Berlin and Riga

I got back from our field-study trip to Berlin and Riga, Latvia yesterday around 18.00. Overall, the trip was incredibly exhausting, though I also had a lot of fun and saw a lot of cool stuff.

We took a train from Freiburg to Berlin on Tuesday morning (we left at 6.00). It was about a seven hour train ride. I mostly talked with people, slept, and read on the train. We also played some Egyptian Rat Screw on the train. For those of you that don't know, I am pretty freaking good at that game. Let's just say I didn't lose once. We got to Berlin around 13.00, found our hotel (it was in East Berlin), and then some of us, including me, immediately had to go to an academic meeting (business formal). It was a tour of the German Bundesrat (analogous to our Senate), followed by Q & A with someone who worked at the Bundesrat. Interesting fact about the Bundesrat: representation amongst the states of Germany is still somewhat proportional, with each state receiving no less than three but no more than six votes. However, states must vote as a bloc, meaning all of their votes go for or against a measure.

This is at the German Bundesrat. This is the main chamber where sessions are held.

On Tuesday night we explored the city a little bit and went out for a beer. Wednesday consisted of three more academic meetings. That was a long day. And I was in a stuffy suit the whole day. Sweet. The first meeting was with members of the BDI, which is basically a coalition of coalitions for German business and industry. They do a lot of lobbying on behalf of German industry. Not too exciting, but still somewhat interesting because they have somewhat different attitudes from American companies. For instance, they don't completely oppose all green or ecological initiatives. The second meeting of the day was with an official from the German department of the exterior. Her resume was pretty incredible. She speaks at least six languages, and has done 3-4 year stints in six different countries around the world. She basically just talked a lot about German foreign policy. The final meeting of the day was at the German Bundestag (Parliament), which is similar to our House of Representatives. We spoke with a member of Parliament. He was in the FDP, which is the free democratic party of Germany. It's really hard to compare their political parties to ours, however, because they have at least six political parties at the moment with extremely varied views that don't really match up to our parties. Let's just say the FDP is liberal, but pro-business.

On Thursday, we had one more academic meeting in Berlin. It was with two different lieutenant colonels in the German army. They talked a lot about the situation in Afghanistan. It was cool to see the incredibly different perspective that Germans have in terms of military action, largely due to their history.

I saw some cool historic things in Berlin as well, such as the Brandenburg Gate, the remnants of the Berlin Wall, the Jewish History Museum, and the Holocaust Memorial. But we actually didn't have too much time to just roam the city because of all the academic meetings we had.

Brandenburg Gate.

This is in front of the BDI building.

This is at the top of the German Bundestag, looking out over Berlin.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall.

Holocaust Memorial.

On Thursday night, we took a plane from Berlin to Riga, Latvia. It was only about a two hour flight. We got there around 23.00, so basically just went to bed. On Friday morning, we had a meeting with a political science professor at the University of Latvia. She was very engaging, and she spoke a lot about Latvia and its place in the world and in the EU. Then we spent time exploring Latvia. On Friday night, we went to Club Essential. It's a pretty cool club, with two floors and five different rooms, all playing different styles of music. Europeans don't exactly go clubbin' like Americans though. They tend to kind of dance in their own little zone. It's pretty funny.

On Saturday morning, we met with a British economics professor. He talked a lot about the financial crisis and its effect on Latvia. Latvia was hit pretty intensely by the crisis (their GDP is down 18% from last year). They have actually had significant deflation of their currency, which made things more expensive for us. They are still a young democracy, and there are still some remnants of Soviet occupation, the most obvious of which is a significant population of Russians (I think about 30% of the population in Latvia is Russian).

This is the Liberty Monument in Riga.

This is the Laima Clock, which is a very central meeting point in Riga.

This is one of many bridges in Riga. When couples get married here, they get a personalized lock with their names on it, lock it on a bridge, and throw the key into the water.

I seriously cannot remember what this building is. But I think it's a pretty cool picture. And it's sort of intended to show that Riga is not completly rundown after the Soviet occupation.

We went to one of the local beer gardens in Riga on Saturday night. And then we ended up going to Club Essential again for a few hours. But it was OK with me because if you get in before midnight, admission is free. On Sunday morning, we basically left for the airport right away. People had some interesting stories about the night before. One guy in our group woke up on a farm outside the city with a black eye and absolutely no idea what happened to him. The police found him and brought him back to the hotel. The plane went from Riga to Frankfurt, and once again it was only about a two hour flight. But this time it was with Ryan Air. My analogy is that they are the MegaBus of airlines. They have super cheap ticket prices, but you definitely get what you pay for, including intense luggage restrictions, no food or drink of any kind, no assigned seating (I was one of the last people on the plane and got stuck in a middle seat), no leg room, and the most uncomfortable airplane seat I've ever been in. Anyway, we got to Frankfurt around 12.00. We then chartered a bus from Frankfurt to Freiburg, which took about five hours. A train would have only taken two hours, but chartering a bus is a lot cheaper than putting 40 people on an express train. So we got back around 17.00.

Last night I went to a bar to watch the local soccer match with some of my roommates. Freiburg beat Berlin, 4-0. Then I did homework last night and went to sleep early, as I was and still am fairly exhausted. But I am looking forward to my first day off on hopefully Friday or Saturday.