Ethnographer's Corner

Hamburg So Far...
by Justin Quinones

     My Experience in Hamburg has been great. Germany overall has been treating me well. At first I was nervous to try out certain things but realized that I'm only here for a few weeks and that I may never get some of these opportunities again. Wether it was horseback riding, visiting the Hamburg Dungeon or going out for a party on a Saturday night I have been with my host sister Carina. We usually hang out with Leo and his host sister Bürte. The 4 of us have done a lot here in Germany and we have all grown closer. We still have a few weeks and I know that we will enjoy the time we have left. I don't know where I would be without my boys from Liberty LEADS. We have learned so much about Germany but also about each other. We have grown as a whole and I have realized our bond is stronger because of our ability to overcome any problem that comes our way if we work together. We all have learned something this summer. What I learned was that if you take 15 guys who are acquaintances on a trip abroad they will come back as best friends. 

Berlin
by Brian Rodriguez

     This past weekend my host family and I went to Berlin. In my mind it felt like I was going to see the past and when I arrived, I was in it. I visited the Jüdisches (Jewish) Museum and once I got inside I felt a mixture of nervous, happy, depressed and sad. Their past was horrible and I imagined myself being in their situation. The museum also made made my host family really sad. A lot of Germans are ashamed of their past and are not proud of there country. Berlin has a lot of historical landmarks including many beautiful statues and palaces. I saw Friedrich Summer palace and I also saw his art work and the actual place of his death. The palace was the most beautiful thing I ever saw because the design was very unique and everything was still there like his personal flute and furniture. Overall my Berlin experience was great and I hope I will get to visit again in the future.  


Noise Pollution

by Julio Maximo 

     My name is Julio Maximo, and I am from the Bronx, New York. I am on a study abroad program in Hamburg Germany through the American Field Service Program (AFS). Before I came to Germany there were a lot of classes, you could say they were teaching me the way of the Germans. One point they made was that if you have your headphones playing really loud music, it is considered noise pollution. On my 9th day here in Germany I was on the 23 bus to the Green Summer School campus and I had my headphones turned up really loud in the back of the bus. The bus driver stopped the bus and turned to me with an angry face and started yelling in German. I was surprised because I didn't know what I had done to make him so mad at me. Maybe it was because I had forgotten that I had finally arrived in Germany. 

 Neuengamme Concentration Camp

by Jason Valderrema

     On July 8th, 2012 I went to visit the Neuengamme Concentration Camp with my host family. The camp was located just outside of Hamburg in the city of Neuengamme. The camp was very large and the barracks were long so you can imagine how many people were actually imprisoned there. Setting foot on the amp, I actually felt like it was an honor to be here. I wasn't really emotional until I got into the museums. The museums many facts about the camp itself, the brutality that occurred there, the prisoner striped clothing and the overall environment in the camp were really upsetting. They had headphones and small video screens where you coud watch and listen survivors talk about their experience. They detail the horros they had to go through, how death was literally knocking on their front door every day in the form disease or execution. My host sister and I were in tears when a man said they shot his son for not following an order. It showed me how brutal the German officers really were. One thing I leanred fro the camp was ow the Jews were not the only group of people in the concentration camps. It was also homosexuals, Jehova Witness' and countless other backgrounds. July 8, 2012 will be a date I will always remember because of intense sadness that my family and I experienced.