Politics Students Spend Six Days in Berlin
Esher’s Politics students were immersed into German culture, history and politics in an action-packed 6-day trip to Berlin as part of Wider Skills Week.
-6.2 Politics Student, Charlotte Rolfe, reports.
We began the week with two bike tours around the city. The first one was spent observing the history behind Berlin taking in sights such as the Brandenburg Gate. The second tour focused on the cold war. We visited the Stasi prison in East Germany where we learned about the dark history of the Soviet Union’s influence after the second world war and the conditions that prisoners were living in. We climbed 285 stairs to the top of the Victory Column commemorating Prussia and looked out over the view of the city. After that we explored the hidden WWII bunkers inside a train station and learnt about the small details that the people relied on such as walls that could be painted on with light. No trip to Berlin is complete without a visit to the famous Berlin wall. We learnt about its history of dividing the city and observing how it’s been interpreted in the modern day as a canvas for protesting and commissioned art.
As well as the captivating activities, we were given periods of time to explore the city in groups, trying different German foods and experiencing the culture of Berlin first hand. Into the early hours of the evenings, we had a chance to adventure into the night life of Berlin including the buzzing area of the riverside on the final night.
It was an incredible and inspiring week away learning about the history and culture of Berlin.
