Thursday, February 17, 2005

Albnay

I did in fact go to Albany with my EDIFY youth group. Despite the fact that I got a TON of things accomplished... I am shocked by my 1.5 hour trip to the NY State Museum. I want to say that it was more intriguing than the Smithsonian. I found a small display on the Holocaust.... and the untold American story. I know many of us have heard of the Japanese camps during WWII. BUt have you heard of the GERMAN JEW camps? Only 50% of the quota for german immigrants were filled during WWII and of all the german jews that escaped to America, the majority were forced to sign documents stating their willingness to be placed in camps and to be sent back to Europe following the war. I am shocked. I can't even describe how horrified I am. I have some pictures that I would like to upload on the subject... but I haven't gotten around to loading the picture viewer thing. I didn't get much of a chance to read any of it, but what I did learn, I can't believe.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Olympics

The 2006 winter olympics will be held in Italy. Do you think I will get a chance to go to the Olympics!? It is certainly a possibility. I watched the greatest movie today... Run Lola Run. It is like a muture amature movie. The entire movie is about Lola runing from her appartment to meet her boyfriend in a telephone booth in 20 minutes. In that period of time, she needs to obtain 100,000 marks. The situation is played out three times, each a little differently. Deffinatly one of my new favorite movies, hehe, although it is a lil violent at times. I watched a special on Berlin today and also another special on Aucshwitz. Tim finnished up Mein Kampf and claims that Hitler writes with even more hatred and zeal later in the book. I can't believe that with all the time spent in class learning about this stuff that it never really phased me.... I was actually board of it! I can't even comprehend it. And I know I won't be sleeping well tonite either. I don't think I could stomach visiting a concentration camp anymore.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Roots

My dad is making me watch Roots so that I understand that the Germans were not the only ones to have committed mass murder and cruelties. It's an odd documentary because the acting and sets don't quite seem right... they are very much "modern" 70's versions. I'm to stay home for another four days and unfortunatly I won't get much done cuz I have to watch this movie... its 6 tapes long! UGH. But, I also rented Run Lola Run, which I found in the foreign films section. The video store has a whole section of foreign films... in other languages. wooo whooo! The funny part is that it is easier to find dubbed english VHS than duel language dvd's because the dvd's don't label the language selections half the time.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

anxious

I'm getting a lil anxious to know where in Germany i'll be. It makes a big difference. I really hope that I get placed in a "art and music" school versus just a regular "liberal arts" one. I want to know!!!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Hitler

In germany, Mein Kampf (autobiography of Adolf Hitler) is illigal... banned. Which makes sense since the history of Germany is so sensitive. However, I learned several important lessons today. First of all... America does not censor it's books. Denis didn't believe me that I could find any book I wanted from the library. So, I went down and checked out Mein Kampf and brought it in to show him. Well, in the process, I read some of it. There is a reason this book is illigal in Germany... in the wrong hands, especially a neo-nazi... it would be the bible. It is a satanic work of a genius and of insanity. I only read bits and peices, but I had a very difficult time sleeping last nite and getting through my classes today. But the most important thing I learned today is that if I don't know what I am talking about, I should not be talking about it.

The cultural difference between Germany and America is very very sensitive when it comes to the Hitler and the Nazi party. So while it is important that I know about WWII and the related events, I should probably not ever bring it up. And I should never tell anyone in Germany that I have actually read Mein Kampf. Hitler is a phycotic nutcase. I have an extreme respect for books... but that is one book that would be better off burned. I gave the book to my friend Tim and told him I never want to see it again. It is acutally a very fascinating read, but a lot to handle and digest. Deffinatly not one to read while half asleep. Those who tend not to be objectionable should not read it either. I have decided that the word hate is now not a part of my vocabulary anymore. Gute nacht.