SEAN
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
SEAN
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
We were all assigned a role before we traveled to Germany. These role were to help keep the trip going smoothly, as well as for us to take responsibility for each other and not always counting on our two leaders. The roles consisted of The Banker, The Ambassador, The Herder, The Planner, The Guardian..etc. My role assignment was The Herder, I had to make sure that we always had everyone while traveling throughly out Germany/France. I had to keep track of attendance and gather loiters when leaving a destination. At times I felt like I was a border collie dog herding sheep. The role made sure that I was alert of where everyone was and constantly keeping and eye out that we didn’t loose any one in our fast paced walking and transferring from train to train or from train to bus.
Being the herder has given me the chance to see what it is like to keep an eye on students while in big crowds or on a field trip, or even just walking the hallways of the school. I would be constantly counting heads making sure we had everyone. It also gave me a new appreciation for my past teachers who took us on big field trips while I was in school.
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We visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which I'll be honest, I didn't know much about this concentration camp. You only usually hear about Auschwitz and those horrific events.
Originally conceived as a place to subjugate enemies of the Nazi’s, some 200,000 people were imprisoned here and subjected to systematic torture, starvation, forced labor and some of the worst living conditions. As I toured the memorial, I was educated on the truths about the camp where 50,000 people were brutally murdered by the Nazi’s and 60,000 held captive until 1950 during the Soviet era. Seeing this historical sight from a horrific time in history was something I won’t forget. The feelings that I felt from walking around the memorial was anger & sadness. I still can’t wrap my brain how something like this happened more than once. Last year I visited the beautiful country, Rwanda and two of their genocide memorials. I saw how history repeated itself, the Rwandan Genocide and the Holocaust had rulers that wanted racial purity. All I can think about is how much we need world peace(cliche I know). We also need to make sure that we don’t forget about these horrific events. I feel that these are slipping away from memory, let’s keep on education ourselves and especially our youths. As an upcoming teacher, I plan to educate my students on these awful events. The Holocaust/Rwandan Genocide provides one of the most effective subjects for examining basic moral issues. It deepens reflection about contemporary issues that affect societies around the world, such as the power of extremist ideologies, propaganda, the abuse of official power, and group-targeted hate and violence. I think, if we are to stop any events like this happening ever again, the whole world must educate its children about events like these. We arrived to Berlin on June 16th after our 7 hour plane ride from Toronto. We checked into our Hotel and had a little it of time of get settled into our rooms and freshen up before we started a walking tour of Berlin.
We used their train system for our travel. It was very cool to use how their public transportation system worked and looked like. It was very clean which I was surprised to see. I’ve only done NYC’s trains, which the stations and the train cars are not clean at all. Seeing a lot of Berlin’s historic sights and how important it is to their city was something I am glad I got to experience. History is what makes a city so unique. We saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, as well as the Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism. Berlin is very open to everyone, which is something we don’t see in the States. It was great to see a city that accepts everyone. One of my favorite things we have done was going to an authentic German Biergarten. It an open area with open seating. It is encouraged for people to sit with strangers and talk. Which is a wonderful thing and something we don’t really do in America. I feel that I am getting the true german culture at the biergartens. I have enjoyed eating the German cuisine, which has mostly been sausage, sauerkraut, pretzels and beer. Berlin has been so much fun to experience...now to Strasbourg, France!! |
AuthorI am a Childhood Education Major with a concentration in Social Studies. I am very active in the Buffalo theatre community and have performed with many local theatre companies. I studied musical theatre in NYC and have worked at Walt Disney World as a Character/Parade performer. Last summer I had the privilege of traveling to Rwanda with The Anne Frank Project and I'm very excited to be traveling to Germany. ArchivesCategories |