Munich andd weree back

So its been a long time since my last post about traveling so I figured I would discuss one of the most thought provoking and influential trips of this abroad experience.

My friends and I had decided on Munich as our destination instead of Berlin when traveling to Germany for two reasons. One being that it was highly recommended to us and two being that there was a famous concentration camp in close distance.

We saw all the main sights in Munich: The HB beer hall, The BMW museum/factory, King Ludwig’s Castle and took a bus tour around the entire city.

The purpose of this particular blog is to focus on Dachau which is the concentration camp outside of Munich. If you are uninformed about what happened during WWII, Hitler and Nazi Germany planned the “Final Solution” which they believed was the complete and total extermination of the Jewish people. This event is known in history as the Holocaust. What many people don’t realize is that although the incredible majority of people that were systematically killed were Jewish, many people of other backgrounds were murdered.

Dachau

Dachau was originally known for being a work camp, and therefore not only housed Jews but political opponents of Hitler, gypsies and others. I have been to many Holocaust museums in the United States. I have visited Yad Vashem in Israel (The Holocaust Museum in Israel). I have never been to a place where you can sense the pain and torture throughout all the acres of the area. As the war went on Dachau quickly became a death camp in order to expedite the systematic killing of all these people. They were put into gas chambers and gassed to death by the hundreds.

The abuse of the Jewish people is so intensely absurd that it is difficult to believe that this could have occurred less than 70 years ago. What is more difficult to grasp is that the people living in the town of Dachau were footsteps away from this slaughter and had the naivety to not be concerned about the smell of dead bodies being burned in the furnaces.

Gas Chambers

Walking around the camp you get a sense of the feeling but can never imagine what the people that were prisoners there must have felt like. It is an incredible experience in the sense of seeing the atrocities that one man can commit against another especially in modern times. I apologize for the intensity of this particular blog but I urge anyone who reads this to visit this or any other Holocaust camps.

Munich all in all was incredible. The beer was great, our hotel room was awesome (we stayed at the holiday inn munich which was very reasonable, clean and modern), and the food was really good. We wanted to rent cars and drive on the autobahn but you need to be at least 25 so if you are, enjoy…..

New York Times Front Page Podcast

NY Times Podcast

Student Activism Continued….

So obviously as much as I adore my University, I cannot deny the fact that many other students at other schools are just as fervent about getting their voices heard. Throughout the country, proven by the masses of young voters, people of my generation have told the world what they think about so many crucial issues and illustrated this by turning to polls in drones. Not just the University of Wisconsin- Madison, but schools like Cornell University, Syracuse University and the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, also have their student body making sure that they are active and involved in political and social choices that other people and this country make.

Student Activism is not a new phenomenon. It has been encompassing campuses during the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, and more recently the Iraq war. Campuses and higher education inspire young adults to express their opinions and that they do. With the generally liberal education that is delivered at many Universities, students are taught

The following is three interviews from students each at their respective schools. As juniors they have been on campus for three years and have seen this student activism first hand in the classroom, in the quad, during elections, during crisis and during times where important decisions are on the verge of being made at Washington or even in their local area……

The University Of Wisconsin-Madison Student Activism

As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison I am constantly seeing the students being active in the political, social and religious aspects of society on a daily basis. During the Darfur Crisis, Gay rights, the 2008 Presidential elections, students were outspoken to an extent that you would only find at an intensely, notorious liberal school.

I have found at my tenor at the UW, that an open mind and tolerance is generated at every turn. My first week as a freshman, I remember my Floor Monitor telling myself and my parents that she was going to the capital to see the Nazis who were speaking. It turned out that six Nazis had been at the capital preaching their hatred garbage, and that 300 others had turned up to protest the things that the six of them had to say. I have seen a lot of political activism in my three years and have heard a great deal of student voices but none has been like the response and onset of the 2008 presidential election. There was 1 student registrar for every 100 students that passed. At a school of almost 40,000 you can only imagine how many people were lining the streets making sure every one was voting. Classes gave extra credit for voting and the libraries were giving out free hot chocolate and coffee. The reaction to the victory of Barak Obama was even more incredible, with thousands of students storming state street and rushing to the capital cheering and chanting with such glee that you had no choice but to feel the hope and excitement that other students had been feeling.

