Hello from Metz! We all arrived on Monday after a long journey from all over the world. This year, I am excited to have the honor of serving as the program assistant before heading off to graduate school in the fall. We a diverse group of 20 students, and of course, Dr. Birchfield will be with us for the whole 10 weeks. Dr. Markley will join us for a few weeks to teach the human rights courses and Dr. Young will give us some lectures next week. Head over to the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies website and click the EU Study Abroad tab to find the latest itinerary for our learning adventure. As an overview, we’re in Metz (at Georgia Tech Lorraine) until early June before heading to Brussels. Afterwards, we’ll visit The Hague, Paris and Berlin.

After arriving yesterday, we each settled into our individual rooms before heading over to the GTL welcome party. Here is a picture of the group for this summer taken with the program’s GoPro camera which we will use to log our summer activities.

The Group

After meeting some of the over 250 students participating in the GTL study abroad program, Dr. Birchfield treated us to pizza. We all got to know each other, and I’m really excited to work with such a great group of students.

On Tuesday, we started off by attending the GTL Orientation where we heard about important issues such as the honor code, computer and security procedures. We also participated in a tour of the campus and enjoyed lunch in the CROUS cafeteria. Most students thought that the food was really good!

After lunch, we had an introduction lecture where Dr. Birchfield gave us an overview of the summer program. We then headed into Metz and took our first trip on Metz Public Transportation to Place de la Republique. From there, we walked over to the Place d’Armes and got to see the famous cathedral up close. At the Place d’Armes, we ran into the Mayor of Metz, Dominique Gros and Dr. Birchfield introduced him to us.

The Mayor of Metz, Dominique Gros

The Group with the Mayor of Metz

You’ll notice that it looks like we are on a train. That’s the train touristique!! We started at the Place d’Armes and headed to the Place de la Comédie. Along the way, we saw the cathedral and the marché couvert (covered market). We then headed to the Tour Belle Isle, the Arsenal, and the Tour Camouffle. We also saw the old train station, Place Saint Louis and the Haut de St Croix. During the tour, we learned about Metz’s key role in the region throughout the years. Metz is currently the capital of the Lorraine region and the Moselle department in France. Before this, Metz went through 3 wars in less than 100 years (the Franco-Prussian War, WW1 and WW2). Metz was also an important Roman city, the birthplace of the Carolingian dynasty (Charles Martel and Charlemagne). Metz’s history shaped the region and we will be studying most of this. I’m excited for this summer and look forward to the rest of the blog posts. I’ll be back at the end to write a summary! A bientot!

After seeing Portugal win the EURO 2016 last night 12 years after losing to Greece at home, we had the pleasure of having a tour of Berlin today. Our tour guide, Stevie, is an American who has lived in Berlin for over 30 years, so she had plenty of knowledge and was obviously passionate about her city!

We started off by visiting the Charlottenburg Palace which is the largest palace in Berlin. Stevie told us that the palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte and a bit more history. Unfortunately, there was scaffolding so we couldn’t see it but upon doing a bit more research I learned that it’s made in baroque and rocco styles. After this we drove to our next point and on the drive Stevie told us that Americans are loved and told us about an experience she had when she first moved to Berlin- she was watching a film with a German friend and he said “I never thought I would be sitting with an American watching a film.” During this drive she also explained to us that in the area we were in many of the buildings were badly damaged, and therefore most buildings were new.

We got to our next stopping point, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The original was built in the 1890s but was severely damaged during the Second World War. Today, there is a memorial hall and then a separate church.

After this brief stop, we continued driving and Stevie would point out where the Berlin Wall would have been as well as where the British, French and American sectors of West Berlin were. We then stopped along the wall and walked along where it would’ve been. Stevie also showed us where the Second Wall in East Berlin would have been, as well as the “no man zone.” Also near here was a piece of the Berlin Wall as well as the Former Air Ministry during the Third Reich which is now the Finance Ministry.

After this, we passed by Checkpoint Charlie and went to the East Side Gallery. She told us that it was developed after wall fell by an East German advertiser and West Berlin artist in 1990. We then drove through what would have been East Berlin and Stevie pointed out typical buildings and Soviet Art. Our last point on the tour was the Book Burning Memorial and the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse). The Book Burning Memorial commemorating the book burning consists of a glass plate in the ground, giving a view of empty bookcases (Which can hold all 20.000 burnt books). The Neue Wache was originally a guardhouse for the Palace of King William III of Prussia but is today the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship. The sculpture inside is an enlarged version of one by Käthe Kollwitz, who was a famous artist who died during the War.

After this, we were free and a few colleagues and I went to the Topography of Terror which sits on the site of buildings of the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS. The exhibitions were quite interesting and informative.

Today was a truly informative and day and I look forward to visiting the Bundestag (Parliament) tomorrow!