Learned Words from Professor Bernhardi

thoughts from your fave german student 

It's interesting how a list of words I did not know ended up being quite reflective of the heart of this piece. Enjoy reading this list, making some discoveries, and learning some German!

empfangen - to receive/ to welcome

das Bedauern - sorrow/regret/repentance

beleidigen - to insult/affront/offend

entschlossen - determined/resolute/strong-willed

der Vorschlag - proposal/suggestion/offer

berührt - touched/deeply moved/ disturbed

heftig - fierce/violent

stoßen - to push

enttäuscht - deeply disappointed/crestfallen

verlegenheit - embarrassment

schlau - clever

der Sitzungssaal - boardroom/conference room

der Unsinn - nonsense/rubbish
Un is a prefix shared by German and English speakers, used to negate something. Sinn means sense or meaning. Negate that, and you get nonsense. German has some pretty cool un words. One of my favorites is Untier. Tier means animal, and Untier ("un-animal," if you will) means monster or beast. 

die Kraft - power

einladen - to invite round

die Störung - disturbance/disruption

die Unterstellung - allegation

die Ankündigung - announcement/notice

der Antrag - proposal/offer

schuldig - guilty/culpable/blame worthy
Remember Entschuldigung? That's what you say when you bump into someone or need to get through. It's like the casual "sorry!" we use in English. Isn't it interesting how a simple phrase can hold as heavy a meaning as guilty or blame worthy?

das Urteil - verdict/sentence

abstimmen - to vote

die Abteilung - ward

das Bedürfnis - need/want

merkwürdig - strange/odd

der Heilige - saint

gebieten - to command/to demand

die Selbsttäuschung - self-delusion/self-deception

das Mitleid - pity
One of my favorite things about German is that smaller words get pushed together to create bigger words. This is an interesting one. Leid means suffering or sorrow. Mit means with. Mit + leid = suffering with. 

die Grenzen - limitation

die Gelegenheit - opportunity/occasion

der Nachtrag - addition/addendum
Nach means after! 

die Einbildung - imagination/fantasy
Ein means one, or a, Bildung can mean creation.

wahrscheinlich - probably/likely
Wahr means true or real. 

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The German Alphabet and “ss” sound confusion

For those of you who are looking forward coming to Berlin or Germany in general, should beware of the German letter that looks like a B and sounds like a ‘B’ but is not a ‘B’. Some might even say it looks like a Beta but truly its not a beta. The German alphabet is designed with all sorts of different and at most times complicated notations and pronunciations that makes you look at the English alphabet as something that needs more work. Some of the complications of the German alphabet include vowel sounds and pronunciations, the accent symbols at the top of the vowel letters, the consonant sounds and letter combinations and much more. Despite all these other complications, the ‘ss’ sound can be the most confusing. The use of the sounds is seen mostly on the streets of Berlin where most of the streets ends the ‘ss’ sound. For instance, there is a street called oranienburgerstrasse in Berlin which in English is called oranienburger street. The use of the s sound can sometimes be confusing but if you pronounce it various times, its going to stick.

The Unconventional Engineering Graduate

What did I get myself into?

Throughout my four years at Rutgers, I have asked this question many times. Fortunately, the experiences following this question have always been auspicious. Whether it was joining the Rutgers McNair program for intensive summer research or deciding to lead the IEEE Electronics Division with bare minimum knowledge of microcontrollers, treading the unknown has come with a fair share of benefits. Now, having graduated from the Rutgers Electrical and Computer Engineering program, I have found myself again wandering into foreign territory (literally) with the Rutgers - Berlin: Theater and Contemporary Innovation study abroad program. 

            One of the first topics we discussed as a group in Berlin was why we decided to join the program. In our small group of 10 students, I was probably the one least connected to the world of theater. As I took in my surroundings, sitting outside a restaurant eagerly awaiting my first meal in Berlin, I realized how out of place I was. It was exactly what I wanted. I explained to the group how engineers often tend to ignore anything not related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). I did not want to limit myself in that manner. While many have the misconception that STEM is all engineers need to concern themselves with, the role of Art in this profession cannot be ignored. So for those who view STEM and Art as mutually exclusive categories, Why not both? It is this belief that has led me to the crossroads of these apparently disjoint categories, and, quite frankly, unconventionality seems to be my cup of tea.

Week One in Sweet, Sweet Selfie Game

A Look Back at This Week's Delicious Selfie Game

Bathroom Selfie at Schaubunne. 2019.

 Schaubunne has proven to be the location of this week on the "Motion Europe" trip. Aside from their beautifully clean architectural and marketing aesthetic, the location has been satisfying my own hunger for messy theater. The two shows we have seen there so far have been "Professor Bernhardi" and "Hamlet." Those pieces and my thoughts surrounding them will be elaborated on in the coming post. Furthermore, the basement bathrooms at Schaubunne has excellent selfie lighting, which I recommend to one and to all. Because the shows here usually have no intermission regardless of how long the performances may be, I have spent ample time in the Schaubunne toilette. I recommend visiting the WC before shows even if you don't feel like you have to or think you are strong enough to hold it in. You are weaker than you think. I also like to visit the restroom following performances to pee and/or cry about Ostermeier's "Hamlet."

