Overview

In Intro to German Culture, I learned more than I expected. I learned that Germany was the first to produce many items as well own some of the biggest name companies in the world. I learned that Germany also had a rough history in wars and prejudice. Germany is similar to the U.S. in many ways, but it is also different. The biggest surprise to me is that the family culture is a little different than here in the U.S. It was interesting to find out that it is easier for families to depart away from each other than here in the U.S.

Something in the class that I enjoyed was having the blog to post homework. One thing that I think did not work well is that there was so many group projects. It was harder for me and others to work in groups at times, especially if we didn’t get to pick them ourselves. One suggestion I have with working with groups, is that it’s required to post an email address to the blog. At times, it was difficult to get a hold of someone in my group if they weren’t in class the day the assignment was assigned or when groups were assigned outside of the class.

Overall the class was fun, educational, and enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it to others.

Peer Review of Blogs

1.    http://ge110brandivi.blogspot.com/
2. Her blog drew my attention because it had a lot of detailed information and had well-written posts.
3. I can tell she put a lot of effort and thought into her blog because she had a lot of information in her posts and good sources attached to her posts. I also noticed that she fulfilled a lot of the posts, if not all of them.
4. 5
5. 5
6. Same

1.    http://ge11tde14.blogspot.com/
2. I like that most of Thomas’s posts had bullet points and that made it easy to read and skim through. I liked that there were interested and fun facts to read on his blog.
3. I think that Thomas cared about what was put on his blog because his posts consists of a lot of information and was detailed. It looked like he read a lot of info and was able to narrow down in bullet points the most important facts, which must have m=been time consuming.
4. 5
5. 5
6. Same

1.    http://ge110fayezal.blogspot.com/
2. The professionalism this man used to write all his posts. It was awesome to see how much he wrote and provided for others to see. I liked that he had a lot to talk about in all of his posts and that no facts of his posts were left out.
3. A lot. It must have taken a lot of time to write all the posts he did. I could also tell he used a lot of sources, so it can be determined that he took a lot of time to look up all the research he needed to do his homework

      4. 5

5. 4
6. Same

Baader-Meinhof Complex

From what I got out of Wikipedia, in 1967, Germans were protesting and trying to have their voices heard about how their government is going to be affected. German’s were very anxious that their government would be destroyed. After protests, shootings, and a bombing occurred more drama was added to the story. There were trials and prison time being done. But, as people of Germany spent more time around each other due to the trials and cluster they made, they all started to develop an odd alliance. Although there were traitors and schemes being pulled, the people involved in the trial were scared and nervous to what was going to happen to them and what was coming next. The German Government decides to have all government officials are under federal control for one day in West Germany so they can track down the remaining members of The Red Army Faction (RAF). But that didn’t help the Germany's terrorist group, RAF, which organized bombings, robberies, and kidnappings. The plan was to get the 2 main characters out of prison, or else they will end up dead like the others. Numerous people are eventually killed for the blaming of the member being murdered in prison. People starved and were uncared for in the prisons and were told the length of the war was undetermined. The RAF planned a massacre to kidnap an important government official so they have a hostage. The people in prison don’t expect what’s coming being all forms of communication are taken away from them. The war was coming their way. What is surprising though, is that the RAF members in the prison are all found dead the morning after a plan by the government to terrorize the prison was set in place. 

Roles of Men and Women 20th/21st Century

Industries and labor conditions

Berlin Calling

Watching Berlin Calling, I enjoyed watching the life of Ickarus Kalkbrenner and his difficulties with drugs and managing his music at the same time. Ickarus had used drugs to escape from reality and get away from the real world. He seemed to enjoy the way the drugs made him feel, especially while producing music. His fans drank and snorted drugs to give a crazy effect of his music and enjoy the night as long as possible. In their own society, drugs were a way to dance and have fun all night long. Cocaine, meth and LSD were only a few of many drugs taken by Ickarus and his fans. In Ickarus's subculture, people who like the music Ickarus makes, is a great combination with drugs. It's a way to party and have fun. For Ickarus, drugs helped Ickarus stay up late to make music and find a way to produce great beats.

In German society, I saw that Ickarus's father was supportive of Ickarus and wanted to help him and valued Ickarus's ideas of getting out of treatment and being free. Whereas in the U.S., it is more common to see parents worried for their kids and want them to stay in treatment. Some parents even give no option to their kids and push or make their kids go to treatment until they are better. I also saw that Ickarus's brother had visited him to tell him that he was moving away. I feel that in the U.S. family is hard to part with, more so when a member is in trouble or in need of help.

I think that after rehabilitation and motivation, Ickarus provided better work ethics for his music. Being clean and sober had helped him in many ways by getting a chance to talk to his old girlfriend and make music that Alice didn't want to receive in the first place. Hard work pays off in Germany and it shows in this movie by Ickarus.

