Deutschland: A Lesson on the Humanities

Joaquin Jalova · 15 minute read

This article was originally published on student Joaquin Jalova’s personal website and is reposted here with permission. You can view the original version here. Joaquin participated on our Summer 2025 Revelle in Berlin Global Seminar.

Five months removed from my studies in Berlin, I reminisce about the steady flux of German culture that changed how I viewed the world. What I find meaningful in writing this account months after my lungs breathed the quiet German air is the added weight of memory. Perhaps, this is greater than a modest list of everyday life in Berlin, but a memory of the experiences that made life, in my view, artistic and meaningful. I’ve been reeling from the idea of calling a foreign land home, but instead of reinforcing the fears of treading an unfamiliar place, I learned in Berlin to embrace that home can be anywhere that’s filled with life with all its magic and inconvenience, which in turn can help one become a better person for ourselves and to the people around us.

“Berlin is tough but sincere. Please show respect and be kind to each other” - automated bus announcements in Berlin

The peculiar atmosphere of Berlin met my nineteen classmates and I, and our professor who I remember vividly had a knack for good fashion. The weather upon our arrival was quite grim akin to the stereotypical overcast skies when I think of Europe. We arrived on a Sunday, which apparently is a rest day in Germany and meant most shops, supermarkets, and businesses were closed. I can still picture the quiet streets that greeted us, and that one light-hearted interaction with a stranger wherein we asked him if shops were open. He replied, what store?

To which my classmate jokingly responded: Anything

I could not also forget how our welcome dinner received mostly negative reviews, but I thought to myself that authentic German cuisine might be an acquired taste for most people including myself. While jet lag coerced me to be wide awake at the break of dawn, it made it easier for me and my friends to make it to our lecture room which was nobly dressed in portraits and paintings.

Surely our classes were interesting on their own, but having no cultural awareness, my innocence displayed itself quite clearly from the outset. My first mistake was not knowing that Deutschland is Germany in German (I have mistaken them for the Dutch). The second mistake was not knowing how to pronounce it. So when I did, I remember Professor Kontje corrected me quietly, as he said softly: Deutschland, Joaquin, doych / land. He taught with a cadence that of a man of wisdom and more. For five weeks, we studied European Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Revolution [HUM 4], along with German films and literature [LTWL 180]. In the interest of brevity, I have listed below some of my favorite texts and films from these two courses.

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
2. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
3. The Lives of Others (2006), film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
4. Goodbye, Lenin! (2003), film by Wolfgang Becker
5. Mario and the Magician by Thomas Mann, and select texts by Franz Kafka
   
   

We must have brought California sunshine to Berlin, because a few days later we were accompanied by an abundance of sunlight for most of our stay in Europe. On some days it became too warm, in fact, and might I tell you that German trains are not equipped with air conditioning. Nevertheless, our lectures were augmented with visits to some of Germany’s finest palaces and art museums. Schloss Charlottenburg was stunning, and so was Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. The former is named after Frederick I’s wife Queen Charlotte, and according to our guide, was abandoned until 1740 when Frederick the Great took over. This period in particular coincided with the Baroque, which included a plethora of Rococo furniture and artworks we observed in its many audience rooms. Sanssouci on the other hand was Frederick the Great’s summer residence. I strolled with great amazement around and inside the warm and yellow Sanssouci Palace, onto the New Palace and Chinese House in Sanssouci Park, with all the lush gardens and superb architecture along the way.

The day trip to Potsdam was quite pleasant and it was home to Museum Barberini, which I fancied the most amongst the museums we visited. The slice of life genre that is associated with impressionistic art was something that I really enjoyed. Here, I learned about the artist Camille Pissarro as they displayed an extensive collection of his works. Barberini houses the works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and a gazillion of Claude Monet’s artworks who, of course, exhibited his phenomenal use of colors.

I suppose this gives me a neat segue to talk about what life was like in its most mundane terms akin to what I envision as an ideal middle class lifestyle. Every stroll from our hotel to the classroom took about 15 minutes on huge sidewalks, and to go from A to B anywhere in Berlin, we took a combination of buses and trains which for the most part were extremely convenient. Our double rooms were large in particular and included a kitchen so we could purchase our own groceries and make our own food. A lot of times though, some of us opted to try out food from elsewhere, and döner kebab which is a staple in Berlin, is the most popular cost-effective option. We later learned about the influx of Turkish immigrants to West Germany in the 1960’s to address labor shortages after WWII.

The drinking culture is what you would expect for Europe. Bars and pubs are ubiquitous, and you might find a handful of people walking the streets of Berlin with a beer. We visited a few of these spots ourselves, check out the itinerary below! Within a week, I found myself casually drinking beer and eating Currywurst in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Weeks consisted of four days worth of lectures and excursions and, essentially, three-day weekends to catch up on coursework or to explore Europe. The Schengen region allows for transcontinental travel, so a lot of us spent weekends in other countries, or in another region of Germany, or places in Berlin that were not part of our excursions. Traveling by train is the most convenient choice, and we did so with Deutsche Bahn which is Germany’s flagship bullet train that is quite comfortable but infamous for its delayed arrivals and departures. Prague, Munich, and Vienna are places some of my classmates opted to visit, while some, including myself, went to Amsterdam, Krakow, and Hamburg.

I have not written about these trips since they were done independently, but please see below for the complete itinerary of my trip in Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands.

