Items
Tag is exactly
Berlin
-
2020-03-12
The emails
It's March 2020, a young freshmen college student is packed and ready to head to the airport for her one and only shot at study abroad for the next 4 years. As she lugs her suitcase down the stairs of her dorm she gets an email that she will never forget, the study abroad trip has been cancelled do to an outbreak of new viral disease in Berlin Germany. Disappointed she headed back upstairs to call her parents and let them know. She unpacks, and repacks from her home in Texas instead. Once home she receives another email from her school, classes will be online for 2 weeks after spring break due to this new viral disease going around. She's upset but settles in to doing class at home. Then comes another email. School will be online for the rest of her semester, move out from the dorms will be staggered over the next couple of weeks and return date to campus is unknown. She is upset and sad over the loss over the end of her freshmen year, but hopeful that this new disease will settle down and that life will be able to return to normal in the fall. Alas this was not true and the series of unfortunate emails just keep coming, email after email. She kept being disappointed and heart-broken over all the loss of memories and chances do to a virus. 2 year later, she now wonders will the emails ever stop? -
2021-09-19
Berlin Travel
In September my family and I were able to travel to Berlin via the Deutchbahn (German Train). Our weekend in Berlin was fun, but from the picture, you can see we had to mask up. Many places in Europe still require face masks in public places. It is interesting to experience this as most places in America do not require masks. -
2021-02-01
I got two Cats duing the Pandemic
I've always wanted to get a cat. I've only had pets while living with my parents, at first I had a black cat and then a pug. After moving out from my parents' home, I dreamt of getting a cat again. But right after moving out (I was 18 years old at the time) I didn't have the time or the money for a pet. Fast-forward a couple of years later, when the pandemic hit us all: I've had so much time on my hands to think about life in general while staying at home. I realized that I was finally ready to get a pet (or, as it turned out, two pets). I had a lot of time to research how to properly prepare myself as a pet owner and how to appropriately take care of animals. And - as a lot of us during 2020 - I spent much more time at home than usual, which was perfect to welcome a pet to its new home. I was lucky and found two happy and healthy kittens. But sadly, during the pandemic, a kind of "black market" for pets developed in Berlin and other big cities. The market for pets was bigger than ever in Germany, and a lot of them were in bad conditions and/or sold at very high prices. Often times I saw people offering kittens and puppies, who were way too young to be separated from their mothers. It was really heartbreaking to see how bad the situation was. The only bright side was that all the animal shelters in Berlin had no problems to find pet owners for the dogs and cats there. -
2020-04-01
Finishing my Undergraduate Degree during the Pandemic
I was starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree when the pandemic hit the globe. At this time (around March 2020) I was planing to work on my senior honors thesis and happy to start my master's degree in October 2020. But in order to finish my thesis, I had to do some intensive research first: my plan was to visit a big German archive in Berlin and also to do some research in a couple of libraries. But just before I could do so, all German institutions went into lockdown and closed for months due to health precautions. As somebody who studied History and had to visit an archive for my thesis, I felt like I was totally stuck in my academic studies. I felt like it was impossible to finish my studies in the scheduled time, and for months I didn't know how to continue my academic work. Luckily, my university was considerate enough to extend the submission date for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knowing if I could start my master's degree in time (and in general not knowing how my academic and financial future would look like if I didn't finish my undergraduate degree in time) the archives and libraries opened up again, and I could continue my research and finish my thesis. -
2020-06-06
Scenes of the Crowds as They Protested in June 2020
These are aerial shots of the crowds in some of the cities where the Black Lives Matters protests were held. The crowds were unprecedented and the footage of them are dramatic. -
2020-06-25
Daily life changes due to Covid
Here we have a tweet discussing one of the may daily life changes that have taken place since covid and lockdown began. In this case, the user talks about how bus travel has changed since lockdown in Berlin. Bus divers in Berlin are now behind plastic sheets and the front doors of buses are no longer used in order to protect drivers. Many bus drivers have gotten sick and died due to the large public interaction their job has. I wanted to put this into the archive because it is a simple example of how covid has altered society and daily life. Here we have an example of public transportation being altered, likely permanently, in Berlin due to the virus. Between all the headlines and stats are the real life changes everyone sees, and this is one example. I also took note of the fact that Europe is still in their first lockdown, while we here in America are wondering if there will be a second lockdown since the first one has essentially over for weeks. -
2020-05-29
Extra legroom and no interval: Germany plans for post-lockdown theatre
“As Germany continues to relax social distancing restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, playhouses in most cities are still waiting for an official date when they can reopen their doors to the public. The Berlin senate announced on Friday that open-air cultural events will be allowed from 2 June, but theatres are likely to remain shut until September. Venues such as the German capital’s Berliner Ensemble, however, are already providing a glimpse of what drama could look like in a world of social distancing.” -
2020-03-15
Front door, Berlin Marketplace IGA
The orange sign warned shoppers even before they stepped in: there would be no toilet paper inside. And they would not be taking orders against the next delivery.