After a weekly load of work and intensive German language courses, some ECLA of Bard students decided to take a sip from the “Sea of Free Time” that the weekend had to offer. With sleepy early-morning eyes, “armed” with sweets for energy and maps for guidance in their backpacks, they made their way through a huge crowd of travelers alike, waiting impatiently to jump on the train, occupy their seats, and head toward their destination – Greifswald: a town located in the northeast of Germany, bordering the Baltic Sea, and well-known for being the native town of the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. With the sun ascending in the promise of a bright and lovely day, the students became increasingly alert as they tried to make this short trip as much a German experience as possible: admiring the majestic ruins of “Eldena Abbey” so beautifully painted by Friedrich, savouring the delicious local German specialty Fischbrötchen (“fish bun”), and even adopting the “policy” of speaking only in German. One of the many highlights of the trip was defeating the ever-multiplying amount of steps in spirals, and reaching the top of Dom St. Nikolai (“St. Nicholas Cathedral”) for a rewarding view of the entire town. The warm water of the sea and the playful waves, in their turn, rewarded their feet for having walked the entire day. Like warriors, with sweets as “weapons”, either already eaten or completely melted, they later greeted the train back to Berlin with sleepy eyes again…
More pictures from the trip:
