Ive never fallen in love with a city more cleanly and quickly than I did with Berlinor any

city,
for that matter. I had to move halfway across the country in order to fully appreciate and love
Minneapolis and St. Paul, where I had lived for 10 years. But, as I learned from German band Tubbe
when they played at the Christopher Street Day Festival near Brandenburger Tor, in Berlin, darf man
das! In Berlin, its allowed. And thats truemany things are possible in Berlin and the city eagerly
gives its permission to explore these opportunities. I stayed in Berlin for four weeks and any chunk of
free time I had was devoted to exploring the city, whether that meant taking an U-Bahn or S-Bahn to
another neighborhood or simply walking around Kreuzberg. Even on the 100-degree days in early July, I
was able to muster the strength to leave the hostel and venture to a new place. And yet, I feel like I have
not exhausted everything to see and do in Berlin, and could easily return for another four weeks. Or
eight. Or twelve.
And perhaps I will. One of the biggest things that this study abroad opportunity gave me was the
desire to go back. On previous trips abroad during high school, I came back to the States and
transitioned easily back to American life, thinking back on my European adventures fondly, but never
wistfully. When arriving back in the U.S. from Germany this time around, I had a harder time adjusting.
Before talking to any stranger, whether at a restaurant or shop, I would determine the easiest way to
converse in Germanpreparing my sentences, my questions, and practicing the pronunciation in my
head. Of course, I would snap out of this and realize that no, these people speak English, not German.
Likewise, I would overhear conversations on the street in English and be completely taken aback
where were these foreigners from? Should I talk to them and ask what theyre doing in Germany? And
again, I would soon grasp that no, these people are not foreigners. Youre in the U.S., not Germany. I
figured the only way to cure this cultural confusion was to go back. Talking with my peers in my
research lab, I learned about the DAAD RISE program, which offers science research exchange
programs all over Germany, with a stipend for domestic travel. If all goes as planned, Ill spend summer
2016 back in the arms of Berlin.
Besides the personal impact traveling to Berlin made on my life, the educational opportunities of
this program influenced me as well. I had never gotten the chance to conduct research in the social
sciences, an experience that was enlightening and informative. I decided to focus on the connections
between war memorialization and national identity in both Germany and the United States, a topic that
had enthralled me since the spring quarter prep seminar. Being able to engage critically in academic
articles on the concepts of national identity and memory politics was a great experience, and

complemented my on-the-ground research as well. While unable to make solid conclusions due to the
subjective nature of the topic as well as the relatively limited amount of time I spent researching, I still
was able to notice interesting correlations between the presence of war memorials and feelings of
national identity that these monuments evoked from their viewers. While I dont plan on continuing this
research now that Im stateside, the lasting impacts of this study abroad project are still evident in my
daily life. Commemorative efforts are abundant in the United States, and every time I see a posting or
news article about a memorial I am reminded of my project and think of the impacts that this memorial
has on the general public. And while I doubt I will engage in a social science research project as
intensive as this one for the remainder of my time at UW, I look forward to being able to apply concepts
I learned in Germany to my future coursework. This might entail a direct application of memory politics
and spatial analysis in an Honors or Anthropology course, or a more general use of research ethics in my
scientific research.
The opportunity to engage with other Honors students was a huge part of this trips success and
meaningfulness in my undergraduate years. I had the chance to meet new Honors students and learn
more about their interests, both academic and personal. Moreover, talking to my peers about their
research projects, it became glaringly clear how interdisciplinary this community is. Many students on
the trip, like myself, were STEM majors, but researched a topic outrageously outside of the STEM
domain. In fact, many Berlin inhabitants we met through our classes and excursions assumed we were
all humanities or social science majors, when the truth was the complete opposite. Yet this did not deter
any of us from being completely immersed and interested in our respective research. Even if there was a
correlation between major and research project, we all wanted to push ourselves and learn from different
viewpoints and perspectives even within a field we were familiar with. Beyond the classroom, my peers
and I were ecstatic to learn more about the culture of Germany and of Berlingoing to weekly music
trivia, talking to locals while waiting in line for Mustafas Gemse Kebab, and generally being open to
new experiences and places. I think our group was a breathing representation of the Honors Program and
the community it hopes to fosterinterdisciplinary and endlessly engaged. I am grateful to have had the
chance to meet these people and to explore Berlin by their side. I look forward to getting involved in
other Honors events, classes, and programs over the next two years and having similarly influential
experiences as my time in Berlin was.