Hamburg/Northern Germany: Photos & Memories

Welcome back, my loyal Thomas's Classic 10s listeners and Weekly Roundup (new title that makes more sense) readers. This summer was a doozy for me; whether it was seeing Kendrick Lamar at Soldier Field or interning for the city government, I hope you all had summers as boundary breaking and productive as I was lucky enough to have.

In addition to the rest of the insanity in my life I already had planned for this summer, I also made the last minute decision to study abroad in Germany, specifically the northern region of Schleswig-Holstein (the little spit of land between Germany and Denmark)

Schleswig-Holstein, where I studied, is highlighted on this handy map (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

My first time in Europe, as well as my first time in a country where English isn't the dominant language, It was a little hard adjusting, but the experience was completely worth it, as being able to freely explore a completely different nation's cities and small towns, while learning a completely different language and culture, was something I don't think I'll forget anytime soon. Just in case, though, I got some of my favorite photos from the trip & decided to write a bit about the places that inspired them.

1. Flensburg

Flensburg is not just a college town, but also the picturesque capital of the German/Danish borderlands

After landing in Hamburg and spending a day sleeping in my hotel and trying German McDonald's (It was pretty good, they had the Snack Wrap back), I was whisked away to the place where I would actually be studying, the small Baltic Sea town of Flensburg. Flensburg was a Danish city for some hundreds of years, before becoming German land in 1871 and remaining a German city ever since. However, whether its the quality of the Danish bakeries, or the colonial era distilleries where I sampled artisan Rum with my cohort (how scandalous!), the Danish influence on the city is still very present.

Flensburg introduced me to the reality that the average building in Europe is older than basically every single building in the US, emphasized by the 1200s era church that stood just feet from my accommodations.

Most of the 6 days I spent in Flensburg, though, would not be spent in the historic city center; I had to make class, after all, which was at the pastoral and surprisingly garden-like Europa Universitat-Flensburg, or EUF. Here, I listened to lecturers from all over the world talk about issues in sociology, migration, and environmental studies; some lectures were very clinical and abstract, others were absolutely riveting (Shoutout to the Ghanaian environmental professor who told us about having to negotiate with gangsters to get proper water samples, among other amazing stories).

EUF's main focus is on education and the study of pedagogy, which made it a perfect place to learn from fellow university students hailing from Germany, as well as even Italian, Romanian and Ghanaian lecturers.

2. Husum

   There's not much I can say about Husum, the historic North Sea port town and second destination on our trip, other than that it was stunningly beautiful, as emphasized by this picture I took of the backyard garden of German author Theodor Storm.

   
   

   

   
   

3. Hamburg

   Finally, the biggest city in the region and one of Germany's shining cosmopolitan areas, we made it to Hamburg after diligently studying in Flensburg. We worked hard, now it was time to play hard. There were a lot of pictures I could have chosen, but let's start with the Hamburg city hall, or Rathaus. When I walked into the massive pedestrian square directly in front of the city hall, surrounded by markets and canals, I was enthralled. This gothic monolith evoked something completely indescribable; maybe it was the perfect planning appealing to my Urban Studies sensibilities, or the fact that buildings like this simply don't exist in the US, I definitely felt myself get snootier looking at it.

   
   

   

   
   

   The fountain square in the middle of the Rathaus was no exception to the meticulous planning and design of this building, romantic era sculpture included. The clouds above the square gave this place an ethereal vibe, like I was in an impressionist painting of a summer day in Belle Epoque Europe.

   
   

   

   
   

   After getting a feel for Hamburg and visiting some museums relevant to our classwork, I decided to head over to the historic Speicherstadt, or warehouse district, to see something truly unique. It wasn't just the buildings, even though they are of a unique red brick construction that inexplicably reminds me of Fulton Market here in Chicago...

   

   
   

   No, that enough didn't justify visiting the districts. The real spectacle came from visiting Miniatur Wunderland, the largest model train set in the world. This, by far, was my favorite part of Hamburg. With over 50,000 feet of train track and 18,000 square feet of model space, Miniatur Wunderland is something that genuinely has not been recreated in any other part of the world, and somewhere that's been on my personal bucket list since I could use the internet. Being in this room (and pictures of only small portions of the layout can't do it justice) genuinely mystified me.

   

   
   

   As my time in Germany was coming to an end, I went with a chunk of my cohort to the Chocoversum, a museum where we were imparted with knowledge of both chocolatemaking techniques and sustainability in the industry. I bought enough German chocolate to be able to do a spread, which I figured I'd include.

   

   Chocolate talks about as much as money, I guess?

   All in all, going to Germany did help me develop more skills in self-sufficiency and independence, and I learned a lot from my hosts at EUF. If you can, I'd say you should study abroad!