This semester I wasn’t sure what I was going to learn. The
class is about the culture of Germany, yes, and while culture can be defined
differently to each individual person, it remains pretty consistent throughout.
I wasn’t sure what to expect and came to class each night with an open mind. I
learned about some culture during my German classes in high school, but what I
learned there versus here was quite a bit different. We only scratched the
surface of the largest cities in Germany and very little else. In my world
history class in high school, we read All Quiet on the Western Front. With
that, I had a small understanding of what the culture was like; not too
dissimilar to ours during a wartime period.
Much of what I learned was information I didn’t expect
Germany to necessarily have. Their politics, for example, aren’t as interested
in the little wedge issues as our government is, their population is much more
outspoken than ours, and basic human rights are a primary topic brought up in
each bill. I wasn’t expecting to find out that something that is similar to my
spiritual beliefs would be housed and have started primarily in Germany.
Anthroposophy is a big reason why I would be interested in moving to Germany,
should I move out to Europe. I was definitely not expecting to learn that
Germany is one of the most open towards homosexuals in the world, Berlin being
one of the largest homes and advocates for it.
I really enjoyed the fact that the only text book we had was
a wonderful novel that didn’t cost me an arm, a leg, and my first born child.
Aside from that, the movies we watched I thought were pretty dang good, even though
I don’t speak German fluently enough to watch without subtitles. It’s pretty
amazing that Berlin Calling hits a particular genre of people so hard on the
head in terms of accuracy. I wouldn’t have expected it from one of the
engineering capitals of the world. I also liked how the groups were set up;
mostly of our own choice but some randomness. A pretty large amount of information
learned was from us instead of you and you directed the information as needed.
I believe that that method is a much better way to get information to stick and
have quality information instead of quantity information. I wouldn’t
necessarily change anything in the class. I felt that everything was laid out
in a manner that taught us what you wanted to while giving us the chance to
actually learn and retain said information.
I also learned that aging is to be avoided.
