ways to present my media. I will let you know if I find better ways…until then, cheers!


Location: Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

Memorial, promise for pictures

Holocaust Museum.JPG

Here is the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, built directly above the museum. The idea behind this memorial, located a few hundred yards from the Brandenburg Gate, is that history will always be present. Peter Eisenman intentionally designed this memorial to impart unto the beholder feelings of a  confusing and unclear atmosphere.

I will try to post more pictures and discuss them more in time. This website is not very co-operative, so I am constantly looking for better ways to present my media. I will let you know if I find better ways…until then, cheers!


Location: Brandenburg Tor, Berlin, Germany

Berlin Trip

It has been a crazy last few days! We began this trip nine days ago following our intensive German final! We headed out from Vienna and stopped in Prague to have lunch and explore the city a little. – Side note: Prague was definitely one of my favorite cities so far.

This post is a few days late, but I am going to tag it in Berlin regardless, so that it will show on my map where I was at. Towers of cathedral.JPG

Prague had the most beautiful cathedral that I have yet seen to date! They were created in the gothic style, complete with Gargoyles and all. I wish I had had my camera with me while there, but alas I did not have it. The second stop in Prague that we had made (our return trip) was definitely better than the first. Our first experience was in the center of the city where most of the tourism is centered. It was beautiful and great architecture, but our lunch experience was a little offsetting. We had roasted duck (individually) and a few other accoutrements along with it. The meal was delicious. We asked for the bill, which they refused to split, and we calculated the currency conversion from Czech crowns to Euros and included tax and a generous tip and went to pay. When we were at the counter the manager was adamant that the bill was in fact 30Euro more than we had already paid. We asked him why and where this extra euro cost came from, but he was not volunteering any pertinent information. Eventually we paid the bill (totaling 115Euro) and left feeling had – never a good experience.

Our return trip, however, my roommate and I decided to get away from the tourist sector. We spent less than 5 euro on lunch and hiked up to one of the oldest cathedrals in the city. It was completely encompassed by a wall, stairs of which leading to it opened up to a terrific view of the city of Prague in its entirety. It was amazing.

Back in Berlin, we had an interesting time! Way to many things to do and see in only 10 days though. We visited numerous museums and historic sites, the likes of Checkpoint Charlie, The Agypt Museum, The German Museum, Holocaust Museum, and the remains of the Berlin Wall. It was humbling to be touching such a powerful symbol of authority and pain for so many people. Hard to imagine everything that occurred during that tumultuous time.

My overall impression of Germany was that the people were super friendly (maybe even slightly more so than Austria – they were eager to help you with anything and were very patient with our German speaking attempts, I even had one woman tell me that my “deutsch ist sehr gut” after telling her about some CDs I had bought. The feel of the city to me was not as Eastern European, but that does not mean that it should be. I liked its unique qualities, but I also found a certain comfort in the fact that it was more like an American city. Take out the language aspect and one would have a difficult time distinguishing the two. I think that a good number of the students on the trip felt this same comfort and automatically decided that they liked Berlin better, but I think that every city I have been to so far has owned its unique qualities.


Location: Johannisstr. 11, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Some Updates

                          Since the last post, a decent amount has happened. Even since before the previous post I neglected the posting of some potentially interesting details…

The TU Ball (Technical University) As international students with IES, we were cordially invited to take part in the Viennese ball put forth by the Technical University. It was held at the Hofberg and lasted the entire night. I realize that, by American standards, all night really means more of a 7-12 pm event, but in Austria this is seemingly not the case. The ball did not begin until nearly 9 pm and continued deep into the night and early morning hours (5 pm). It was truly a new experience. It was straight out of a fairytale with the escort of the men and women in the gown and garb at the beginning, the live orchestra providing the music, and the beautiful people.

The palace was massive and in each of its ball rooms there was a different band playing a unique genre of music to dance to. I had the opportunity to dance salsa, swing, waltz, and folk specials all in one night! Truly marvelous! 

Video of entrance

Daus des Meeres Last Wednesday night we took the evening to visit the Haus des Meeres in Vienna. This is a zoo of sorts; it was very similar to the aquarium located in Baltimore, Maryland only not so immense. They had ocean creatures, fresh water creatures, a tropical rain forest room where the bats flew freely about to and fro. There were also monkeys in this portion. They were adorable and surprisingly tame. They descended their rock walls and abandoned the safety of their trees to investigate the strangers in their habitat (us)…some of the ‘strangers’ were more interesting than others apparently.

