Before I set out on the SBCC STEM & Art program in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, I had a misconception that I would be hard-pressed to find food from other regions of the world. While this may be true in small towns, European cities are filled with a plethora of fantastic food from all around the world. This is because of the incredible amount of diversity within the cities population. Who knew that Berlin has excellent tapas? Or that Amsterdam’s Thai food is incredible? Munich even has some good vegan and vegetarian spots.
Munich - The Best of Europe
Beyond their food, these cities are a welcoming place for arts and culture. We visited "Haus Der Kunst" in Munich. It was initially used during WWII as an officers club. It is now home to a non-collecting art gallery featuring installation art. Notably, the newest exhibit, “Nebel Leben,” is a room filled with fog. When I first learned about it, I was highly skeptical. How can fog be art? I’m still unsure, but I can say that it was a profound experience being in a clear room one second and not being able to see my feet the next. Munich also has one of the oddest attractions for being a landlocked city: surfing!
The Isar river runs through the middle of the city. Its powerful waters are kept contained by canals. One of these canals spits out from under a bridge so that it creates a wave very similar to that of the ocean. Surfers have added a massive board underneath the water to make the wave safer. My friends and I had watched a bunch of kids no older than 10 jump in and swim downstream. We came back late one afternoon to swim. The Isar was cold, which felt fantastic because of the heat wave Europe was experiencing. My friends and I sat on the side of the river, tentatively feeling the strong current pull our half-submerged legs downstream. I finally mustered up the courage and dove in. I was quickly surprised by how incredibly forceful the water was. I was swept downstream and struggled to pull myself out of the river using a tree branch. We all ended up laughing on the riverbank with scratched-up arms and knees. We decided we had seen enough of the water for today.
My favorite museum we visited was in Munich. Nymphenburg palace spans over 140 square miles. It has six estate buildings, including the castle, three residences, a carriage house, and a church. It was the summer home of Bavarian kings for over 300 years. Our last day in Munich was spent at the Biergartens, eating massive pretzels and ice cream.
Berlin - The Best of Europe
The capital of street art and techno music, Berlin, is home to an estimated 160,000 people working in the arts and creative sector. Tagging is common, and many buildings have murals spray-painted on them. Like in most places, graffiti is illegal in Berlin, but many store owners choose to leave it up. I loved walking through the city and seeing huge murals and entire light posts covered in stickers and spray paint.
On our second night in Berlin, a couple of my friends and I decided to explore. We ended up in the Tiergarten, a massive park that includes the Berlin Zoo, the Victory Column, and the Brandenburg gate. All around us, police worked to close off the streets. We were so confused. The roads were so congested with people trying to go home that it took us twice the time we expected to get back to the hotel. Curious, I looked up what was happening. It turned out there was a city-wide festival called Rave the Planet going on that night. Two hundred thousand people danced all night and paraded down the streets jamming out to floats blasting music. I caught up with the parade a few hours after it had started and spent the rest of the evening listening to the music with my friends in a grassy alcove of the park.
The highlight of Berlin was seeing Berlin Aldershof, a neighborhood entirely dedicated to science and engineering. We were able to go onto the campus there. Berlin Aldershof is home to over 20,000 people, most of whom work within the borough. We were lucky enough to glimpse the particle accelerator and massive wind tunnels they have there. They even have concerts inside the wind tunnel because of the incredible echo and amplification of sound it provides. The last place in Berlin I visited was the zoo and aquarium. The zoo has 1400 species and 18,600 animals. It was one of the largest zoos I had ever seen. My friends and I spent an entire day inside! With our ten days elapsed, we got on the train to our final destination, Amsterdam.
Amsterdam - The Best of Europe
Amsterdam is a hub for food and culture. It is one of the most diverse cities in Europe, and its cuisine reflects this. They have streets fully dedicated to just food. On just one street, there was so much food: Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Brazilian, French, Italian, Bavarian, fish and chips, and even a candy store.
My favorite activity we did in the Netherlands was in a town about an hour away from Amsterdam called Delft. Delft is a college town, so we visited the technical university there, TU Delft. They had a converted Prius that the students were programming to be self-driving, a wave pool to test how boats would react on the water, and a “dead room,” which is a room filled with sound insulating panels making it silent. After visiting TU Delft, everyone boarded the bus and returned to Amsterdam. My friend and I decided to stay in Delft and find our own way home on the train.
We spent the day wandering around the town. It was straight out of a storybook. The tiny apartments backed up to the canals, which crisscrossed the city. Little boats were parked along the canal, weathered and overgrown with algae and moss. It felt as if I had stepped right into a miniature Dutch diorama. My friend and I spent the better part of an hour in a chocolate shop selling handmade Dutch processed chocolate. It was by far the best chocolate I have ever tasted. We bought some for our moms and ate way too many samples.
Our last stop in Delft was the old and new church. Oude Kerk (the old church) was founded in 1246. It stands just shy of 250ft. The new church is from the late 1300s and stands over 350ft tall. We climbed to the top, and the view was spectacular. At the end of a fantastic day, we rode the train back to Amsterdam.
Our last few days in Amsterdam went by too quickly. We finished our trip with a river boat tour and dinner at an Italian café. We packed our bags and headed home with many stories to tell.
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