Unbeknownst to me, being in Germany would make me yearn for my roots more than any country that I visited in the past. The key is staying connected with family and friends and being appreciative and embracing the opportunity that we’re given. As for myself, grounding meant taking strolls in the wonderful Tiergarten, comparable to Central Park in New York, and visiting a Filipino restaurant I found numerous times. The toughest days in Berlin were at the very least the most joyous for an audacious heart. Behind everyday inconveniences were lessons to pinpoint our differences. Behind every monetary expense is a gain in cultural empathy. Behind what some of us might consider bland readings in class reveal a truth about our humanities, the idea that our differences lie at the individual level much more than we ought to be. Being in Germany is no different than elsewhere because everyday we meet new people who are much different from us.

Admittedly, there lies a plethora of prejudice when one thinks of Germany. It was the breeding ground of Nationalsozialismo after all, the Nazis in short, who are responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews under Hitler’s regime. This was a historical shift through the second half of our program, which follows German history through WWI, to its imminent division to East and West Germany, the rise and fall of the infamous Berlin wall, and modern-day Deutschland **that is, in my view, a historical mammoth and a cultural extravaganza. I would love for you to read my final project called Hide and Seek (below), a piece detailing my reflections for the latter half of the class, and a great supplement for this article.

Hide and Seek.pdf

The most influential works in Germany, those by Goethe and Kafka, continue to shape the minds of many. However, Deutschland is no longer hidden from the minds that sought it, it has been an open novel reserved for anyone who should wish to partake in its study. I thoroughly enjoyed my five weeks in Berlin, for the substance as much as the leisure. Truly, the sheer amount of work load that is inherent in a five week course, in a foreign land that is, can be quite stressful and demanding. I remained mindful of the privilege that it takes to be in this position, the opportunity to interact with a culture that seems so foreign in the present, yet rich in retrospect. As I studied abroad, I lived the humanities.

I did not merely study Goethe, I learned about Goethe in the land that birthed his literature; within the very nature that inspired the works of Friedrich; the grounds of Nazi Germany that once catalyzed and enabled genocide. I believe there is something meaningful about confirming or correcting a prejudice, studying firsthand the literature, and making sense of the events that are forever etched in history. Beyond the nature of classes, of new acquaintances, and of places that hold the soul in awe or bury what faith we have left in humanity, the most worthwhile thing to do is to restore that faith and pay it forward.

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Food & Itinerary!

Click on each drop down arrow to see complete list!

• Accommodations

  1. Citadines Kurfürstendamm Berlin (Berlin)
  2. Olympic Hotel (Amsterdam)
  3. Hotel Delta (Krakow)

• Week 1, Weekdays [Berlin & Potsdam]

  1. Cafe & Bakery: ZEIT FÜR BROT
  2. Welcome Dinner: Dicke Wirtin
  3. Charlottenburg Palace
  4. Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe)
  5. Lunch: Prime Kebab
  6. Kaiser Wilhelm Church
  7. Sanssouci Park (Sanssouci Palace, Chinese House, New Palace, University of Potsdam)

• Week 1, Weekend [Berlin]

  1. Restaurant: Mian Market
  2. East Side Gallery
  3. Tiergarten
  4. Brandenburg Gate

• Week 2: Weekdays [Berlin]

  1. Olympiastadion
  2. Reichstag Dome
  3. Alte Nationalgalerie, UNESCO Museum Island
  4. Dussmann Bookstore
  5. Casual Dining: Lucky Katsu (chicken schnitzel)

• Week 2, The Netherlands Weekend [Amsterdam & The Hague]

  1. Van Gogh Museum, *book tickets weeks in advance ***
  2. Restaurant: Grillhouse Nàder
  3. Anne Frank House - outside only
  4. Cafe: Vascobelo Cafe-Brasserie Stadionplein
  5. Cafe: OSLO
  6. Amsterdam Canal Tour
  7. Restaurant: Moeders (traditional dutch food)
  8. Rijksmuseum (Rembrant, Van Gogh)
  9. Vondelpark
  10. Restaurant: Yakitori HANABi
  11. International Criminal Court (ICC) - passport required
  12. The Mauritshuis (Vermeer, Rembrandt)
  13. Dinner: Seoul Garden

• Week 3, Weekdays [Berlin & Potsdam]

  1. Gemäldegalerie
  2. Barbarini Museum (Renoir, Monet)
  3. Cafe: Tiramigiu
  4. Restaurant: Pinoy Restaurant

• Week 3, Weekend [Hamburg & Berlin]

  1. Hamburger Kunsthalle
  2. Minitatur Wonderland
  3. Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
  4. Botanical Garden
  5. Berlin Zoo
  6. Pistachio Street Food Festival (Jules B Part)

• Week 4, Weekdays [Berlin]

  1. Neue Nationalgalerie
  2. Topography of Terror
  3. Jewish Museum Berlin
  4. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
  5. Restaurant: Döner Restaurant Berlin Mitte
  6. Restaurant: Restaurant & Bierhaus Xantener Eck
  7. Bar: Galander Charlottenburg

• Week 4, Poland Weekend [Krakow, Auschwitz]

  1. Auschwitz Birkenau
  2. Rynek Glowny
  3. MNK Sukiennice
  4. Lunch: Traditional polish pork chop, zurek (can be found anywhere)
  5. St. Florian’s Gate
  6. St. Mary’s Basilica
  7. Krakus Mound

• Week 5. Weekdays [Berlin]

  1. Cafe: Hase (Japanese)
  2. Berlin Botanical Garden
  3. World Clock in Alexanderplatz
  4. Dinner: German Resto
  5. Haus Schwarzenberg
  6. Berlin Wall Memorial
  7. Humboldt Forum
  8. Berlin Dom
  9. Holzmarkt
  10. Restaurant: Hamlet
  11. Farewell Dinner: Ovest

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Joaquin Jalova

Neurobiology Undergrad, Writer, Enthusiast of Photography and Design, Filipino

Visit my website! https://joaquinjalova.com/