With a reputation for being one of the most politically and socially activism charged campuses, I believe Wisconsin delivers.

The following video was directed, produced and shot by myself and a fellow classmate at the UW in search for finding out what the students at the UW think about our own student activism. There are images of different landmarks throughout Madison like the capital building and our Bascom Hill. The students were pulled off the street at random and just asked their thoughts on student activism. Listen to what they have to say and let me know what you think….

Media in Politics

When the public was first addressed by radio during the ¨fireside chats¨with Roosevelt it was a huge step in opening the gates of communication between the public and a political leader.

Today, the publics ability to listen and converse with politics has come a long way. Now, the President addresses the issues presented to the country, in the state of the Union that is broadcasted on every major television network channel.

On a day to day basis there are social networking products like twitter and facebook that allow for the public to consistently be updated on the activities of the political figure.

I must admit, despite the way politicians making an effort to be open with the public, I am skeptical regarding the validity of social networks. Meaning, do I really think that when I receive a twit from Obama saying that hes leaving the Oval Office for the night to watch the super bowl, is he really typing that on his blackberry or are one of his assistants. I think that it would be sensible to assume that it is one of his assistants who manage those accounts. Furthermore, despite the State of the Union addressing the major issues affecting the country, it is very difficult to feel a personal connection with a politician, specifically the President, when it is broadcasted on television to hundreds of millions of people.

Media, in my opinion, has played the most interactive and effective role in politics specifically during the election process. Especially during the 2008 presidential elections, questions filtered through Youtube from regular citizens were presented to the presidential candidates during the debates. This was an incredibly different way to present the debate and brought the connection between the public and politicians to an entirely different level.

I don´t know what will be the next step in the ¨fireside chats¨but I will say that as the doors continue to open politicians will be held accountable for their actions both good and bad and this communication will continue to protect the public.

El Periodico

On Wednesday we went my class embarked on a field trip thats purpose was to enlighten us on the inner workings of a media powerhouse and Spanish newspaper, El Periodico. It was similar  to what you’d expect from a newsroom: people, desks, computers, some cubicles. The physical layout was large and open, seemingly inviting of communication between employees.

I was surprised to see  at the time that we had visited which was approximately 1430, that there didn’t seem to be too much hustle and bustle that you would expect to see in the middle of a wednesday afternoon. 

As a class we sat and listened to one of the newspapers veteran employees explaining various historical facts about the paper, major stories and its political/social standpoints. I think that the most interesting thing regarding European media is their blatant willingness to admit to their political favortism and biases.  

In the United States avid readers and viewers know what news sources are biased in favor of left or right ideology but it is never publicly admitted. I thought it was interesting that as the methodology of the newspaper was being explained to us that he was emphasizing that the paper was in fact a left wing editorial. 

Otherwise, it was interesting to hear the thoughts of an employee of a newspaper company in a time where the physical newspaper has lost a great deal of popularity to the new cutting edge online information. Instead of hesitance and concern he expressed his enthusiasm for the budding advertising that the online version has seen in recent years and the minor decrease in paper circulation.

Crackberry video

This video is supposed to be humorous…but seriously are you addicted to your blackbery because I know many people are??

Blackberry Syndrome

This is a topic that I think has needed to be discussed for a long time, especially on my blog because I have been a devoted blackberry owner for the last 2 and a half years of my life. 

RIM the company that owns blackberry, took the portable cellular device in the right direction when redesigning the actual phone to look new, sleek and cool. Additionally the black berry messenger was introduced which gave owners an instant message like form of communication between the community of blackberry’s. 

Currently, blackberries have become the new fad item, one that has begun to withstand the strains of time and seemingly grow in popularity as other phone companies including the iphone have paled in comparison regarding market share. 