Train Selfie on the S5. 2019

 One morning, I decided to venture alone in the the streets of Berlin. I walked out the front doors of the hostel and headed towards the river. I crossed a beautiful bridge to the other side and followed the path that led long the riverside. The homeless population of Berlin is much less visible, or perhaps smaller than that of New York. But that morning I watched as people shifted in sleeping bags under the shade of riverside overhangs. There it is. There were a lot of joggers and children and flowers. I took a picture of red poppies and sent it to my mother. The poppies are not included in this blog post, as it was not a selfie. Perhaps next time. A professional dance trio was filming a video in front of a glass office building on the river. They were incredible, and I clapped when they cut. Men with big cameras filmed me as I walked up the stairs to the street. I have no idea what that was about! I tried to look cool and local regardless. I started to feel like I had gone too far. I hadn't seen this part of town before. I walked into a store and DING! the purchase of the century. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the item to cap off any wardrobe (but specifically mine): a grey cap with no visor. Sexy, no? It's an everyday affair. Truly. Every. Day. With a skip in my step following the best purchase ever, I hopped aboard the train home. Kind of. I hopped aboard a train I thought was going home. I went the wrongest way possible but finally ended up at Hackescher Markt. The market was up, and I walked around (looking handsome in my new hat). I eventually boarded the train again, scarred from my most recent experience, and made my way home. Phew.

Bridge Selfie at Charlottenburg. 2019.

Mirror Selfie at Charlottenburg Palace. 2019. 

Self-Timer Selfie in the Spiderweb Room. 2019.

 Charlottenburg, oh Charlottenburg! I usually feel weird snooping around people's homes, but this just felt right. Having the photo pass was cool because I could just point to the red band on my wrist and everyone knew that I was not one to be reckoned with. The palace must have had thousands of mirrors in it. Seeing myself reflected back in them was strange; I felt like another portrait on the wall. Except in HD. I had some jaw-drop moments, particularly in rooms with large windows. Walking into the large spaces after many small dark rooms was so relieving. It reminded me of the entryways by Frank Lloyd Wright: "The great American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, did a neat trick with some of the houses he designed: he made the entrances very small, low spaces, so that when you emerged from the cozy vestibule the rest of the house would seem even more spacious by comparison." It's semi-ironic because Wright probably hated the architecture of Charlottenburg Palace just as much as he hated German Bauhaus architecture... which is a lot.

Mirror Selfie at Bikini Berlin ft. Pansy. 2019.

 The zoo was amazing and fucking freezing. I shall say no more. A couple of us walked to Bikini Berlin, peed, and walked right out. Sometimes you just gotta run away before you get your heart broken by clothes that are out of your price range. Be kind to yourselves, people. We ended up at Garage, where I thrifted the loveliest vintage-cropped-wool-forrest green-red trim-military style suit jacket for 5€. I just keep winning and winning and winning, don't I?

Mirror Selfie at the Mauerpark Flohmarkt. 2019

Should-I-get-these-glasses-or-no Selfie at the Mauerpark Flohmarkt. 2019.

 Finally, the flea market. I haggled for the first time ever! Do I seem different now? I feel different. It all started when I spotted a pair of bright red, non-prescription glasses. A must-have. I went to the man who owned them and asked how much they were, to which he responded, "10€." I said, "Nevermind, thank you," and began walking away. He quickly blurted, "wait... 8€." I said, "No, it's okay." Then he said, "7€." I turned again saying, "No, really, it's okay." His buddy then interjected and said, "5€." I don't know how I did it, but I feel powerful.

Panda-monium

At the Berlin Zoo you can find 20,000 animals - not including the cockroaches they feed to the monkeys. It’s actually the most diverse zoo in all of Europe with over 1,250 species. But, for me the coolest part about the zoo is how happy all of the animals are. Never in my life have I seen animals so active or had direct interactions with animals in the zoo. 

Have you ever seen a panda run? Before this I hadn’t because they had always been so lethargic in other zoos I visited. Here they were climbing trees like crazy, running around, and looking genuinely happy. I may have cried, but we wont talk about that. 

When we visited the monkey house we encountered a group of black monkeys with the most articulate, strong tails I have ever seen. Previous to our arrival, one of the monkeys had been just sitting against the wall, but after he realized we were there he exhibited some very interesting behavior. He hung off a branch close to the glass by his tail with his back facing us, and then would aggressively spin his head around for a few seconds and then would look up at us. This went on for maybe 2 minutes. That was the most direct acknowledgment I have ever gotten from an animal in a zoo before. Like direct eye contact with this primate. 

We saw something absolutely heart breaking that I personally never expected to see in a zoo, but these animals aren’t domestic and they have natural predetoroal instincts that they will act on. We walked out of the monkey house and heard these loud screeches/cries, and my first assumption was that it was a howler monkey. We got closer to the outdoor enclosure and saw a crow with a broken wing on the ground, which is what was making the cries. The monkeys inside the pen were still and watching the crow, which couldn’t escape. Another crow was flying overhead trying its best to defend its friend. After another moment of stillness, a monkey close to the crow reached out and grabbed the crow by its other wing and dragged it down the rock face and to the ground, and the cries increased. It was at that point we couldn’t bear to watch anymore. The awful part was there were families with small children that watched the entire thing unaffected. It was like they were watching a TV show. The human behavior was just as shocking as the behavior of the monkeys. For a re-enactment, Jessie and Nathan performed the fatal moment for the crow. 

The zoo was a unique experience - I have never seen such a combo of happiness and base animal instincts and behavior. 

BERLIN SUMMER 2019

THE 2019 GROUP ARRIVES FOR THEIR SCHULTÜTE 

THE ENVELOPES, PLEASE. 
THE W
AITING FOR THE MUSEUM PASSES IS NOT WASTED. 

WAITING FOR OUR FIRST SHOW.

 THE STATUS QUO WORKSHOP AT SCHAUBÜHNE WITH WIEBKE NONNE.

 AMUSING CONVERSATION WITH BRECHT AND DON HOLDER

ISABELLA AND CHARLOTTE AT CHARLOTTENBURG PALACE.