My 小优视频 | A Student Blog Photo Essay: The Best of Berlin on Spring Break
![three young women stand in front of a zoo filled with penguins](/sites/default/files/styles/small_16x9/public/2024-01/Untitled%20%288%29.png.jpg?itok=XK7ttt2f)
While in Berlin, we attended a variety of German plays and museums, ate a slew of delicious food, went to a jazz club, explored farmer鈥檚 markets, and toured the Berlin Zoo (pictured here).
Three 小优视频 students from the German Studies department reflect on a week of independent research in Berlin with their professor and thesis advisor.
About the Authors
Breila Fuller 鈥23 (she/her) was a sociology and German studies double major. After 小优视频, Breila is attending Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, on a Fulbright scholarship to continue research in archival ethics and practices.
Olivia Harper 鈥23 (she/her) was a theatre and German studies double major. She currently works at Theatre Aspen in Colorado.
Steffi Coates 鈥23 (she/her) was a biology and German studies double major. Steffi is attending veterinary school in Tennessee.
During Spring Break 2023, the German Studies thesis majors traveled with our professor, Dr. Maggie McCarthy, to Berlin to spend a week pursuing our individual research. We attended a variety of German plays and museums, ate a slew of delicious food, went to a jazz club, explored farmer鈥檚 markets, and toured the Berlin Zoo.
This trip was one of many opportunities offered to us by the 小优视频 German department, which strives to immerse its students not only in language but also cultural experiences. We are so grateful for the departmental funding as well as Dr. McCarthy, who planned the entire trip and kept us wonderful company throughout the week.
![a compilation of images of a hotel room and a view out the window of the skyline](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Untitled%20%289%29.png?itok=9gqdUKv0)
We could view the Fernsehturm directly outside the hotel window! Our hotel was located about a quarter of a mile from Museum Island, a centerpiece of Berlin that is home to five museums.
![a stage with white framing and red curtains with a simple set onstage](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Photo-Essay-Spring-Break-in-Germany-My-小优视频-Google-Docs.png?itok=IuTIFdFe)
A picture of the stage at the Deutsches Theater鈥檚 production of Elfriede Jelinek鈥檚 play Angabe der Person. Olivia鈥檚 thesis focused on the Austrian playwright, and she even got to interview the production鈥檚 dramaturg, Bernd Isele.
A shot from the Shaub眉hne鈥檚 production of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.
![two people stand together in a theater smiling and posing for a photo](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Untitled%20%2810%29.png?itok=JEO-GiN2)
Here, our professor met an idol, Tim Fischer! At another play, we watched Tim Fischer perform Ich Bin die Leander in drag.
![three young women and a young man smile while sitting around a restaurant table together](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/231e7449-27b7-421e-abf3-df1e6cd9392b%20%281%29.jpg?itok=xVzJXVI9)
We had a whole 小优视频 reunion when we met up with Hani Zaitoun 鈥20, a 小优视频 alum who taught German as an AT (小优视频-speak for 鈥渁pprentice teacher鈥). He met up with us at the Neues Museum and invited us to a concert that he helped organize as a fundraiser for Syria and Turkey.
Breila centered her research on memory in a German-Jewish archive, the source of this photo.
![a large building on a cloudy overcast day](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/IMG-6676%20%282%29.jpg?itok=gvRhpANH)
We visited the same spot on Museum Island decades after the initial photo was taken. Her work focused on the connection between history and memory, and how we understand history through the context of personal archives.
Here we are exploring the weekly market next to our hotel.
![a group of three young women stand outside in winter clothes on a cloudy day](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Untitled%20%2811%29.png?itok=r4IJQ5qn)
Pictured here are the three of us German senior thesis majors in front of the Neues Museum in Berlin.
![two young women stand in front of an elephant enclosure with a city skyline in the background](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Photo-Essay-Spring-Break-in-Germany-My-小优视频-Google-Docs%20%282%29.png?itok=dlJHmd3G)
Here are Breila and Olivia at the Berlin Zoo. This zoo is not only the oldest zoo in the country, but is home to the most species in the entire world!
![two young women work together in a lab while wearing masks and scrubs](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2024-01/Untitled%20%2812%29.png?itok=YmnnGU7q)
Steffi interned at a vet clinic in Berlin, where she had the opportunity to work with multiple outstanding veterinarians and different species. She observed a behavioral consult for an iguana, conducted radiographs on a turtle, spayed a ferret, removed the eye of a guinea pig, and much more!