The black berry messaging has become of such importance especially to students studying abroad because of its free blackberry messaging system, that you cannot help but feel isolated and out of contact with other students who do not have one or if you yourself do not. Its truly incredible how my only form of contact is my blackberry messaging and emails that are sent through my blackberry. The occasional skype with friends and family is always an enjoyable change in the form of communication, but while walking to pick up my dinner tonight I thought how it would be nice to call one of my friends and catch up, and realized I could only bbm him. 

On the surface this new, wide spreading form of communication seems completely convenient and entirely harmless, but the truth is it has a far greater detriment to our society then we realize. The way we communicate on a consistent basis with each other has completely evolved. From face to face, to letters, to telephones, to email, to cell phones, to texting, to BBMING, this evolution has led us down a path where we are missing the big picture which is the greater human interaction. There is an understanding that you can say things on the phone or online that you cant say to someone in person, or say something in a text or bbm that you wouldn’t say on the phone. The language is being lost while kids use an online vernacular in every day life and rely on spell check to do all the work for them rather than understanding the basic rules of grammar for themselves. 

This is definitley a difficult cycle to break….but if we don’t what will be next????

 

Any Ideas?

Prostitution, Marijuana, Young Drinking Age, Gambling= Amsterdam

Interestingly enough, all the things in the title of this blog, that are defining characteristics of the magical playground tucked away in the netherlands, are illegal in the United States. 

As I walked along the streets filled with the wants and desires of many young people throughout the world, I began to think about how happy, nice and relaxed the people seemed to be. 

This made me think of the United States and how so many of these vices are illegal throughout the country. They are said to be illegal for various reasons but when I personally observed these institutions working harmoniously with society I begin to wonder if there illegality in the states has to do with something else. 

Despite the separation of Church and State in the U.S. the country remains very religiously focused and the Presidents have been more conservative then not for many years. 

Recently there has been talk of President Barak Obama legalizing marijuana…. Is this the “Change” we can believe in…? not to be cynical about his future because Obama is making very drastic moves, so I would like to better phrase my question….

Do you think that outlawing the aforementioned things make the U.S. better or worse and furthermore should Obama legalize Marijuana????

Obamamania…(I did not coin this phrase but just have a little different perspective on the topic)

So….I would like to begin to indulge in some political discussion on this blog, because after all, race, religion, politics, those are the really juicy topic matters that we all enjoy debating. For my first political post though, I will keep it short and simple and discuss what the phrase, “Obamamania” that was coined by some American journalist, means from my current European perspective. As an American, if you were convinced that there is NO possible way that anyone else collectively could dislike former President George W. Bush, more than we do as a country…YOUR DEAD WRONG. As my experience in Europe has thus far led me to believe, the biggest problem that many Non- Americans have with Americans is in fact George W. Bush. 

Now I understand that due to the best campaign strategist and PR people in the world who devised the perfection which was the “Yes we can” Obama campaign, convinced you that Barak Obama our current President will in fact be the international savior. I must admit, I too am an Obama supporter despite being skeptical on the onset and voting for Clinton in the primaries. Obama has given the world, far more than just our own country, a sense of hope and a second wind in the belief in the true American dream of rising from nothing. Obama represents the growth of the United States as a country in political policy, open mindedness, and gives the United States a fresh new face to stand behind. The Obamamania has not been constrained within the confines of the American border but throughout the world, and I see this when speaking about him with foreigners. I believe that other countries would like to believe in America because they believe in its potential to do good in the world if lead in the right direction.

With all this being said……Obama is shaping up to be the Lebron James of Politics (Lebron James being one of the premier NBA players who came right from high school). At time the hype of Obama has been a little out of control and I think that people, Americans and foreigners alike, need to take a step back and rationally look at the situation we are currently in. There are a great deal of problems in the world right now: War in Iraq, Afghanistan, The Taliban, The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, The financial crisis that has hurt every market across the world. So many of these issues will take years to fix and I hope for everyones sake, especially Barak Obama’s, that people are understanding of this reality. No man could fix these problems in a few months and I hope the critics give him the time that is necessary to truly move the United States in the right direction. 

 

What do you think about Barak Obama?

You think he is the political savior we are looking for?

These videos give you a little glimpse of the Obama love that has swept the World?

Let me know what you think….