In addition to the wildlife, the zoo was also a phenomonal view of the city from its 11th floor (12th floor in America). This building was originally constructed early 1900s to serve as an anti air strike base, but was later renovated and converted into a zoo. It was a cool place. Mental note: I must go back some point during the semester, there is a museum of medieval prison and torture right next door to the zoo. It looks very interesting, plus it is underground – automatic win!

Germany Trip We are currently undertaking our conquest of Germany. We departed from Vienna early Saturday morning (after finishing our intensive German finals the day before). We drove for nearly four hours to get into Prague, Czech Republic. This city was truly breathtaking with all of its gothic architecture and mystique. We all want to go back later and spend more than two hours there.

While walking, my roommate and I had a run-in with members of the KGB. We were pretty nervous at first, but once we discovered their game, we followed suite – so as to avoid looking too suspicious and therefore drawing the attention of the spies in the immediate vicinity. The agents told us that we had become “persons of interest,” and then proceeded to ask us if we had any knowledge about the KGB or communist situation in the area. We explained the situation to them, and they allowed us to leave without too much more hassle than that. I feel like I am always the one to experience these crazy things.

We arrived in Dresden, Deutschland only two’ish hours after leaving Prague. This is also an amazing city. It has been remodeling and restoring ever since it was bombed to pieces in WWII. The Germans (and those who aided) have done a wonderful job at the restoration.

-The Patriots are losing so far in Superbowl to this point, I am kind of hoping this continues…and the halftime show was kind of a disappointment also, but what else is new-

Later today, we will continue on with our trip to Leipzig for lunch and the afternoon, then on to Berlin! Will be fun!


Location: GuestHouse Mezcalero Dresden, Germany

It has begun!

     Here I am, in Vienna! It is hard to believe that it has already been two full weeks. So much has happened and yet somehow, it seems like I have done so little. It is quite a strange sensation. I just know that I have a LOT more to do and see and experience here.
     Okay, so what have I been up to these last two weeks? Well, firstly, I spent my initial weekend in Vienna in a tiny little town nestled up in the mountains, known as Mariazelle. There we (the IES group) received our several orientations, met with most of the head individuals in the program here in Vienna, became introduced to each other and managed to simultaneously extract a little sampling of Austrian culture from the town. It snowed the entire duration of our stay, adding a certain eerie or gothic feeling to the scene. The main attraction of this city, the founding of which has been traced back to approximately 1150 AD, is the Basilica in the town center. Nearly a million pilgrims per year are recorded visiting the site, making this one of the most visited holy sites in all of Europe.
     Aside from the Basilica, the town was very low key, locals going to the town ski spot a few minutes out, but otherwise, it was a very sleepy sort of town. I have not experiences quite this atmosphere before.
     After our weekend excursion and break in, we drove into Vienna and dispersed, by way of taxi, to our assigned housing. If you are ever in Vienna and can avoid it, do not use taxi. They are quite expensive (as I suspect is the case in most of the world, but have you ever paid in Euro?) This is a fact that I constantly overlook when buying anything here. The simple fact that the Euro –> US dollar is not equal. The items with low price tags are not necessarily good deals. The matter becomes further complicated by the measuring method here. Have you ever bought meat in grams? Or dekagrams? Or drinks in terms of Euro per liter?
     I digress. My first week consisted mainly of trying to figure out the public transportation system, which is heavily relied upon. It takes me 35 minutes (on a good day) to get to school. I walk 5 minutes to hop onto the Stra�enbahn 43. Ride that about 15 minutes then hop onto the U2 which is about a 5 minute walk to and another 5 minute ride. Then I walk another 5 minutes or so to get to the school in the first district (or ‘Bezirk’ as it is called here). The transportation system is quite extensive, as you can imagine, I have gotten lost several times. Many of those times resulting in very extended (originally short) trips across Vienna. 🙂 Good times.
     The most interesting event so far has been the Austrian ball (TU Ball) that I attended just this past Thursday night. It was unlike anything I have yet experienced. I will write more about this and post some videos (if I can figure out how) on here soon!

Closing thought: I have only been here two weeks, but already I feel that I am being stretched as an individual. I have begun broadening horizons in ways I had not imagined. I am excited, but also nervous anticipating how I may continue to grow personally and in what ways I may come to better understand of myself and the world I live in. (and yes, I realize how cliche this sounds, but it is the real McCoy. Ask me sometime where this saying came from if interested)


Location: Vienna, Austria

Study in Vienna

The time I spend in Vienna should undoubtedly be the highlight of my college career. The opportunity to study a foreign culture in a foreign culture is an amazing one. While there, I intend to become as fully immersed in the culture as I can while still being focused enough on my studies to learn and get the grades. This is not only a time of learning, but expanding my horizons and understanding of the world I live in. 


Location: State College