Bis Neachste mal Europa! Bis Naechste mal!

until next time europe! until next time!

What is the best way for a European Studies Major graduate and has a minor degree on German Studies to bookend her college days? Well…. Of course a trip to Europe. As everyone probably knows by now, I learned that I passed the ateneo college entrance exam (a-sheyt for short) when I was visiting my aunt in rome back in May 2001. Who would have thought that I’d be closing my college years through yet another trip back there by visiting my sister this time?

I left march 20. yes a day right after graduation. I was off with my pop, my mom and my brother as we headed to Frankfurt am main to meet my aunt who was ever willing to take us in yet again. Frankfurt was the same as I left it but things had so much meaning to me this time. I am looking at Europe at a different lens now compared to the other years that I have seen it (1997, 2000, and 2001). I knew who the statues were, the deep history between cultures, the conglomeration of the EU, and of course A LANGUAGE!

Emirates airline has the coolest airplane seats! There is a camera that shows what the pilot sees as well as what’s under the plane. This was taken when we landed in Frankfurt!

Frankfurt was the same old Frankfurt that I left 4 years ago. It has been the base for the last 3 trips I was there (except 2001). The train system is still as systematic and efficient as how it has always been. Hauptwache and Kostablerwache AND of course ZEIL was still the same. Shopping was still the best at Zeil… yet don’t you dare compute to php—you’ll end up not buying anything!

Mom and I at Zeil enjoying those JUICY bratwurst as our first authentic german meal. “ein bratwurst bitte!”

Riding Bahn21, the tram that would take us to Zeil and back to Waldao (the stop of my tita’s place), we got to pass through the European Central bank. Of course I went down and took pictures and A LOT of souvenirs! Imagine all the documents I been downloading all these years are just there FOR FREE! At that point, I couldn’t wait to go to Belgium where the headquarters of the major offices of the EU are based.

At the European Central bank! Isn’t it obvious?

ICH BIN (ein) BERLINERIN!

After seeing the sights and sounds of Frankfurt, we choo-choo-ed away to Berlin! Indeed the Trans-European Networks

All geared up at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof! Going all the way to Berlin!

I was mesmerized by the very evident division of the west and east Germany even without the wall. As my German teacher said , frau velasco, “Berlin ist eine tolle Stadt”--Berlin is a crazy city. With my knowledge of the deep history of Germany, especially the of the Holocaust, it just felt different that everything seems to be real. Even if I have read it on History class and even watched a film (and make a paper) about it. It is just different if you experience being inside a gas chamber.

At Checkpoint Charlie… with all the tourists….

At the Jewish Museum’s interpretation of the holocaust. I just can’t smile….

Auf der maurer. By the wall:D

Here is an excerpt from the paper I wrote 2 years back under Sir Tirol…

Visualizing the millions of diaries unfound, unread and unwritten…. makes it even more tragic for no one could ever hear them anymore. … The Genocide is a story written by us. We’ve made it unique yet ordinary. We’ve also made it our triumph and also our tragedy. We made ourselves controlled by one man’s idea of a holocaust. Yet, the bottom-line is we learned from it.

As Christians, we ought to forgive, but as humans we should not easily forget. Let us not make the Genocide just an echo of the past. The voices of these people can still be heard though us. We have learned from it. Now, it is up to us if we want to make a different story; we are all individuals that can make our history. We are all in one time line, we all have one story.

So after going to the land of Hannah Arrent, Martin Heidegger, Social Market Economy or the so called “Third way”, and European Central Bank, I was off to see Belgium to finally visit my sister who was taking her master in international relations.

Of Waffles, Chocolates and Beer.

It was the first time since September that my family was all together again. Then again even six months ago we weren’t all together in just one room, sharing one bathroom, and fighting over a tv (yet all channels end up to CNN anyway…).

One of the different things that I did in Belgium was the beer tasting after dinner gimmick. Of the 1000 kinds of beers there are in Belgium I got to taste around 5 bottles- Chocolate beer, dutches beer, fruit beer—raspberry and honey, and 2 others that I don’t even know what their names are. But it was good. I went out with my sister’s Canadian friends and pinoy friends.

Al, candy, lea, alexie, acky and me with the store manager. Marty and Di and marc were with us too. Sorry I havent edited the picture with marc in it:D

soon... SCANDINAVIAN CRUISE and a MEDIEVAL "ESCUDO" VILLAGE:)...