After watching and reflecting Berlin Calling, I can see that Germany is comparable to the U.S. in many ways. One of the ways being that they have treatment facilities overall and programs to make anyone get better, including popular music producers. It shows the challenges that people from different countries overcome, with many obstacles to conquer. Someone in treatment doesn't always have it easy when they think they have everything they need. Anyone in treatment could probably agree that going through rehabilitation is hard work and takes some motivation. It was weird to see how the buses, toilets, and streets look in Germany compared to the U.S. Even some of the styles people have in clothing were different. It was cool to see that even though there are similarities in how people interact and go through the treatment process, some things are also different. Like I have stated before, the interaction with family is different in some ways. The parents care for their kids, but in a different way. Here in the U.S., families care so much to put their kids in facilities and programs and won't let them come home until their better. In Germany, it appeared that the parents are likely to side with their children and trust that the children know what's best, whether it is or not. It's easy to part with members of your family in Germany, where in the U.S., it's a struggle to watch your kids go away.

Current music

Today on Germany’s top 40’s playlist were songs similar to the ones we have in the U.S. such as, Shake it off by Taylor Swift, All of Me by John Legend, Play Ball by AC/DC. There are also songs that are in German, but many actually were in English.

http://top40-charts.com/chart.php?cid=12

NatureOne is a huge electronic music festival that happens once a year. It’s in fact one of the largest in the world. Many stages need to be used for there are many DJs and performers to entertain people. Tens of thousands of people come to the event to hear over a couple hundred performers do their thing.

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=6928

Paul

Hello, my name is Paul and I am 19 years old. I decided to go into the war with my friends because Kantorek persuaded me that it would be a good idea. Little did I know it was the worst experience of my life. Fighting in the German army on the Western front was brutal and has scarred me for life.To me, Patriotism is not as glorious as I thought. I've killed and seen my people killed and now I will have those memories forever. It's also hard to talk to my family about the war and my experiences. They wouldn't understand what it's like to live through the war as a soldier. One by one I see my friends die, sooner or later it's my turn as well. What I have learned is that even though I was once a kind hearted, sensitive man, the war can turn anyone into a lonely empty character such as myself.

Chapter 2 Presentation

Hanseatic League

Abby Charlson

GER 110

Hanseatic League

            While researching the Hanseatic League, I had found many interesting facts that I’ve never read or heard about before. One of them being what the Hanseatic League actually is. I had found out that the League is in fact a group of associations that appeared in the mid-thirteenth century. The associations within the Northern Germany cities and Baltic gather together and trade. Because trading in the middle ages was a dangerous task, traveling together helped protect themselves. The trades occurred was along the Kiel or the “salt road.” The salt road ran between Hamburg and Luebeck.

            When founded in the twelfth century, trade was important for merchants and finding items to trade was crucial. One item in Hamburg that was popular to trade was salt. Salt was easy to access from salt producers in Kiel and was convenient because Hamburg needed the salt to dry and salt fish to distribute.

            Hansa’s power had over sixty cities involved and the power of the Hansa had risen. Each city had its own merchant and each alliance made their own common policies and planned to govern their inter-city trade. The league all together had shared common all their economic interests. Today, the Hanseatic League had revived itself from losing its significance during the mid-seventeenth century. In 1980, Zwolle had improved the alliance both socially and culturally. The goals of this League is to keep the spirit of the alive and encourage a vibrant exchange between its members. The League also tries to bring about a closer economic, cultural, social, and national ties across Europe.  

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~baronfum/hansa.html

http://www.hanse.org/en/

Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia

Saxony info

Abigail Charlson GER 110 Saxony

While searching on the internet, I came across a Germany facts page written by William Berentsen, who happens to write and document a lot of information on Germany. I found that the state of Saxony is made up of a lot of mountains and hill. The Ore Mountains stretch about 100 miles through the southern border of Saxony. About half the land of Saxony is actually used for agriculture.

The next set of information I simply found on Wikipedia. The kingdom of Saxony lasted from 1806-1918 and became a free state after the end of WWll. During October 1990, Saxony was “recreated” when East and West Germany reunited after being under Communist rule. Now Germany is ruled by Stanislaw Tillich since May of 2008. Tillich is the minister-president which is the head of Germany’s government today.

The last set of information I found was on the UN Data page on the internet. I had found that Germany’s capitol, Dresden is populated at about 525,105 people, which is about the same population of people as Wyoming. Dresden is about the size of Hawaii, but a little bigger. Leipzig is the second most population city of Saxony, having about 520,838 people. Both Dresden and Leipzig make up about 25% of Saxony’s population alone. Saxony holds about 4.3 million people today, but the numbers have been declining since 1950 by 1.5 million people. Dresden and Leipzig have been increasing in population though, by about 100,000 since the year 2000.

I also did find out from Wikipedia, that most people speak “Upper Saxon German.” I also learned that since WWll, most of the population is non-religious. For the civilians that do practice a religion, the two popular religions are protestant and Roman Catholic.

Expectations of Ger110

My expectations of Intro to German Culture are to get to know a lot about my own heritage and gain knowledge of what it is like in Germany right now. I expect that I will learn about the history of their government and regulations, as well as, how the economy is different from the Americans. I also expect that I will learn about the geography of Germany. I am excited to learn more about this country and how different and similar it is to the U.S.